Comparison

Blackie vs HDR Portrait

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

HDR Portrait

Transform your photos into artistic portraits with AI-powered HDR effects. This app intelligently detects faces, applies expressive HDR to them, and enhances backgrounds with artistic blurs and bokeh. It works on various devices, utilizing advanced sensors when available for superior results.

Highlights
  • AI face detection
  • Expressive HDR portrait effects
  • Artistic background effects
  • Customizable blurs and bokeh
  • Utilizes dual cameras and TrueDepth sensors
  • Pre-set combinations for quick editing
Features
Read full description

AlphaPlugins HDR Portrait turns your Apple device into an incredible art portrait machine. This wonderful app uses artificial intelligence and neural networks to detect faces on photos and separate them from the background. Detected faces are processed with expressive HDR effects. Simultaneously, astonishing artistic effects are applied on the background behind the portraits. Lots of impressive focal background effects, such as different kind of blurs, bokeh with various shapes and others, are available. As its name implies, "AlphaPlugins HDR Portrait" is attended to deal with portraits. If your iPhone supports modern dual cameras and TrueDepth sensors, our app uses them to detect a face and achieve better results. If you're using an old device or taking not portrait photos, then our app can work without modern features by using its own neural network facilities. The basic kit contains a lot of prepared settings presets that allow to quickly apply different combinations of settings on taken photos. These settings combinations demonstrate application possibilities and let you obtain various combinations of application features. If you want to experiment with manually parameters settings, you should buy an extended license, then all appТs adjustable parameters will be available.

Screenshots

Blackie4 screens
HDR Portrait4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: HDR Portrait at 5.0 against Blackie's 3.1. HDR Portrait also leads on review sentiment (95% vs 58%) and price ($2.99 vs $3.99). Blackie's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (monthly vs every 11 months). On ads and device support 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 HDR Portrait $2.99 up front. HDR Portrait sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $0.99 per month. Blackie asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

HDR Portrait holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Blackie has 44 ratings behind it against 1, 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 95% of HDR Portrait's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Blackie ships an update monthly, HDR Portrait every 11 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
Blackie versus HDR Portrait: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBlackieHDR Portrait
Price$3.99$2.99 — better
Rating3.1 (44 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews58.5% of reviews95.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings44 — better1
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 11 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#99 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS10.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB43 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBrutality ArtsMaxim Chernousov

Customer experience

Blackie

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

HDR Portrait

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews21 reviews
Positive95.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative4.8%

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

HDR Portrait

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Blackie

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

HDR Portrait

Subscriptions1
  • HDR Portrait premium features$0.991 Month

Questions

Is Blackie free?
Blackie costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is HDR Portrait free?
HDR Portrait costs $2.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Blackie or HDR Portrait?
HDR Portrait is rated higher. Blackie averages 3.1 out of 5 from 44 ratings, while HDR Portrait averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Blackie or HDR Portrait have ads?
Neither Blackie nor HDR Portrait shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Blackie or HDR Portrait?
Blackie ships an update monthly, and HDR Portrait every 11 months. Most recently, Blackie was updated on October 26, 2026 and HDR Portrait on October 22, 2026.

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