Pros & Cons
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- Good selection of artistic photo filters.
- Works with video as well as photos.
- Amusing masks, caps, and other overlays.
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- Processing is slow.
- Can't adjust effects.
- Filters slightly less impressive than Prisma's.
While Prisma was getting all the love in the tech press, Artisto was quietly beating it to the punch in one important way: Applying those spectacular AI-generated artistic effects to video as well as to still photographs. So, in addition to photo editing software effects, both iPhone apps now can enhance video. Both apps come from Russian wunderkinds, and both can spellbind with their truly artistic effects. Artisto now also features live mask overlays (hats, alien heads, and antlers, for example) for an extra touch of bling.
But Prisma, (Free at Apple.com) in addition to its greater name recognition, still surpasses Artisto in the quality of its filters and the speed at which it applies them. Furthermore, PicsArt, though it doesn't do its magic on video, offers more options with this kind of art effect on photos. Instagram famously has loads of photo-filtering capabilities, and it goes way beyond Artisto and Prisma in terms of basic photo editing, as do PicsArt and the Flickr iPhone app.
Pricing and Getting Started
Artisto is a free app on the iTunes App Store, and you can get started without so much as an email address. In-app purchases remove the Artisto watermark from your results and extend video time limits: A 99-cent Lite upgrade removes the watermark for 3 days. The Plus level ($1.99) extends the video time limit from 10 seconds to 30 and removes watermarks for 14 days, and Pro (also $1.99, a temporary promotion offered at the time of this writing) extends the removal of watermarks for 30 days. By comparison, Prisma is completely ad-supported.
Using Artisto
You can apply Artisto's effects to photos and videos in your iPhone storage as well as to those you shoot from within the app. Images you enhance with Artisto must be square, unlike Prisma and PicsArt, (Free at Apple.com) which allow the full iPhone screen rectangular aspect ratio. With Artisto, you have to apply the filter after shooting. Even then, unlike the other two apps, Artisto cannot adjust theeffects. Prisma lets you reduce effects' strength, and PicsArt even adds to that the ability to brush the effect onto specific parts of a photo.
Videos can be up to 10 seconds (unless you upgrade) and you get a choice of 23 art filters to apply, including one called Prisma! PicsArt offers 27 art filters, which it calls Magic. Prisma offers the most, with 40. All of the apps' filters can be impressive, but for my money Prisma and PicsArt's are more impressive than Artisto's. For example, Aristo doesn't include the severely image-altering Mondrian effect, though its Flames filter is kind of cool.
One downside to Artisto is that applying filters to a video can take longer than most things you do on your smartphone. It took as long as 25 seconds in several of my tests, and, unlike PicsArt, it doesn't retain an effect on the same image if you switch among filters and return to one you already applied. You have to process it all over again. Prisma was very slow back when it launched with the new artistic AI filters, but that app's servers have been beefed up since. And PicsArt actually applies its magic locally, so you're not dependent on remote server processing.
Another choice in Artisto besides Photo and Video is Loop, which is simply a one-second repeating video. All three options let you apply any of the 23 overlay masks, including reindeer antlers, various hats, aliens, tattoos, and much more. These cleverly respond to your movements, for example, big alien eyes blink when you blink. It's a fun type of effect made popular by Snapchat. (Free at Apple.com) If you like adding funny masks, caps and antlers over your selfies, however, Artisto is for you.
Sharing and Output
When you've created a gorgeous photo or video, Artisto lets you share it to Instagram, Facebook, and ICQ directly, and to any other photo-accepting app through the iOS Share Sheet. Needless to say, the app doesn't sport its own thriving photo-sharing community the way Flickr (Free at Apple.com) , Instagram, and PicsArt all do. Even Prisma now has its own location-based feed you can subscribe to. Artisto does, however, have a flame-shape button that links to Instagram posts created by the app.
Feeling Like an Artist?
If you like the idea of turning yourself or your friends into aliens or pirates, as well as applying AI-based artistic filters to both video and photos, Artisto is certainly worth a download. But it's slow, and I find Prisma's filters a bit more compelling, and our Editors' Choice Swiss-army-knife iPhone photo editing app, PicsArt, offers the most control over its art filters.
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Further Reading
Final Thoughts
Artisto (for iPhone)
Artisto beat Prisma to the AI art filter game for use on videos, but Prisma and PicsArt still best it in a few ways.