“Bait-and-Switch Subscription Model — I paid a flat rate for this app years ago and used it religiously. Now they’ve switched to a subscription model and locked features I already paid for behind another paywall. Unacceptable. Taking away…”
Independent automated assessment · 3 signal sources · 503 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-05.
4.7 ★20,677 ratings
—Downloads
4+Age rating
432 MBApp size
Free · In-app purchasesIn-app purchases
About this app
Afterlight is built by a small, independent team of creatives & photographers who are deeply committed to designing authentic Presets, Effects, and Overlays, made by people who really use them.
— 300+ FILM-INSPIRED PRESETS Add character to your photos with a wide selection of one-tap Film Presets inspired by real film photography. Our presets were created to emulate genuine film like Kodak Gold, Portra, Agfa Vista, and Disposable cameras. Combine Effects and Tools to create your own custom look as a Fusion Filter.
— STUNNING FILM EFFECTS Apply unique film emulation techniques like Double Exposure, add the warm glow of Halation, shift RBG channels with Color Shift, and create chromatic aberration with Chroma.
— 100+ REAL OVERLAYS Add fun finishing touches to your photos with our large selection of overlay textures.…
Preview
Real screenshots from the store listing.
Independent evidence report
The evidence behind this assessment
This is where the page changes from an app-store listing into an evidence report: findings, important reviews, pricing and a dated history.
Which version this describes
When we ran this analysis, and what the store lists now.
This analysis describes version 5.3.3 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-05 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 5.3.3, updated 2026-08-03.
What we measured
Each line is a measurement published as a measurement, never a verdict.
Each line is a measurement, published as a measurement. Where we have not looked, the line says so rather than reading as a zero.
Developer replies to reviews
Replies to fewer than 1 review in 20
Price in the store description
States no price and billing period
Cancelling, in the store description
Does not say how to cancel
Themes reported by reviewers
1 theme reported
Counted from the reviews we have read for this app. "No theme reported" means no theme reached our reporting threshold — it is not a finding that nothing is wrong with this app, and we do not say it is.
Five-star share of ratings
80–89% five-star
Arithmetic on the stores' own published rating counts. It says nothing about why the ratings fall where they do.
In the package we scanned
No package has been scanned for this app, so nothing is published about what it ships. That is an absence of evidence about the app, not a finding about it.
Graded bands · predicate set 1.4 · how these are measured
What the analysis found
App-specific findings, grouped by what each one rests on. How they are graded lives on its own page.
Context 1
Measured and published because a reader would want to know — deliberately not a charge. The measurement alone does not show a harm.
Cheapest and priciest options are far apart
The disclosed in-app purchases span an unusually wide price range. Published as context: the cheapest and priciest items may be different kinds of product entirely, so the spread alone deducts nothing.
What we saw: In-app purchases run from USD 1.99 to USD 39.99 — a 20x spread across 8 items
One source only — shown, not confirmed 2
A single kind of evidence. We publish these because withholding them would be the bigger distortion, and we do not treat any of them as a finding we stand behind.
From the store listing: Usable without an account
The app's own screens offer a way past sign-up — guest access, skipping, or browsing before registering — rather than gating the product behind an account. The store's privacy disclosure is checked alongside it: that disclosure is self-reported, so it corroborates this credit rather than establishing it.
What we saw: The store privacy disclosure (2 entries) links no contact details or identifiers to the user — consistent with an app that does not require an account. Self-reported by the developer.
Reported by users: Paywall blocks the basics
The core of the app — not extras — sits behind payment, or previously-free function moved behind a paywall.
What we saw: Paywall blocks the basics: raised by 14 distinct reviewers (2.8% of 503 reviews scanned)
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“what happened? — this used to be my #1 go to app for probably pretty close to a decade now ?? life happened and i stopped editing photos/posting on social media & i just recently redownloaded what i assume is the “old” version since my…”
“Would be great BUT — Had the original version and stopped working so deleted to find a new version. Everything is locked and the lifetime i purchased MANY years ago (almost 10 yrs!) is now not applied??? super bummed as this was my…”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 5.3.3.
What this app sells
Useful store-disclosed pricing, kept below the app listing.
Items shown8
Lowest$1.99
Highest$39.99
Weekly Afterlight PRO$1.99
Monthly Afterlight PRO$2.99
Monthly Afterlight PRO$3.99
Yearly Afterlight PRO$17.99
Yearly Afterlight PRO$23.99
Show 3 more purchases
Yearly Afterlight PRO Special$15.99
Lifetime Afterlight PRO$39.99
Afterlight PRO - Lifetime$19.99