Comparison

Blackie vs Gimbse Camera

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

Head to head
About

Blackie

This app is designed for black and white photography enthusiasts, offering a minimal interface and powerful tools for both beginners and professionals. It provides real-time effect previews, manual camera controls, and extensive editing options to achieve stunning monochrome images.

Highlights
  • Real-time effect previews
  • Manual camera controls
  • Extensive editing mods
  • Customizable presets
  • Minimalist design
  • Fast camera access
Features
Read full description

The perfect app for the Black & White photography. It doesn't matter if you've just started or you are a professional. The Blackie has something for everyone. Its minimal design and easy use with many features will make it your go-to app when you're in the mood for the Black & White. It will help you explore all the possibilities of the Black & White photography and achieve the best result. • Fast. Blackie opens in camera mode, so you can instantly capture moments around you and give them vintage feeling. • What you see is what you get. All effects are previewed in Real-time. • Shuffle your best. The smart shuffle works exceptionally. You only need to shuffle a couple of times and snap the best one. • Customize. If you have time, you can manage every effect in your photo with Mods by yourself. • Simple Minimal Design. The way that Blackie works is unique. The experience is clear and fast. No need for unnecessary buttons. • Just save it! Captured photo goes instantly to your photos library. It is up to you when you are ready to share it with the world. • No in-app purchases and no ads. Nothing to bother you while making memories. • Settings Save Original Photo On / Off. Save Photos with Compression (JPEG) On / (TIFF) Off. Modify UI to Lighting Conditions. (Black or White design). • Camera Manual Controls Manual Focus with Focus Peaking. Lenses. Manual Exposure. Shutter Speed and ISO. Manual White Balance. EV. • Grids 9x Grid Types with custom Opacity. Center Lines On / Off. Grid Color Black / White. • Presets 8x Slots for custom Presets. • Mods Crop and Rotate. Films. 5x Scanned Analog Films. 3x Digitally Created. Brightness. Contrast. Color Filters. 6x Types Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Infra. Vignette Overlay. 5x Types with rotations and inverted light. Fade. Low, Mid, High mods. Shadows. Highlights. Sharp. 2x Types Clarity and Bloom. Grain. Frame. Black & White frame with custom size. • Post processing Before / After function. Tags: #blackieapp #blackie Note: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4/4S, iPod 4th generation, iPad2, iPad Mini 1st generation, iPad3 is Missing Sharp and Grain Mods. All iPads preview and capture is in Square Mode only.

About

Gimbse Camera

Enhance architectural photos with professional alignment without complex editing. This app offers real-time perspective correction and intuitive controls to perfect your shots of buildings, cityscapes, and more.

Highlights
  • Perspective Assistant
  • Real-time alignment
  • Multiple perspective modes
  • Adjustable focus and exposure
  • Various color modes
  • Composition guides
  • Multiple aspect ratios
Features
Read full description

Improve the presentation of real estate, cityscapes, exhibition stands, and much more with professional architectural photography! Gimbse offers the perfect alignment of your camera without complicated post-processing or additional technical equipment. How it works? Very simple: take a photo – done. The unique perspective assistant always has the recording situation in view and takes care of the detailed work in real time. So you can fully concentrate on your subject. Also profit from the intuitively designed interface of the great and professional functions with which the Gimbse camera app makes your pictures even better. PERSPECTIVE ASSISTANT The Perspective Assistant ensures that your pictures are always straight, no matter from which angle they were taken. But “straight“ doesn‘t just mean that people stand upright in the picture and the horizon is really horizontal. With the help of the various modes, you can freely choose which additional perspective tools you want to use for your subject. Perspective alignment has never been so easy! • Horizon It automatically does what many photographers usually do by hand or with gimbals: Hold the camera straight. • Automatic Let the Perspective Assistant automatically select between Architecture and Horizon modes to avoid extreme distortion at the edges of the image. • Architecture The mode for professional architectural photography – the perspective is automatically corrected to avoid falling lines. • Gallery In Gallery mode, photograph vertical or horizontal surfaces exactly from the front, even though the situation only allows a sloping shooting angle. The magnetic axis makes alignment easy and very accurate. • Easel For inclined surfaces such as flipcharts, screens or simply easels, there is also the Easel mode with the practical magnetic angle. • Rectangle With the magnetic frame, you can shoot rectangular objects of any kind as if they were taken from the front and crop them in their original proportions, (almost) regardless of the shooting angle. • Calibrate Also use the Calibrate mode with its magnetic axes to achieve even more precision in aligning your photos. Once performed, the calibration is always maintained. • Deactivated With this you can also take really skewed pictures. FOCUS • Automatic • Spot EXPOSURE • Lights • Automatic • Spot • Lock WHITE BALANCE • Cold • Neutral • Warm • Spot • Lock FOCAL LENGTH • Ultra Wide Angle (if available) • 20 mm (if available) • Wide Angle • 35 mm • 50 mm • Telephoto Lens (if available) • 80 mm • 135 mm • 200 mm • 300 mm COLOR MODE • Color (in gradations) • Black & White • Blue Filter • BW Neutral • Red Filter COMPOSITION • Empty • Frame • Crosshair • Grid • Golden Section • Golden Spiral ASPECT RATIO • Square • 7 : 6 • 5 : 4 • 4 : 3 • DIN A Format • 3 : 2 • Golden Section • 16 : 9 • Superscope • 21 : 9 • CinemaScope FILE TYPE (iOS 13 and higher) • L97JPEG 8 sRGB • JPEG 8 P3 • TIFF 16 sRGB (high memory requirement!) • TIFF 16 P3 (high memory requirement!) With the practical reset button, you can quickly reset Gimbse at any time to be ready for the next snapshot. Configure Gimbse conveniently in the settings. You can also have a comparison image saved for each shot. This shows a before/after comparison between the captured image and the version created by Gimbse. Discover the incredible new design options that Gimbse can offer you!

Screenshots

Blackie4 screens
Gimbse Camera4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Gimbse Camera at 4.0 against Blackie's 3.1. Gimbse Camera also leads on review sentiment (73% vs 58%). Blackie's advantage is price ($3.99 vs $12.99) and chart position (#184 vs unranked). On update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Blackie costs $3.99 and Gimbse Camera $12.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Gimbse Camera holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Blackie has 44 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 58% of Blackie's written reviews are positive against 73% of Gimbse Camera's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Blackie ships an update monthly, Gimbse Camera every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Blackie versus Gimbse Camera: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBlackieGimbse Camera
Price$3.99 — better$12.99
Rating3.1 (44 ratings)4.0 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews58.5% of reviews73.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings44 — better6
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#184 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS10.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBrutality ArtsChristian Kappertz

Customer experience

Blackie

All ratings44 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral2.3%
Negative47.7%
Written reviews118 reviews
Positive58.5%
Neutral12.7%
Negative28.8%

Gimbse Camera

All ratings6 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.7%
Written reviews30 reviews
Positive73.3%
Neutral3.3%
Negative23.3%

Bugs and requests

Blackie

Reported bugs

53 issues
  • Severe crashes
  • Photos not saving
  • Editing not saving
  • Upper side of pictures cut off
  • Double assignments in UI (e.g., histogram)
Show 48 more
  • Filter usage broken
  • Setting a frame to black does not persist
  • GUI not usable on iPad Pro
  • Camera shuts down with manual focus on wide angle
  • App crashes when using manual focus on wide angle lens
  • App did not save any images
  • Latest update crashes consistently
  • App crashes on opening/shutter click
  • Photo not recorded in Photos app
  • Cannot take pictures after setup choice
  • App no longer works, shutter circle does nothing
  • App freezes on opening screen
  • App crashing with iPhone Pro 15
  • App freezes when opening photos
  • App freezes and hangs
  • Some shots lost and not saved
  • App drains battery even in background
  • App freezes on each section
  • App crashes when trying to load/edit from library
  • App crashes when importing photos
  • App crops images
  • App not responding
  • App crashes frequently
  • App not working on iPhone 7
  • App not working on iPhone XR
  • App not working on iPhone XS Max
  • App not working on iPhone X, Xs, Xs Max
  • App not working after last update (iPhone XS Plus)
  • Icons too small
  • Buttons too small
  • Icons are tiny
  • UI not optimized for screen size
  • Interface not user-friendly
  • Cropping to square is forced
  • Random/shuffle FX is perfect but cannot be saved
  • Clunky unintuitive UI
  • Cannot access photos, freezes phone
  • Uploads sporadically, then uploads wrong photo
  • No icons show up, cannot take photos
  • App still doesn't work on new iPhone, unable to take photos
  • Controls not quite right for iPhone 14 Pro Max
  • App doesn't work with iPad Pro 11
  • App doesn't work with iPad Air 4
  • Buttons cut off at screen edge and don't respond
  • Live camera image visible, but UI buttons cut off
  • App crashes
  • Bug crashing again
  • App not responding

Requested features

24 requests
  • Customizable default comment in metadata
  • Home screen shortcut icon
  • Masking function
  • Retouch/correction function
  • Support for 48MP max grid
Show 19 more
  • Features for night photography
  • Optimization for new iPhones
  • Ability to turn off shuffle
  • RAW capture support
  • Zoom while shooting
  • Ability to edit preset names
  • Save favorite combinations from shuffle
  • Support for second lens on iPhone 7 Plus
  • Ability to pinch out to zoom in
  • Tiff format support
  • Color photo option with same interface
  • More film simulations
  • Smaller font size
  • Support for larger photo databases
  • Guidance on app usage
  • Permanent settings after restart
  • Ability to reset chosen preset
  • Scroll through camera roll within the app
  • Clear way to upload to computer/camera roll

Gimbse Camera

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Blackie

No in-app purchases

None

Gimbse Camera

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Blackie free?
Blackie costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Gimbse Camera free?
Gimbse Camera costs $12.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Blackie or Gimbse Camera?
Gimbse Camera is rated higher. Blackie averages 3.1 out of 5 from 44 ratings, while Gimbse Camera averages 4.0 from 6 ratings.
Do Blackie or Gimbse Camera have ads?
Neither Blackie nor Gimbse Camera shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Blackie or Gimbse Camera?
Blackie ships an update monthly, and Gimbse Camera every 4 weeks. Most recently, Blackie was updated on September 22, 2026 and Gimbse Camera on September 16, 2026.

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