Better Camera: No AI

Camera, but better. No AI. No compromise.

Better Camera is the iPhone camera app for photographers who want what they see. No scene detection rewriting your photo. No smart HDR flattening highlights. No AI denoise smoothing skin into plastic. Just manual ISO, shutter, focus, and white balance – plus film simulations that respect what light actually did.

When the stock Camera isn't enough but pro tools are too much, Better Camera is the camera in between. Simple where it can be. Manual where it matters. Honest about what it captures.


BUY FILM, NOT A SUBSCRIPTION

Start with a free roll of 36 shots. When it runs out, buy another roll – or the whole camera, once, and never think about it again. No countdown, no expiry, no renewal you forgot about. Film you own, the way film used to work.


BUILT FOR THE WAY YOU ACTUALLY SHOOT

– Manual ISO and Shutter Speed, plus Auto ISO and Auto Shutter
– Shutter Priority and ISO Priority modes for flexible exposure control
– Three focus modes: C-Auto across the frame, S-Auto locked to your point, and full Manual
– Focus peaking highlights sharp edges as you focus by hand, in your choice of colour
– Live histogram in the viewfinder, so you can see clipping before you press the shutter
– Exposure compensation in third stops with a thumb-friendly stepper
– Flash power compensation across five steps, for fill light that doesn't overpower
– White balance presets (Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Tungsten, Fluorescent) plus full manual Kelvin control
– Tap to focus in any mode, including Manual
– Front camera with screen flash for low-light selfies


EVERY LENS, INCLUDING MACRO

All your iPhone's lenses in one row, from ultra wide to telephoto. On supported models a dedicated macro lens gets you close enough to fill the frame with something small.


FILM, THE WAY IT SHOULD LOOK

Ten carefully crafted film simulations modelled on real stocks photographers actually shoot. Each is a proper colour profile – authentic rendering of colour, contrast, and tonal response. Not a slapped-on filter.


GRAIN, OPTIONAL

A separate grain layer, with four intensity levels, that can be applied to any film simulation or to unfiltered photos. Rendered per-pixel through a Metal compute shader. The grain is monochromatic – a single noise value per pixel applied equally across colour channels – the way real film grain actually behaves.


OUTPUT YOU CAN TRUST

– HEIF for everyday shooting
– JPEG for compatibility
– Lossless TIFF for archival, post-processing, and when compression is not acceptable

Full EXIF metadata embedded in every photo: exposure values, lens information, GPS, and the film simulation used.


QUALITY OF LIFE

– Camera settings persist between sessions – open the app and your setup is exactly where you left it, ready to shoot
– On-screen rule-of-thirds grid and gravity-based level line
– iPhone Camera Control support
– Hardware shutter button (volume keys)
– Launch from Lock Screen control
– Designed for one-handed use


BUILT BY A PHOTOGRAPHER

Better Camera was made by a Fuji X-T5 and Ricoh GR shooter who wanted his iPhone to feel as deliberate as a real camera in his pocket. No AI. No filters pretending to be film. No menus inside menus. Just a camera, but better.

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Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
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Contact us: hey@bettercamera.app