Blur vs Blear
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Blur
Transform your photos into unique wallpapers for your device. This app allows you to remix images, add color tints and saturation, and preview your creations directly on your home screen. Share your personalized designs with friends and family.
- Photo remixing for wallpapers
- Home screen test mode
- Live parallax effect
- Color tinting
- Saturation control
- Direct camera/library access
- Sharing options
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Remix photos to create stunning personal wallpapers that feel right at home in iOS. Features: - Home Screen Test Mode. Quickly test how your creation looks on a home screen without leaving the app. Blur was the first app to introduce such feature in the App Store 3.5 years ago. - Live Parallax effect in the entire User Interface including Home Screen Test Mode giving an incredible feeling of depth. - Tint your blurs with a color of your choice to perfectly match your iDevice. - Make your blurs more vibrant with saturation control. - Choose photos from your library or straight from the camera. - Share your blurs via Facebook, Twitter, Email, iMessages, and AirDrop. - Saved wallpapers are saved in sizes that support parallax effect.
Blear
Create unique blurry wallpapers from your own photos or pre-loaded images. Easily adjust blurriness and crop to personalize your device's home and lock screens. Share your creations directly from the app.
- Transform photos into blurry wallpapers
- Adjust crop and blurriness
- Use pre-loaded images
- Action Extension for quick editing
- Save and set as wallpaper
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Transform your photos into stunning blurry wallpapers. Make your Home/Lock screen shine! Drag the image horizontally to change the crop. You get the best result with bright colorful photos, like a handful of jellybeans or unicorns. The app comes bundled with some beautiful photos to get you started. Just shake to get another one. When you have swiped your preferred blurriness, tap the save button on the right. In the Photos app, go to the image you just saved, tap the action button, and choose “Use as Wallpaper”. The app also comes with an Action Extension. So instead of opening the app, you can start by finding a photo in the Photos app, tap the action button, and then choose “Make Blurry Wallpaper”. Blear is open source: https://github.com/sindresorhus/blear
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Blear at 4.8 against Blur's 3.5. Blear also leads on review sentiment (87% vs 57%) and ratings volume (77 vs 6). Blur's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Blear holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Blear has 77 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of Blur's written reviews are positive against 87% of Blear's.
Blur ships an update every 2 weeks, Blear every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Blur | Blear |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.5 (6 ratings) | 4.8 (77 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 57.1% of reviews | 86.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 6 | 77 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Taphive GmbH | Sindre Sorhus |
Customer experience
Blur
Blear
In-app purchases
Blur
No in-app purchases
Blear
No in-app purchases
