Comparison

Bricolage vs DotPress

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

Head to head
About

Bricolage

Create professional visual effects for photos and videos using a node-based compositing system. Chain over 150 effects to achieve unique looks, from subtle color correction to complex distortions and animations. Supports HD video processing and real-time playback.

Highlights
  • Node-based compositing
  • Over 150 effects
  • Video and photo processing
  • Real-time playback
  • Customizable templates
  • Face recognition integration
  • Bezier curve shape cutting
Features
Read full description

Bricolage is a powerful special-effects toolbox for tricking out your photos and movies like the Hollywood pros do. Pipe your video through a chain of basic effects, each processing the picture in a different way. With over 150 to choose from it is easy to create completely unique looks and effects. And now its mature 3DTV tools shine with the perfect stereo of the Vision Pro. Mix multiple images and animate special effects to give your videos the finishing touches they need, from subtle regional color correction or exposure adjustment, to wild cartoon colors or funhouse-mirror distortions. Just bring in a video (or photo!) and drop effects between the input and the output. Bricolage takes advantage of the powerful graphics hardware in your iPad or iPhone to deliver smooth playback and responsive controls. You can even zoom into your video while it's playing. And when you've built a great effect, you can save it for reuse with other projects. Bricolage uses the industry-standard technique known as 'node-based compositing' to build complex effects from a chain of simple building blocks. You'll combine different layers using photoshop-style blending modes or black & white masks. Make different versions of an image and combine them back together to blur or darken the edges of an image, or selectively recolor the sky or ground. Use animated transitions to switch video streams or overlay text and graphics. Cut out shapes from pictures using Bezier curves. Apply image distortions and move them around the video, or use Apple's Face Recognition technology to mark or cover faces detected in your video. Place, scale and animate video overlays or shapes and gradients. Process your shots to look like a desert, or add film grain and a vintage photo process. You can even add titles or overlay time code on your movies. Bricolage uses custom Metal programs to process HD video in real time directly on the graphics processor. If you have an older device, don't worry, Bricolage offers half- and quarter-resolution 'proxy' modes, so you can get a preview of most effects with responsive controls even at HD, while still producing a full-resolution movie. Despite its great power, Bricolage is quite simple to use. Just build a chain of effects for your images to flow through from the inputs to the output. Drag effect nodes to 'kiss' the output of one to the input of another to form a connection. Or press and hold a link to insert a new node in the middle. With a zooming, scrolling canvas, you can organize your flows the way you like. Immediate feedback in the nodes makes it easy to experiment, while the full-screen node editor lets you perfect a single effect with enhanced tools. Features: Process still images or videos, pick stills from video Combined preview and node editing lets you create with live feedback Pre-built templates to make advanced effects easy to give you a head start on your own awesome creations. Save your node flows as templates and import them into other projects Built-in help with inline descriptions of nodes and their parameters Infinite undos, and for the indecisive, re-dos. Playback proxies at reduced resolution for more responsive editing on older devices Zoom and pan photos and videos, even while playing Multiple output resolutions Over 127 standard Core Image Effects Many more custom effects including: Map Generator Path Move Recolor Tilt Shift Edge Outlines Lens Distortion 360° Spherical VR Unwrap Stipple Semantic Segmentation Node Saliency Detector Bricks pattern Radial Grid Four-Up node ASCII Art Green Screen Remover* Fractal Noise* Film Grain* Text* Face Mask Relative Crop Fade Over Switcher Multi-mixer Color Bands Depth Key, Fog, Mix, Blur HSL/YUV/HWB Convert Time Code Overlay Red-Blue and Split-Screen Stereoscopic composite Primary, Secondary, 3D LUT Color Correction Flipbook/Sprite Atlas player *Fully functional effect, in-app purchase removes watermark

About

DotPress

This app offers a suite of powerful image editing tools for designers, enabling quick structural edits and graphic effects. Transform images with halftones, outlines, distortions, and metadata editing, all processed directly on your device.

Highlights
  • Halftone generation
  • Outline detection
  • Image distortion tools
  • ASCII art generator
  • EXIF metadata editor
  • Favorite tools toolbar
  • Perspective correction
Features
Read full description

Dot Press is a simple, powerful image utility for designers. It gives you fast tools for transforming images in ways the iPhone Photos app doesn’t allow — from quick structural edits to graphic effects. Create halftones, extract outlines, distort images, generate ASCII art, edit metadata, and experiment with graphic transformations in seconds. No accounts. No subscriptions. Just useful image tools. Quick Image Tools Fast adjustments for everyday image work: • invert colors • flip horizontal & vertical • rotate by exact degrees • quick crop • grayscale • hue/saturation • exposure • pixelate Simple tools that make everyday image work faster. Explore the structure of your images: • halftone (circles, squares, plus) • threshold • outline detection • dither • noise • scanlines • ASCII generator Perfect for posters, textures, and graphic experiments. Transform Tools Reshape images quickly: • perspective correction • lens distortion • pinch & bulge • wave distort • mirror canvas Image Utilities Includes practical tools: • EXIF metadata editor • remove metadata • quick export options Favorite Tools Toolbar Build your own quick-access workflow. Save your favorite tools and keep the ones you use most always within reach. Fast & Simple Open an image. Choose a tool. Adjust. Export. Everything runs directly on your device for fast previews and saves.

Screenshots

Bricolage4 screens
DotPress4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: DotPress at 5.0 against Bricolage's 3.6. DotPress also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 5) and price ($1.99 vs $6.99). Bricolage's advantage is ratings volume (16 vs 2). 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

Bricolage costs $6.99 and DotPress $1.99 up front. Bricolage sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. DotPress asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

DotPress holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bricolage has 16 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Bricolage versus DotPress: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBricolageDotPress
Price$6.99$1.99 — better
Rating3.6 (16 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings16 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 4 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.215.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size81 MB49 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPixelSplincherInner Circle

Customer experience

Bricolage

All ratings16 ratings
Positive56.3%
Neutral25.0%
Negative18.8%
Written reviews27 reviews
Positive48.1%
Neutral33.3%
Negative18.5%

DotPress

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Bricolage

One-time5
  • Noise Pack$0.99
  • Greenscreen Remover$1.99
  • Shapes$1.99
Show 2 more
  • Cutouts$1.99
  • Title Pack$1.99
None

DotPress

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Bricolage free?
Bricolage costs $6.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is DotPress free?
DotPress costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Bricolage or DotPress?
DotPress is rated higher. Bricolage averages 3.6 out of 5 from 16 ratings, while DotPress averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Bricolage or DotPress have ads?
Neither Bricolage nor DotPress shows ads.

Other comparisons