Comparison

Retrospecs vs PIXEL86

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

PIXEL86

Transform photos and videos with vintage pixel art aesthetics. Apply true black-and-white dithering, custom color palettes, and unique dithering styles to create retro media. Supports video editing and sharing your creations.

Highlights
  • True B/W dithering
  • Video editing support
  • Customizable color palettes
  • Three dithering styles (Natural, Pattern, Flat)
  • Vintage-inspired aesthetics
  • Social media sharing
Read full description

PIXEL86 — Retro Dithering for Photos & Videos Make your media look like it came from a cooler, glitchier timeline. Bring back the charm of vintage tech with PIXEL86, the ultimate tool to transform your photos and videos into pixel-perfect black-and-white or limited-palette art. Inspired by early computer graphics, old-school printers, and classic GIFs — this is retro done right. True B/W Dithering No grays. Just black or white pixels smartly arranged to simulate shadows and depth — exactly how early screens did it. Now Supports Video Editing Apply your favorite dithering style to video clips. Make every frame look like a piece of pixel-art history. Color Palettes, Reimagined Choose from curated vintage-inspired palettes Hit random for a fresh surprise every time Or build your own custom palette for a personalized look Three Dithering Styles Natural — Smooth, classic error diffusion. Clean and expressive. Pattern — Retro dot-matrix vibes. Adjustable matrix for custom textures. Flat — Not technically dithering, but perfect for dramatic, posterized effects in both stills and motion. Share Your Style Use #pixel86 on social and tag @pixel86app on Instagram — we love featuring the coolest creations from the community.

Screenshots

Retrospecs4 screens
PIXEL864 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Retrospecs at none against PIXEL86's shown. Retrospecs also leads on ratings volume (367 vs 42) and device support (3 vs 1). PIXEL86's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 months). On price, rating, review sentiment and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Retrospecs sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and PIXEL86 sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Retrospecs holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Retrospecs has 367 ratings behind it against 42, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 94% of Retrospecs's written reviews are positive against 100% of PIXEL86's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Retrospecs ships an update every 2 months, PIXEL86 every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Retrospecs versus PIXEL86: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRetrospecsPIXEL86
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (367 ratings) — better4.6 (42 ratings)
Positive reviews94.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings367 — better42
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 5 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS14.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size27 MB87 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJohn ParkerPeter Tretyakov

Customer experience

Retrospecs

All ratings364 ratings
Positive95.6%
Neutral1.6%
Negative2.7%
Written reviews140 reviews
Positive94.3%
Neutral1.4%
Negative4.3%

PIXEL86

All ratings31 ratings
Positive90.3%
Neutral3.2%
Negative6.5%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

PIXEL86

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Retrospecs

One-time5
  • Small tip$0.99
  • Medium tip$1.99
  • Unlock everything$1.99
Show 2 more
  • Big tip$4.99
  • The king of tips$9.99
2 purchases

PIXEL86

One-time2
  • License Discount$9.99
  • Perpetual License$19.99

Questions

Is Retrospecs free?
Retrospecs is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PIXEL86 free?
PIXEL86 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Retrospecs or PIXEL86?
Retrospecs is rated higher. Retrospecs averages 4.8 out of 5 from 367 ratings, while PIXEL86 averages 4.6 from 42 ratings.
Do Retrospecs or PIXEL86 have ads?
PIXEL86 shows ads; Retrospecs does not.
Which is updated more often, Retrospecs or PIXEL86?
Retrospecs ships an update every 2 months, and PIXEL86 every 5 days. Most recently, Retrospecs was updated on October 21, 2026 and PIXEL86 on October 27, 2026.

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