HLG to HDR

HLG to HDR — the HDR photos your iPhone and iPad can actually show

Shoot HLG or HDR PQ, and the camera's HDR file looks like a flat photograph in most apps. HLG to HDR converts it into Adaptive gainmap HDR HEIC: an ordinary-looking photograph on any screen, with the sky, window light and reflections coming back on an HDR display.

Panasonic HLG Photo (.HSP) photos can also be imported from Files.

PHOTO LIBRARY — FREE, AND THE WAY WE RECOMMEND
• Scanning reads the library index only; it never starts by pulling your whole iCloud library down to the device.
• Photos whose originals live in iCloud are listed as iCloud candidates first; only what you select is downloaded, and only when you convert it.
• Results can be written back to the library, or exported to a folder.
• Importing from the Photo Library is free, permanently: scanning, conversion, write-back to the library, export to a folder and every setting.
• You choose which formats the scan looks at. HEIF is on by default; HEIC — the iPhone default and the most common format in most libraries — is off by default because it makes the scan much slower. JPEG is its own switch.
• Photos already scanned are much faster next time, and you can skip the rest of a scan at any time.

IMPORTING FROM FILES — UNLOCKED WITH A ONE-TIME PURCHASE
• Pick HLG / HDR PQ files (HIF / HEIF / JPEG) from the Files app. Converted files are saved in this app's folder in Files, inside a new timestamped subfolder; existing files are not overwritten.
• This is unlocked with a one-time purchase (Pro). Not buying it does not affect the Photo Library path.

PRO — ONE-TIME, NOT A SUBSCRIPTION
• A non-consumable one-time purchase. It does not auto-renew.
• Not charged per photo: 1 photo or 100 photos, the same price.
• Family Sharing: if it is enabled for this app on the App Store, the purchase can be shared with your family. "Restore Purchase" recovers it on a new device.
• Failures, cancellations and restores each show a plain-language result.

WHAT IT DOES
• One file, two behaviours: correct on any screen, real highlights on an HDR display.
• Highlights keep their detail instead of flattening to white.
• The shooting data comes along: camera, lens, GPS and exposure into the converted file.
• Files that already carry a gain map are detected and skipped.
• Batch a shoot from the library: a queue, multi-select and a stop button; finished photos stay finished.
• The SDR layer follows the system's own tone mapping, so the flat version still looks like your photograph, not a washed-out conversion.
• 60-megapixel-class files convert one at a time inside a fixed memory budget.

PRIVACY
No account, no sign-in, no analytics, no upload. Photos are processed on your device and there is no server to receive them. When an original lives in iCloud, only the photos you convert are downloaded — downloaded, never uploaded.

FORMATS
Input: HLG and HDR PQ stills in HIF / HEIF, plus HDR PQ JPEG. What is inside the file decides, not the file name. Output: HEIC with an adaptive gain map.