Overview
When a product has several colours or styles, the default Shopify gallery often shows every image for every variant at once. A shopper selecting the green version still scrolls past the blue and the red, which muddies the decision and can drive returns. Rubik Variant Images and Swatch, built by Craftshift, fixes that by showing only the selected variant's photos and adding clean colour and image swatches to the variant picker.
It is one of Craftshift's most established apps, with a 5.0 star rating across nearly 400 reviews at the time of writing, compatibility with 350+ themes, and no impact on page speed. This guide walks through the problem it solves, its features, pricing, and setup.
Contents
The problem: variant image clutter
Product photography is one of the strongest conversion levers you have, but only when shoppers see the right image at the right moment. Many themes attach all of a product's images to the product rather than to specific variants, so a customer who picks "olive" is still shown every colour in the gallery.
That clutter creates two costs. It slows the buying decision, because the shopper has to work out which photos apply to their choice, and it raises the risk of a mismatch between what someone thought they ordered and what arrives. Cleaner, variant-specific imagery is a practical way to lift confidence at the point of purchase and reduce avoidable returns.
What Rubik Variant Images does
Rubik Variant Images ties photos to the variant a customer selects. Choose a colour or style and the gallery updates to show only that variant's images, while shared shots you want on every variant can be assigned once without duplicating them across the catalog.
On top of the gallery, the app adds swatches to the variant picker: colour swatches for simple palettes and image swatches that preview the actual product. The result is a product page where selecting an option changes both the swatch state and the gallery, so the visual and the choice always match. It supports multiple option types, such as colour and style together, and can include video and 3D content in the variant media.
Key features
- Variant-specific galleries: shows only the images for the selected variant, so the gallery matches the choice.
- Multiple images per variant: assign as many photos as a variant needs, with AI-powered auto-assignment to speed up large catalogs.
- Colour and image swatches: add colour swatches or product-image swatches directly in the variant picker.
- Shared images without duplication: assign common shots once and reuse them across variants instead of re-uploading.
- Rich media support: include video and 3D models alongside variant photos.
- Multiple options: handle products with more than one variant dimension, such as colour and style.
- Theme and builder friendly: works with 350+ themes and popular page builders, with free setup assistance and no page-speed penalty.
- International ready: supports 15+ languages for multi-market stores.
How it looks on the storefront
From the shopper's side, the experience is quiet in the best way. They land on a product page, see swatches for the available options, and as they select one, the gallery narrows to that variant's photos. There is no scrolling past irrelevant colours and no guessing which image is the one they are buying.
From the merchant's side, the setup lives in the app and maps images to variants, so you are not fighting your theme's native gallery logic. Because it integrates at the theme and builder level rather than replacing the gallery wholesale, it stays compatible across a wide range of themes and keeps the page fast.
Setup and compatibility
Getting started is quick and does not require reworking your products:
- Install from the Shopify App Store and open the app.
- Assign images to each variant, or let AI auto-assignment do the first pass on large catalogs.
- Mark any shared images so they appear on every variant without duplication.
- Enable colour or image swatches in the variant picker and style them to your theme.
- Preview a product page, confirm the gallery switches correctly per variant, and publish.
Tip - Craftshift offers free setup assistance, so if your theme or page builder needs a hand, use it before you roll the app out across the catalog. Documentation is available at rubikvariant.com/docs, and there is a dedicated product site at rubikvariantimages.com.
Pricing and plans
The app has a free plan plus three paid tiers, scaled by the number of products and monthly AI image credits. Annual billing saves around 33 percent.
| Plan | Price | Products | AI images per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1 | 50 |
| Starter | $25/month ($200/year) | 100 | 500 |
| Advanced | $50/month ($400/year) | 1,000 | 5,000 |
| Premium | $75/month ($600/year) | Unlimited | 50,000 |
The free plan covers a single product, which is enough to test the experience on a hero item before committing. Pricing is current at the time of writing, so confirm the latest figures on the app listing.
What merchants say
Rubik Variant Images holds a 5.0 star rating across roughly 393 reviews at the time of writing, with the large majority at five stars. Reviewers repeatedly call out easy setup, flexible customization, and fast support.
A store owner in Belgium wrote that "the support team helped me out quickly and solved the issue without any hassle. The app itself works exactly as described and has made a big difference." A US merchant added, "this app is perfect. It is incredibly easy to set up and use. There are so many cool ways you can set up your variant images and adjust your swatches." Another noted, "this app makes it super easy to manage images for products that have multiple variations. The support is great as well."
Where it excels
- Cleaner product pages: only the selected variant's images show, which sharpens the buying decision.
- Swatches plus gallery in sync: the picker and the images always reflect the same choice.
- Wide theme support: compatibility with 350+ themes and page builders, plus free setup help.
- Speed safe: designed to add variant imagery without slowing the page.
- AI assistance: auto-assignment reduces the manual work of mapping images on large catalogs.
- Proven track record: nearly 400 five-star-leaning reviews since its 2024 launch.
Things to keep in mind
Pricing is metered by product count, so a store that wants variant imagery on thousands of SKUs will land on the Advanced or Premium plan. Map how many products actually need variant-specific galleries before picking a tier, since not every product benefits equally.
As with any app that touches the product page, preview it against your live theme and page builder before a full rollout. The free setup assistance exists for exactly the edge cases where a theme handles galleries differently, so lean on it early rather than after launch.
Frequently asked questions
What does Rubik Variant Images do?
It shows only the selected variant's images on a Shopify product page and adds colour or image swatches to the variant picker, so the gallery always matches the shopper's choice. You can assign multiple images per variant and reuse shared images without duplicating them.
Which themes does it work with?
The app is built to work with 350+ themes and popular page builders, and Craftshift provides free setup assistance if your theme handles galleries differently.
Does it affect page speed?
No. The app is designed to add variant-specific images and swatches without impacting page load, which supports both conversion and SEO.
Can it show video or 3D models per variant?
Yes. Alongside photos, the app supports video and 3D model content in variant media.
Is there a free plan?
Yes. A free plan covers one product with 50 AI images per month, with paid plans from $25 per month for larger catalogs.
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