“Guess my one time fee wasn't one time — Every Iphone App does this, don't claim a one time fee just to put all new features behind a paywall”
Independent automated assessment · 3 signal sources · 500 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-05.
4.8 ★29,360 ratings
—Downloads
4+Age rating
293 MBApp size
Free · In-app purchasesIn-app purchases
About this app
Transform your iPhone and iPad into a sophisticated editing suite with Darkroom, the highly acclaimed photo and video editor designed to empower both amateur photographers and professional creators. With desktop-quality tools at your fingertips, Darkroom competes with industry giants such as Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, delivering unparalleled editing experiences right on your mobile device.
Award-Winning App Recognitions: Winner of the Apple Design Award in 2020 Apple’s Editor’s Choice since 2018 Best New App Winner in 2015
Why Choose Darkroom? Advanced AI-Powered Editing: Leverage cutting-edge AI tools for precise, depth-based edits and intelligent object detection.…
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 7.4 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-05 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 7.4, updated 2026-09-15.
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 3.99 to USD 99.99 — a 25x spread across 10 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 (3 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 6 distinct reviewers (1.2% of 500 reviews scanned)
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“what a joke — color grading behind paywall? your service is running on borrowed time.”
“Pay wall — Pretty much everything is locked behind a subscription. Just like everything else. Corporations want you to own nothing.”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 7.4.
What this app sells
Useful store-disclosed pricing, kept below the app listing.
Items shown10
Lowest$3.99
Highest$99.99
Monthly Subscription$9.99
Yearly Subscription$39.99
Discounted Yearly Subscription$32.99
Unlock Everything Forever$99.99
Legacy - Unlock Everything$9.99
Show 5 more purchases
Legacy - All Tools$7.99
Legacy - All Premium Filters$7.99
Legacy - XPRO$3.99
Legacy - Portrait Filters$3.99
Legacy - Black & White Filters$3.99