TinType Review

TinType is a lot like the photography apps of a few years ago. Offering one key feature - the ability to quickly turn photos into aged looking pieces - it does a reasonable job, but at a price that can buy you many more features elsewhere. It also commits one of the cardinal sins of photo editing apps.

In its favor, TinType takes seconds to use. Import or take a photo directly, and the app immediately ages the photo in a particular way. Unfortunately, this way isn’t fully editable so you’re going to end up with a similar look each time, such as a scratch or smudge in the same place. It looks fine for a quick change, though.

What you can edit is things like the eye intensity (ideal for portraits), the plat grain, depth-of-field, and other bits and pieces. It goes some way to helping you produce an original photo, even though it’s not quite enough to be truly useful.

What’s much more infuriating is how TinType edits your images. Instead of creating a new copy like pretty much all other apps out there, TinType overwrites your existing photo. Sure it might give you a warning of this, but if you want that image you’re going to have to lose the original, so you’re pretty much tied in. This really isn’t acceptable considering how many other apps don’t do this. It’s presumably a bug as the App Store description makes a big point of saying it offers non-destructive photo editing, but while it’s there it’s a big minus point for the app.

Still, even when it is fixed, there’s the issue of TinType offering one look alone. And that just doesn’t feel like enough to warrant a purchase.