Retrospecs vs FX Halftone Stencil
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
FX Halftone Stencil
Easily create artistic images with halftone and stencil effects. This app helps you generate unique pictures for gifts or personal expression, transforming your photos into art.
- Halftone effects
- Stencil effects
- Artistic picture creation
- Easy to use
- Photo editing
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FX Halftone Stencil is a simple application which help you easily and fastly create pictures with halftone effects. Haftone combines with Stencil will generate great artistic pictures. You can use FX Halftone Stencil to make simple gift for family, relatives or friends... or even turn you into an artist. Have fun!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Retrospecs at 4.8 against FX Halftone Stencil's 4.1. Retrospecs also leads on review sentiment (94% vs 75%) and ratings volume (364 vs 21). FX Halftone Stencil's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (7.0 vs 14.0). 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. Retrospecs sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and FX Halftone Stencil sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Retrospecs holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Retrospecs has 364 ratings behind it against 21, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 94% of Retrospecs's written reviews are positive against 75% of FX Halftone Stencil's.
Retrospecs ships an update every 2 months, FX Halftone Stencil every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on August 26, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Retrospecs | FX Halftone Stencil |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (364 ratings) — better | 4.1 (21 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 94.3% of reviews — better | 75.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 364 — better | 21 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 | 7.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | John Parker | Tien Le |
Customer experience
Retrospecs
FX Halftone Stencil
Bugs and 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
FX Halftone Stencil
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
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
FX Halftone Stencil
- Remove Advertisement$1.99
