Report updated May 20, 2026
Filter
For social media creators and casual photographers looking to apply trendy, aesthetic-focused filters and effects to Reels and photos.
Filter is an established photo & video app that is available. With a 4.5/5 rating from 376.7K reviews, it shows polarized user reception. Users particularly appreciate high quality filter effects provide a competitive edge for social media content creation, though aggressive paywall expansion restricts previously free features and hides premium status behind save buttons remains a common concern.
What is Filter?
Prequel is a photo and video editing app for social media creators, offering retro presets and AI-powered effects on iOS and Android.
Users hire Prequel to apply high-effort aesthetic filters to Reels and photos in a single tap, reducing the time required to achieve a professional look.
Current Momentum
v1.2 · 2w ago
Maintenance- Integrated AI-powered portrait-to-art conversion tools.
- Expanded library of 200+ Hollywood-quality filters.
Active Nemesis
EPIK - AI Photo & Video Editor
By SNOW
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
Photo & VideoNo ranking data
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User Mood
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
What Are The Key Features?
Converts portraits and selfies into comic book or artistic styles using on-device processing
Applies consistent filters and adjustments to up to 10 photos simultaneously
Automated subject-background separation for creative composition
How much does it cost?
- Free tier with limited access
- Prequel Gold subscription billed weekly, monthly, or annually
Subscription-first model anchored by recurring billing cycles, gating advanced VFX and AI tools behind the Gold tier.
Who Built It?
Yasuko Shikiuchi
Providing utility and productivity tools for iPhone users to manage daily schedules and capture information. Focused on streamlined, single-purpose mobile experiences.
Portfolio
12
Apps
What other apps does Yasuko Shikiuchi make?
Explore the full Yasuko Shikiuchi report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by Yasuko Shikiuchi.
What do users think recently?
High confidence · 50 reviews analyzed · Based on 50 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a mixed sentiment. Users appreciate high quality filter effects provide a competitive edge for social media content creation, but report aggressive paywall expansion restricts previously free features and hides premium status behind save buttons.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
How have ratings & review volume moved?
Rating, review sentiment, and total reviews over time, with release markers showing the post-launch impact.
Vertical markers = app releases. Hover any release for the post-release impact delta.
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for Filter?
How's The Photo & Video Market?
How does it evolve in the Photo & Video market?
Prequel maintains a #33 Grossing position in the Photography category across multiple markets, but the gap between its free-tier discovery and paid-tier conversion is widening. The reliance on subscription-gated features for basic editing tasks creates a churn risk that competitors like EPIK are actively exploiting.
Rank progression
208 active rankings tracked — 30-day window
Which niche is Filter in?
to edit photos and videos with filters
Explore the full Photography Editors niche
Every app in this space — 164 tracked, the niche's live rankings, and Marlvel's editorial take on the job-to-be-done.
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
EPIK dominates the exact same niche of all-in-one photo/video editing with a massive, active user base and high-frequency feature updates.
Differentiators
- Offers advanced AI-driven portrait retouching tools that go beyond standard retro filters
- Provides a comprehensive suite of video editing features specifically optimized for social media trends
- Maintains a consistent release cadence of 12 updates in six months to keep pace with trends
Head to head
The target app must pivot toward specialized AI-assisted editing to compete with EPIK's feature-rich, all-in-one platform.
Contenders(4)
A dominant force in mobile video editing that captures the same audience looking for quick social media content creation.
Differentiators
- Offers a robust timeline-based video editor that is significantly more powerful than simple filter-based apps
- Includes comprehensive audio editing and music integration tools for professional-grade mobile video production
Strong contender in the AI-driven creative space with a focus on high-quality artistic filters and effects.
Differentiators
- Pioneered the AI avatar generation trend which drives high user engagement and viral social sharing
- Focuses on premium artistic transformations rather than just basic retro-style color grading presets
Bytedance-backed editor that directly competes for the same creative audience with advanced AI art features.
Differentiators
- Integrates advanced AI art generation tools that allow users to transform photos into stylized digital art
- Leverages Bytedance's ecosystem to provide seamless transitions for short-form video content creators
Remini is a massive competitor in the AI-enhancement space, capturing significant market share with high-velocity updates.
Differentiators
- Specializes in high-fidelity AI restoration of low-quality photos, a distinct vertical from retro filters
- Aggressive release schedule of 30 updates in six months signals rapid AI model iteration
Same space(3)
A specialized editor focusing on virtual makeup and face-editing tools.
Differentiators
- Uses advanced AR technology for real-time virtual makeup application and skin texture refinement
- Partners with beauty brands to offer realistic product trials within the editing interface
Focuses on the specific sub-genre of AI-powered cartoon and artistic transformations.
Differentiators
- Automates the conversion of photos into various cartoon and anime styles with a single tap
- Targets a specific niche of users interested in stylized, non-photorealistic image editing
A massive, long-standing competitor in the Asian market with deep expertise in beauty and filter technology.
Differentiators
- Features highly sophisticated facial recognition and beauty-enhancement algorithms for portrait photography
- Provides an extensive library of AR stickers and interactive effects that appeal to younger demographics
Compare Filter against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for Filter
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Hollywood-quality filter library sustains organic install velocity
- Foreground-service export ensures completion of high-value workflows
- Batch-editing tools reduce time-to-publish for creators
Critical Frictions
- Premium tier gating of formerly free features drives negative sentiment
- Mandatory onboarding surveys create high-friction entry barriers
- Android export resolution caps limit professional-grade output
Growth Levers
- Education-focused partnerships for B2B distribution
- Expansion into wearable-integrated quick-edit workflows
Market Threats
- Rapid AI-model iteration by Remini outpaces current development
- EU data-minimization trends threaten invasive onboarding flows
- Bytedance-backed Hypic ecosystem integration siphons short-form video creators
What are the next best moves?
Pivot onboarding flow to include a skip option because mandatory surveys are the #2 churn driver → increase top-of-funnel conversion.
Sentiment analysis identifies mandatory surveys as a primary barrier to entry.
Trade-off: Pause the development of new AR sticker packs.
Invest in Android export resolution parity because low-res caps are the top technical complaint → reduce churn among power users.
User requests specifically cite export resolution as a limitation on modern devices.
Trade-off: Delay the Q3 rollout of new Hollywood-quality filter sets.
Maintain foreground-service export stability because it is the primary mechanism for high-value workflow completion → defend retention.
Foreground service is a core retention lever for preventing task interruption.
Trade-off: Same-quarter capacity available; no major lever displaced.
A counter-intuitive read
Prequel's reliance on aggressive paywalls is not just a monetization strategy, but a defensive reaction to the high-velocity AI-model iteration of competitors like Remini that forces higher R&D costs.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Real-time AI avatar generation (available in Lensa AI but absent here)
- Timeline-based video editing (available in InShot but absent here)
Key Takeaways
Prequel retains users through high-quality aesthetic presets, but aggressive monetization of formerly free features is eroding the user base, so the PM must prioritize technical stability and onboarding friction to prevent further attrition.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
The photo-editing market is consolidating around AI-driven, high-velocity feature deployment, leaving Prequel exposed by its current maintenance-mode update cadence. Unless the team pivots to address technical debt and onboarding friction, the current sentiment decline will accelerate churn into the next quarter.
Aggressive paywall expansion in the latest update drives negative sentiment, which compounds the churn risk among casual users.
Technical instability and export resolution caps on Android devices prevent professional-grade output, forcing power users toward more robust competitors.