The Top 10 Best Mobile Apps for Photographers in 2024Enhanced camera applications to photo editing, sharing and unlocking your phone camera's controls, these are the apps we can't live without.
They say the best camera is the one that you have with you. Even though I love my Canon SLR I cannot always carry it with me. Instead, I shoot with my mobile phone as I always have it about my person. This is why mobile phone photography is so popular with many people, it's the camera they always have with them.
This collection of apps lists some of the best mobile apps for photographers which can help take better photos, edit and enhance images and share on social media.
Camera ZOOM FX
Camera ZOOM FX claims to be the fastest camera on Android, and it surely lives up to this bold claim. In fact, Camera ZOOM FX is great for its killer speed burst mode that shoots at up to 50 frames per second, which is fantastic for action shots. It also has an image stabilizer to ensure you don't end up with a blurry photo.
Keeping up with the speedy theme, Camera ZOOM FX has a fast and responsive material interface. There are full manual controls, the ability to combine multiple shooting modes, RAW capture, photo editing tools, tilt-shift, collage-maker, and much more.
Camera ZOOM FX on Google Play Market
Manual - RAW Custom Exposure Camera
In Manual, photographers can manually (hence the name) adjust settings that aren't accessible normally: shutter speed, ISO, white balance, focus, and exposure. You can tweak each of these to your liking to deliver outstanding results in the final image. It also means you're in full control of the photo's outcome.
Manual - RAW Custom Exposure Camera on Apple iTunes Store
Open Camera
Do you support open source apps on Android? Then Open Camera is a must. This open source camera app is completely free and has no in-app purchases.
Open Camera allows smartphone photographers to take better photos with manual controls, auto-stabilization, remote controls and voice commands, grid overlays, cropping guides, HDR, and more. You can even record video, and it's completely customizable, from the volume keys to optimizing GUI for left- or right-handed users.
Open Camera on Google Play Market
ProCam 5
ProCam 5 is the Swiss Army knife of iOS camera apps. It manages to include everything you need for still photo shooting, such as night and burst modes, slow shutter tools, Portrait Mode, and even 3D photos. But on top of it all, ProCam 5 does video which is missing from most camera apps.
ProCam 5 on Apple iTunes Store
VSCO Cam
VSCO has a minimalist camera mode, but it's packed with powerful features. Smartphone photographers can shoot in RAW mode with a simple toggle, manually adjust white balance, ISO, exposure, and enable to grid overlay and lever for perfectly composed photos.
Once the moment's caught, just hop on over to VSCO's powerful Studio. From here, you can apply expertly crafted filters and make fine adjustments to the image for a professional and unique perspective. Then make sure to upload it and share with the rest of the VSCO community.
VSCO Cam on Google Play Market VSCO Cam on Apple iTunes Store
HD Camera
HD filters Camera is a fully featured free Camera app, with Quick Snap And HD videos, and offers Photo Sphere, and other creative panorama photo mode. Easy to Shoot professional Camera Effects, Real-time Preview of the beautiful Photo and video filters Effects.
HD Camera on Google Play Market
HDR Camera
Most HDR cameras require taking a number of consecutive shots to extend dynamic range. This approach works only in a steady environment, and will not work for taking pictures of moving objects.
Unlike those apps, we use only one frame to create a photo with extended dynamic range.
Halide
Halide is designed to put the controls back in your hands, letting you set everything from exposure to focus to ISO to shutter speed. The interface includes views for histograms and depth peaking, so you can monitor how the phone is registering and processing the depth of field settings.
It's designed for photographers who are looking to capture images the way they want to, rather than leave everything to automatic settings and chance. It's one of the best pro camera apps for iPhone out today.
Halide on Apple iTunes Store
Camera+ for IOS
Camera+ is another powerful camera app replacement, which like CameraZoon FX, allows you to control separate focus and exposure points, one of the secrets to good mobile phone photography. You can also use additional features such as selective focus, exposure compensation, and exposure lock.
One of the features I most like is the Clarity filter, it is iPhone photography's secret weapon and it adds pro-camera crispness to almost any shot.
Camera+ for IOS on Apple iTunes Store
Adobe Lightroom CC
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC for mobile is a free app that gives you a powerful, yet simple solution for capturing, editing and sharing your photos.
It has a number of presets which, when applied to images, add that extra zing to your snaps. You can also crop, rotate, fix and touchup photos.
Lightroom CC has almost all the useful features of the desktop software, whilst at the same time being much more handy, and it also sports a minimal, easy to use interface.
Adobe Lightroom CC on Google Play Market Adobe Lightroom CC on Apple iTunes Store
Snapseed
Snapseed surpasses all other general photo-editing apps and it's the closest to a Photoshop CC for mobile devices. Snapseed isn't for the casual user, but for serious photographers who want or need to spend time creating the best possible image while on the go.
Snapseed photo editing is nondestructive, which means you can always go back into the Stack (layers) and adjust or eliminate any edit, including correcting misspelled text.
Snapseed on Google Play Market Snapseed on Apple iTunes Store
Hyperlapse from Instagram
Create amazing time lapse videos with Hyperlapse. Using Instagram's in-house stabilisation, Hyperlapse shoots polished time lapse videos that were previously impossible without bulky tripods and expensive equipment.
When you shoot a time lapse video with Hyperlapse, your footage will be instantly stabilised to smooth out the bumps from the road and give it a cinematic feeling.
Hyperlapse from Instagram on Apple iTunes Store
FrameLapse Timelapse Camera
FrameLapse is a full featured app for creating stunning time-lapse videos on your Android device. Record high quality time-lapse clips effortlessly thanks to the simple, fast and intuitive interface.
Discover beautiful new patterns in everyday events which remain invisible to our eyes. Watch the setting sun in a few seconds or a journey in a minute and prepare to be amazed. Record amazing time lapse and hyperlapse videos with ease now.
FrameLapse Timelapse Camera on Google Play Market
Google Photos
Google Photos is a new photo gallery from Google, made for the way that you take photos today.
Organise your photos into albums, share with family and friends, backup your memories to Google Cloud using the free infinate storage on Drive (Google account required) as long as your photos are 12MP or less and you don't mind Google's compression algorithm running over your photos. For the average user the compression is not noticable.
Upload the pictures, and let Google Photos do the rest.
Google Photos on Google Play Market Google Photos on Apple iTunes Store
Flickr
Flickr allows your upload, access, organise, edit and share your photos from any device, from anywhere in the world.
Free accounts have 1TB of storage for all your photos, and you chose which ones to have shown on the site. You can also tweak your photos, add filters, crop images and more, directly from the camera roll. And if you change your mind, just revert the changes!
Flickr on Google Play Market Flickr on Apple iTunes Store
Instagram is the defacto photo and video-sharing social networking service owned by Facebook.
Instagram is a simple way to capture and share the world's moments. Follow your friends and family to see what they're up to, and discover accounts from all over the world that are sharing things you love. Join the community of over 800 million people and express yourself by sharing all the moments of your day - the highlights and everything in between, too.
Instagram on Google Play Market Instagram on Apple iTunes Store
FreePrints
Ordering your free prints couldn't be easier. Just open the app and select the photos you want to print from your Camera Roll, Facebook, Instagram and more. Then choose your quantities and you're done! Your free 4x6 prints will arrive on your doorstep in just days - and all you pay is a small shipping charge.
Additional photos are available at extra cost, typically around £1-£2 each.
FreePrints quality includes vivid color reproduction, brilliant whites and fade-free images. There are no subscriptions and no commitments of any kind.
FreePrints on Google Play Market FreePrints on Apple iTunes Store
Have you got a favourite application not listed here? Let us know in the comments below!