Retrospecs vs Pixelfie
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.
Pixelfie
Easily pixelate images from your device's library or capture new photos with the camera. This tool allows you to modify your pictures and share your unique artistic creations.
- Pixelate images
- Modify photos from library
- Capture photos with camera
- Share artistic images
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This is image pixelating tool. You can modify images from Image Library or took by Camera. Let's share your artistic images.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pixelfie at none against Retrospecs's 5. Pixelfie also leads on update cadence (every 11 days vs every 2 months) and rating (5.0 vs 4.8). Retrospecs's advantage is ratings volume (367 vs 2). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Pixelfie asks for nothing beyond the download.
Pixelfie holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Retrospecs has 367 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Retrospecs ships an update every 2 months, Pixelfie every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Retrospecs | Pixelfie |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (367 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 94.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 367 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 11 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 | 13.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | John Parker | Nobushige Asahi |
Customer experience
Retrospecs
Pixelfie
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
Pixelfie
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
Pixelfie
No in-app purchases
