Eclipse vs Discreet
How Eclipse and Discreet differ on screen disguises, capture triggers, widgets and storage. Five masks versus a black screen, compared feature by feature.
Everything below about Discreet is taken from its own materials: secretspycamera.com
The short answer
Two differences, and both favour Eclipse if you plan to actually use the camera. The first is choice: Discreet offers a black screen, Eclipse offers the most screen disguises of any app in this category — five, including your own images, a Safari page and a QR scanner — which matters because a black screen only disappears in a dark room. The second is what you pay for. In Discreet, 4K, 60fps, high-quality stills, slow motion and Apple Watch are all paid. In Eclipse every one of them is free, because our line is drawn somewhere else: all camera capability is free, and Pro is for heavy users and people who want to customise. If you want cheap and simple and a black screen is genuinely all you need, Discreet is a fair pick.
Eclipse in short
- — Five screen masks, including a fake Safari page and QR scanner
- — 4K and your device’s maximum frame rate — up to 120/240fps — all free
- — Photo, video and Live Photo, front or back camera
- — Apple Watch app, widgets, and a Control Center toggle
- — Free to download, with a Pro tier for the advanced masks
Discreet in short
- — One disguise: a black screen
- — Free tier covers the black screen and a private gallery
- — 4K, 60fps, slow motion and Apple Watch are paid
- — Simple, and cheap if the black screen is all you need
Feature by feature
| Feature | Eclipse | Discreet |
|---|---|---|
| Screen disguises | Five: normal preview, black screen, your own images, a fake Safari page, and a QR scanner frame. | Only black screen. |
| Black screen capture | Yes. The whole screen is the shutter — tap anywhere, or use a volume button. | Yes. |
| Safari browser disguise | Yes. The screen renders a web page with a floating shutter, so the phone reads as ordinary browsing. | No. |
| QR scanner disguise | Yes. A scanner frame fills the screen — a plausible reason to be holding a phone up in public. | No. |
| Custom image mask | Yes. Use your own images and swipe between them while the camera records behind. | No. |
| Capture triggers | Tap anywhere on screen, either volume button, or the Apple Watch app. | Yes — screen tap and volume button. |
| Apple Watch | A watch app fires the shutter and starts the camera, so the phone can stay in a pocket or on a table. | Yes, but paid. |
| Widgets and Control Center | Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets plus a Control Center control, each opening straight into a mode. The widget can be given a disguised look. | Not documented. |
| Live Photo | Optional. Captures a short motion clip either side of the still. | Not documented. |
| Burst and timed capture | Several shots per tap, a delay before the first frame, and an adjustable gap between shots. | Yes. |
| Video quality | 720p, 1080p or 4K, and always the maximum frame rate your device can manage — Eclipse reads your iPhone’s real capture formats and offers everything it supports, up to 120 or 240fps for slow motion, retimed on save. All of it free. | Yes, but 4K, 60fps, high-quality stills and slow motion are all paid. |
| Where captures are stored | A private album inside the app, behind Face ID. Nothing is uploaded and nothing syncs. Export to Photos only when you choose to. | Yes — a private album behind Face ID. |
| Slideshow review | Built in, with adjustable timing for stills and video. | Not documented. |
| Free tier | Free to download and use, including the black screen mask, Face ID lock and slideshow. Pro unlocks the advanced masks and unlimited vault storage. | Yes, but capture quality is paid. |
Where Discreet's own materials do not state something either way, this table says so rather than assuming the answer is no.
Eclipse is free to download — try all five masks yourself before deciding.
Pricing
Eclipse
Free to download, and every capture setting is free — 4K, 60fps, slow motion, Live Photo, burst and timed capture, audio-only recording, the black screen mask, Face ID lock and slideshow playback. Nothing about what the camera can do is held back. Pro exists for two kinds of people: heavy users, who run past the 10-item free vault — and even that you can extend by watching an ad rather than paying or the Apple Watch’s daily capture limit, and people who want to customise — the Image, Safari and QR masks, widget backgrounds and icons, and slideshow timing. It also removes ads. Monthly or annual.
Discreet
Free to download, with a free tier covering the black screen and a private gallery. Beyond that it is US$9.99 once — a lifetime unlock, no subscription — and it buys 60fps video, high-quality stills, 4K, slow motion and Apple Watch support. Worth being plain about what that means: those five things are exactly what Eclipse gives away for nothing, so the honest way to read the price is that Discreet charges ten dollars for the part we do not charge for at all. It is still the better buy in one specific case — you want 4K and a Watch shutter, a black screen is disguise enough, you have no interest in the other masks, and you would rather pay once than subscribe to anything, ever. That is a real person, and for them ten dollars is a fair deal. Prices as listed at the time of writing; check the App Store for current figures.
Strengths and weaknesses
Eclipse
- + Five screen disguises, so the cover story can match the room you are in
- + 4K, 60fps and slow motion, free rather than reserved for a paid tier
- + Free tier that includes the black screen mask, Face ID lock and slideshow
- + Widgets and a Control Center toggle open a mode in one tap
- + Fine control over burst count, initial delay and the gap between shots
- + Captures never leave the device — no account, no upload, no sync
- − The advanced masks are behind a subscription, not a one-time purchase
- − Free vault is capped at 10 items, which fills quickly
- − Five modes is more to learn than a single button
- − Cannot record with the app in the background — an iOS limit, not a design choice
Discreet
- + Does the black-screen case well, and that is the case most people want first
- + Simpler: one mode, nothing to configure or choose between
- + A free tier covering the black screen and a private gallery
- + US$9.99 once, no subscription, if the black screen is all the disguise you need
- − A black screen is conspicuous in a lit room, which is where it most needs to work
- − The US$9.99 unlock buys 4K, 60fps, high-quality stills, slow motion and Apple Watch — the exact five things Eclipse gives away free
- − Widget, Live Photo and slideshow support are not documented either way
The difference that actually matters
A black screen is only invisible in the dark. That is the whole argument. In a lit room, a phone displaying nothing at all is conspicuous — screens are supposed to show something. Eclipse's other four masks exist because the believable disguise changes with the room you are standing in: a web page on a café table, a QR scanner at an event, your own photo anywhere else. Discreet solves the dark-room case well. Eclipse solves the dark-room case and the lit-room case.
Which one to pick
Choose Eclipse if
- — You want a disguise that holds up in a lit room, not only in the dark
- — You want the moment to be one tap away rather than four — a Home Screen or Lock Screen widget, a Control Centre toggle, or the Apple Watch, each opening straight into the mode you wanted
- — You want every feature actually free — the Apple Watch shutter and the advanced camera settings included, not as a trial
- — You want to record audio behind a black screen, which is the quietest way to capture anything
- — You would rather subscribe only if you turn out to be a heavy user, or you want to make the app your own and keep getting new features
Choose Discreet if
- — A black screen is all the disguise you need, and you would rather not choose between modes
- — You want 4K, 60fps or the Watch shutter, have no use for the other masks, and would rather pay US$9.99 once than subscribe to anything
- — You have already bought it and it does what you need
Common questions
- Is Eclipse or Discreet better for recording video with the screen off?
- Both record video while the screen shows something other than a camera preview. Neither can record with the screen genuinely off — iOS does not allow any third-party app to capture in the background. Eclipse gives you more choices of what the screen shows instead, which is the part you can actually control.
- Can either app record with the app in the background?
- No. iOS suspends camera access when an app leaves the foreground, and this applies to every third-party app without exception. Any app claiming otherwise is describing something iOS does not permit. Both apps work by keeping the app open while disguising what the screen displays.
- Do these apps hide the green camera indicator?
- Neither can, and neither should claim to. iOS shows a green dot whenever the camera is active, and there is no API to suppress it. Eclipse's masks are designed with that dot visible — the goal is a screen that looks ordinary, not a phone that looks off.
- Will the shutter sound give me away?
- Eclipse can capture silently with an optional haptic confirmation instead. In a few regions — Japan and South Korea among them — iOS enforces a shutter sound at the system level that no app can disable. That restriction applies to both apps equally.
- Is there a free version of either app?
- Eclipse is free to download, and the black screen mask, Face ID lock and slideshow are free permanently. Discreet does not document a free tier. If trying before buying matters to you, that is a real difference.
- Can I switch from Discreet to Eclipse and keep my captures?
- Captures in either app live in that app's private album, so there is no direct transfer. Export from Discreet to your Photos library first, then import into Eclipse's vault. Delete the Photos copies afterwards if you want them to stay private.
Try the masks before you pay for anything
Eclipse is free to download. The black screen mask, Face ID lock and slideshow stay free.
Download free on the App Store