Tangled FX Review

It's quite refreshing to find an app that just gets straight on with the task at hand. Tangled FX doesn't even need a tutorial, really, as it's that straightforward. Open the app up, load a photo and start applying filters. Sharing is just as easy.

The app offers 16 different filters in all, covering things such as fibers, black and white etching and a webbed look. Each filter is pretty good, too, although some are slight edits of others. There's no truly weak entry here, though, with all of them suiting a purpose just fine. An advanced fine-tuning section allows for some adjustment, such as by adding sharpening effects or adjusting the gamma and stroke size. This is far from essential, but it's a neat touch for the more hands-on user. It's also possible to adjust the size of the resulting image, meaning it's a handy tool for either sharing online or for creating a higher resolution image.

In each case, Tangled FX benefits most from being so clear to use. It does take a brief while to apply each filter, presumably because it involves a fair amount of processing power, but on the iPhone 5 this was less than 10 seconds on the average size setting and it was clear to see what was being done at the time. Sharing functionality is similarly simple with options available for Instagram, Twitter, Facebook as well as email and the clipboard.

Tangled FX doesn't try to do 101 different things, as shown by its lack of regular editing tools (such as cropping). Instead, it focuses on the act of applying good quality filters. It does so with style, making it a handy tool to have alongside other more complex photo editing apps.