A Stop Motion Studio alternative that records one take

As of October 2026. Figures come from the App Store listing and public pricing pages and may have changed; check them before you decide.

The short version

Stop Motion Studio is a mature, well-loved app that runs almost everywhere. Unhanded is a new app for iPhone and iPad that does one thing differently: you record a single take instead of tapping the shutter for every frame. If you want the biggest toolbox on the most devices for the lowest price, Stop Motion Studio is hard to beat. If the slow part of your workflow is the tapping, Unhanded is aimed at you.

Side by side

	Unhanded	Stop Motion Studio
How you capture	One continuous take. Unhanded finds the poses and drops frames with hands.	Built around the shutter button: animate, step back, tap, repeat.
Price	Free with a small watermark. Pro is $14.99 once ($9.99 launch price for the first 30 days). Storyboards are an optional Plus subscription, $4.99 a month or $34.99 a year.	Free to download. $5.99 one-time “All Features Forever” unlock on iOS. Desktop versions are separate one-time purchases.
Platforms	iPhone and iPad.	iOS, Android, Mac, Windows and Chromebook.
Features	Hand removal, manual camera controls, captions and titles, a Film look, flipbook PDF and stickers (free). Per-pose timing and reordering, onion skin, audio, GIF export, green screen, 4K, bubbles that follow a toy, Faces, path guide, voice-over with lip-sync, sound effects and more looks (Pro). Storyboards (Plus).	Green screen, rotoscoping, audio library, titles, DSLR support, RAW.
Flicker	Locks focus, exposure and white balance at capture, then keeps the sharpest frame of each pose.	Users commonly report exposure drifting even when it is locked, which causes flicker.
Schools	Not a target. No Shared iPad or MDM support.	Supports Shared iPad and MDM. Widely used in classrooms.
Data	No account. Videos are processed on the device and never uploaded. Storyboards send your idea text and an optional props photo to write the plan.	No ads and no data collected.
Track record	Not released yet.	4.6 stars from roughly 80,000 ratings.

Where Stop Motion Studio wins

• Platforms. If you or your students use Android, a Chromebook or a Windows laptop, Unhanded isn't an option. We have no plans for Android or desktop yet.
• Price. $5.99 once is cheaper than $14.99 once.
• Effects and breadth. Rotoscoping, a large built-in audio library, DSLR and RAW support are things we don't offer.
• Schools. Shared iPad and MDM support, no ads, no data collection and years of classroom use. We aren't going after schools at launch.
• Track record. Roughly 80,000 ratings is real evidence. We have none yet.

Where Unhanded is different

• No shutter button. You record one take and keep both hands busy. Unhanded keeps one clean frame for each pose. How that works.
• A different answer to flicker. Locked capture plus a sharpest-frame pick. It's not a promise that flicker disappears. Our flicker guide covers what helps whatever app you use.
• Made for quick product clips. Social creators and small businesses who need a finished clip, not a toolbox. See the ideas.

Which should you pick?

Pick Stop Motion Studio if you teach with it, need Android or desktop, want rotoscoping or DSLR support, or want the lowest price.

Try Unhanded if you're on iPhone or iPad, shoot product or social clips, and want to spend your time animating instead of tapping. It's free to start.

You can use both. They don't conflict.