Belowrez vs Retrospecs
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Belowrez
Transform your photos and videos into a retro, pixelated aesthetic reminiscent of classic 80s graphic adventure games or NES titles. Adjust the pixel size and choose from nine classic color palettes for a unique, low-resolution digital look.
- Real-time previews
- Adjustable pixel size
- 9 classic color palettes
- Retro aesthetic
- Pinch-to-pixelate functionality
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View and photograph the world from the viewpoint of the pixellated, low resolution digital future past. Want your world to look like a classic point and click graphic adventure game from the 80's? Or a NES game? It's just a tap away. Not blocky enough? PINCH to pixelate! It's awesome fun. Includes - * realtime previews * adjustable pixel size * 9 classic color palettes based on classic consoles and personal computers
Retrospecs
Transform your photos and videos into retro pixel art. Emulate the look of classic computers and consoles from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Customize your output with various graphics engines, color palettes, and fonts.
- Pixelate images and video clips
- Emulate 40+ classic computer/console systems
- Create custom graphics modes
- Variety of color palettes and fonts
- Supports Commodore 64, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum, Amiga, and more
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A retro computing / pixel art camera app. Retrospecs lets you convert images and video clips so they appear as they would on a wide variety of home computers and consoles from the 70's, 80's and 90's. Simply take a picture (or select one from your photo library) and you can display it as it would appear on over forty systems including the Commodore 64, IBM PC (DOS, CGA, EGA and VGA), Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Sega Mega Drive, Nintendo Game Boy and even the original 1984 model Apple Macintosh. If that's not enough you can also create your own custom modes based around four different graphics engines and a wide variety of color palettes and character fonts. (The free version only contains a limited number of systems/dither modes and the custom editors, video clip processing and animation options aren't available.) All trademarks are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Retrospecs at 4.8 against Belowrez's 4.0. Retrospecs also leads on ratings volume (364 vs 7) and review sentiment (94% vs 86%). Belowrez's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 14.0). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Retrospecs sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Belowrez asks for nothing beyond the download.
Retrospecs holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Retrospecs has 364 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 86% of Belowrez's written reviews are positive against 94% of Retrospecs's.
Belowrez ships an update every 6 weeks, Retrospecs every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Belowrez | Retrospecs |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (7 ratings) | 4.8 (364 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 85.7% of reviews | 94.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7 | 364 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 27 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Adam Mathes | John Parker |
Customer experience
Belowrez
Retrospecs
Bugs and requests
Belowrez
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Retrospecs
Reported bugs
3 issues- Animation option not working properly
- Video import and saving issues
- Occasional image loading failures
Requested features
5 requests- Add more retro systems (e.g. NES, TI-99/4A)
- Improve video encoding capabilities
- Allow adjusting dithering levels
- Add support for transparent PNGs
- Implement batch processing and export options
In-app purchases
Belowrez
No in-app purchases
Retrospecs
- Small tip$0.99
- Medium tip$1.99
- Unlock everything$1.99
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- Big tip$4.99
- The king of tips$9.99
