iPhone apps to take your photography game to the next level in 2025

The iPhone camera is already one of the best stock camera app any phone manufacturer can dream to offer. It is fast for quick fire photography and it quality is effortless. However, for those who want to push their photography and videography game to the limits of their device capabilities, there is much better on the app store.

1) Halide Mark II

The Halide Camera is a revolutionary camera app designed to empower photographers. Wether you are an occasional photographer or a seasoned professional, Halide is definitely your gateway to capture stunning images on your iPhone. I have been using it on my iPhone 12 Pro that doesn’t support Macro photography like the iPhone 13 Pro and above but thanks to Halide, I can take Macro pictures that are pretty good. Although, I cannot zoom in as much due to hardware limitations, it is still amazing to be able to take crisp close-up pictures.

Features:

• Beautiful, intuitive gesture-based interface, usable with one hand
• Take portraits of pets and objects on single-camera phones, like iPhone XR and iPhone SE
• Manual focus, and powerful tools like a Focus Loupe and Focus Peaking
• Smart automatic mode with Halide Smart RAW, optimizing settings with Machine Learning for RAW files with less noise and more detail
• Full manual exposure controls including shutter speed, ISO and white balance
• Best-on-iPhone exposure tools: histograms, XDR 14-bit RGB waveform, and color zebra stripes
• Captures RAW, TIFF, HEIC or JPG for the best quality shots
• Grid overlay with built-in level
• A powerful reviewer to view DNG, JPG, HEIC and Live Photos, as well as Portrait depth data and mattes, with a detailed metadata view — with batch export!
• Instant RAW development process to quickly develop your RAW files in a tap

Important: If you are an early adopter of Halide Mark I, some of the above features might not be available

Link: https://tpi.li/D6ypCJ3

2) Cineon

I downloaded the Cineon app as a blind download and have been wondering ever since how come it is not in the top 10 of iPhone Camera apps. It is basically like the Dehancer: Color Grading app but there’s a major different, it costs $399 while Cineon is free.

What makes Cineon a must have on iPhone is that it is packed with LUTs that replicate the look of the most expensive Cameras on the market. Wether it is RED, Arri, Canon, Sony Alpha… They pretty much have all the fanciest camera looks that you can apply.

Link: https://tpi.li/pZD9jAjI

3) Blackmagic Camera

This app is definitely the best video recording app ever made on iPhone, I call it the Filmic slayer, I was a Filmic Pro early adopter and a big fan but since the app was sold to Bending Spoons, they switched a subscription based model and laid off the entire Filmic staff (Source: TechCrunch) and no longer offered updates to early adopters.

When Blackmagic released their camera app, it was great to finally have an alternative to Filmic that is completely free. There is also the Cinema P3 Pro Camera that has amazing features but it offers in-app purchases and upgrading Pro tools costs almost $20

Blackmagic Camera Features

• Shoot in 16:9 or vertical aspect ratios.
• Stealth mode for shooting 16:9 while holding phone vertically.
• Capture in Apple ProRes, HEVC and H.264 with auto proxy generation.
• Frame rate, shutter speed, exposure, white balance, tint and color space camera controls.
• Focus assist, zebra, frame guides, histogram, 3D LUT monitoring.
• Time of day or run time, timecode recording.
• PCM, IEEE Float or AAC audio recording, 44.1 or 48 kHz sample rate.
• VU or PPM audio meters.
• Thumbnail view of all recorded clips in media tab.
• Preview clips with scrubber, duration, timecode and file name display.
• Fully integrated with Blackmagic Cloud and DaVinci Resolve.
• Record to iPhone, select recorded clips to share via Blackmagic Cloud or sync automatically.

Link: https://tpi.li/PcCYB2pP8U

4) Darkr — Vintage Film Filter

This is a must have for anyone who wants to learn the basic rules of photography. Not only you will quickly learn how to frame your pictures better, you will also be able to capture images in a fun way and even develop them.

Darkr aims to replicate the experience of using a traditional darkroom to develop your photographs. Initially, your camera roll is presented as a collection of negatives. Upon selection, it offers a digital test strip to help you find the desired appearance, before guiding you into an editing interface where you can adjust aspects like cropping, rotation, dodging, burning, blurring, and toning. It features various built-in camera modes, including one that emulates a large-format camera, and true to its nostalgia-driven nature, it exclusively produces images in black and white.

Link: https://tpi.li/Q2xmgS

5) Nciption

Nception is definitely weird but incredibly artsy. It allows you to craft surreal videos reminiscent of scenes from “Inception” (hence the name) by selecting from a range of reality-altering effects and color palettes, all with live camera preview.

Alternatively, capture captivating still images using these effects and palettes, available in both standard and square formats. You’ll find the process surprisingly simple, enjoyable, and creatively stimulating!

Main features:

• Record video or take photos with effects and looks added in real time.

• Choose between 33 reality bending distortion effects.

• Choose between 36 beautiful color looks for both video and stills.

• Shoot, edit and export videos and photos in both standard and square format.

• Non destructive re-editing of any effect or look for both videos and photos.

• Import and add effects and looks to videos and photos created with other apps.

• Slow-motion feature. Record in up to 120 frames per second.

• Export videos in a frame rate of your choice.

• All photos can be exported to non-destructive PNG-format for maximum quality.

• Highest possible video bitrate for maximum quality.

• 4K video support (iPhone 7 and later).

Link: https://tpi.li/kpNaCAaP

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