Updated for 2026
Updated August 2026. Prices, ratings, install counts and store labels re-read from every Play listing below.
Verified against the Play listings on 6 August 2026. Full breakdown of all 11 apps below.
Pair any pick with our Photo & Video guides. The privacy section below covers permissions, location, EXIF metadata and how far to trust a GCam port.
July 2026 update. Snapseed 4.0 finally landed on Android, Blackmagic reached 3.4, and a new pro camera app arrived. We traced every 2026 release to a dated source: check the detailed review.
| Your phone | Start here | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Google Pixel | Stock Pixel Camera, add Adobe Lightroom | The stock app IS Google Camera; nothing beats it on Pixel hardware. Lightroom adds DNG raw capture and a full edit pipeline. |
| Samsung Galaxy S/Z flagship | Stock camera plus Samsung Expert RAW (free, Galaxy Store) | Samsung's own pro tools already cover raw, long exposure and astro. A GCam port is the least necessary here. |
| Samsung Galaxy A series | Open Camera | Full manual control without weighing down a midrange chip; Footej Camera is a lighter, fun alternative. |
| Xiaomi / POCO / Redmi | A GCam port built for your exact model | These phones gain the most from HDR+ and Night Sight, and the port community covers almost every model with tested builds and config files. See the GCam guide below. |
| Older phone (Android 9 or 10) | Open Camera, or an 8.7-series GCam port | Current 9.x GCam ports need Android 11 or newer; Open Camera still runs great on older hardware. |
Before the individual reviews, here is the whole field side by side: what each app costs, whether it shoots RAW, whether the listing carries an ads label, and the catch to know before you install. Everything in the table was read from the Google Play listings on 6 August 2026.
Price, the RAW route, the ads label and the catch, read from each app's Google Play listing on 6 August 2026. Open Camera is the best free pick: open source and fully manual.
| App | Price | RAW | Ads label | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Camera | Free, open source | Yes | Yes | Plain looks until you map the controls |
| Google Camera | Free on Pixel | Yes | No | Play install is Pixel-only; others need a port |
| Adobe Lightroom | Free core, paid plan | Yes, DNG | No | Smartest tools sit in the plan |
| ProCam X | $4.99 one-time, free Lite | With unlock | No | Last Play update November 2025 |
| Camera FV-5 | $4.99, free Lite | Paid version | No | Dense screen takes learning |
| Footej Camera | Free, Premium IAP | Premium | Yes | Listing now published by ZipoApps |
| Lens Buddy | Free | No | No | Timer first, not a pro camera |
| Snapchat | Free, IAP | No | Yes | Rated Teen; fun first, fine detail second |
| B612 | Free, IAP | No | No | Watermarks on free saves |
| VSCO | Free basics, yearly plan | Yes | No | Full preset library behind the plan |
| Pixtica | Free, Pro IAP | Pro unlock | No | Last Play update August 2023 |
The tables give you the map; the reviews below add the detail, app by app, with every fact line read from the app's own Play listing.
Manual control
If you want a free, open source camera with serious depth, this is the one we recommend first, with one caveat: its Play build carries a "Contains ads" label. It exposes manual ISO, shutter speed, focus, and white balance, plus a proper level grid for straight horizons. The developer targets low-end hardware explicitly, and the app is packaged for old Android releases. The interface looks plain until you remap the controls. Skip it if you want filters or beauty tools: there are none, and B612 owns that lane. Choose Open Camera over ProCam X when you want the full manual cockpit for free.
On the ads question, developer Mark Harman states on opencamera.org.uk: "No third party ads in the app (I only run third party ads on the website)." The Play listing still carries a Contains ads label, so we report both.
↑ Back to the comparisonPoint and shoot
On a Pixel this is simply the best point and shoot experience on Android, and ported versions bring that magic to other phones too. Night Sight pulls usable shots out of near darkness, and the computational HDR handles tricky backlight without fuss. It suits anyone who wants stunning results with no settings to fiddle with, and it is free on Pixel devices. On Play it is listed as Pixel Camera by Google LLC at 2.9 stars from 513K reviews (checked 6 August 2026), by far the lowest rating on this page. Skip it if you will not sideload: on other phones the listing will not install; a community port is the only route.
↑ Back to the comparison
Shoot and edit
Lightroom hides a superb camera inside its editing app, and it shoots in DNG raw so you keep every bit of detail for later. It suits hobbyists who edit as much as they shoot, and the listing shows 4.5 stars from 3.63M reviews and 100M+ installs (checked 6 August 2026). The core app is free with no ads label; in-app purchases run $0.49 to $499.99, and the smartest masking tools sit in the paid plan. Skip it if you never edit your shots; choose Google Camera on a Pixel, or Open Camera anywhere else, and keep the simpler pipeline.
↑ Back to the comparisonMoving off auto
ProCam X is the clean step up from auto mode: manual exposure, a live histogram, and 4K video with no subscription. The linked Pro listing is a $4.99 one-time purchase with no ads label, rated 4.3 stars by 23.9K reviewers with 1M+ installs, and its last update was November 2025 (checked 6 August 2026), so treat it as a finished tool rather than a fast-moving one. There is a free Lite version to try first. Skip it if you want an actively developed camera; Camera FV-5 took an update as recently as May 2026.
↑ Back to the comparisonDSLR shooters
Built for people who think like DSLR shooters, Camera FV-5 lays out aperture priority style controls, bracketing, long exposure timers and an intervalometer in one dense screen. It is a $4.99 one-time purchase with no ads label, rated 4.2 stars by 19.2K reviewers and updated as recently as May 2026 (checked 6 August 2026). It suits enthusiasts who want repeatable, technical shots. A free Lite edition covers the basics, while the paid version adds full resolution capture and raw output. Skip it if you shoot on full auto; the control-dense screen is the price of the DSLR workflow, and Footej is friendlier.
↑ Back to the comparisonCasual shooters
Footej strikes a nice middle ground between simple and serious, with a slick gallery built right in so you review burst shots fast. The GIF maker is a genuine surprise, turning a quick burst into a shareable loop in a tap. It suits casual shooters who still want manual mode on tap. It is free with a Contains ads label, and a Premium in-app purchase (the listing shows a $0.99 to $99.99 range) clears the ads and unlocks raw capture. Skip it if a quiet change of hands bothers you: the listing is now published by ZipoApps (checked 6 August 2026).
↑ Back to the comparisonSolo selfies
When you are shooting yourself with no one to press the button, Lens Buddy is the answer. Its self timer fires off a whole sequence of frames so you can move between poses and pick the best later; the creative Lens Buddy shots roundup shows what that sequence timer makes possible. At 4.8 stars from 6.39K reviews it is the best-rated camera on this page, on the smallest review base, and the listing currently shows no ads or in-app purchase labels (checked 6 August 2026). Skip it if you need manual exposure; it is a timer first, and Open Camera keeps the manual cockpit.
↑ Back to the comparisonFun AR lenses
Snapchat is still the camera with the best AR lenses in the business, and the camera opens the instant you launch the app. The Play listing shows 4.2 stars from 39.6M reviews, 1B+ installs, a Teen rating, a Contains ads label and in-app purchases from $0.49 to $399.99 (checked 6 August 2026). It suits anyone who values fun and speed over fine detail. Skip it if you want clean, full-detail exports with no social network attached; choose B612 for polished selfies without the feed.
↑ Back to the comparisonPolished selfies
B612 is the selfie camera we recommend to people who want to look polished without learning a photo editor. The beauty tools smooth skin gently rather than turning faces plastic, and the sticker collection stays fresh. Its real time filters preview before the shutter rather than being applied afterwards. It is free with in-app purchases from $0.99 to $69.99 and no ads label, now published as B612 AI Photo&Video Editor by SNOW Corporation (checked 6 August 2026); the paid tier removes watermarks for cleaner saves. Skip it if you will not pay to lose the watermark on free saves; choose Snapchat when AR lenses matter more than a clean export.
↑ Back to the comparisonFilm aesthetic
VSCO pairs a capable manual camera with the film inspired presets that made it famous, favoring a muted, editorial look over punchy phone colors from capture to export. It suits anyone chasing a consistent feed aesthetic. The basics are free with in-app purchases from $0.99 to $29.99, while the yearly membership opens the full preset library and finer editing dials; its 3.6 stars from 1.33M reviews is the lowest score among the third-party apps here (checked 6 August 2026). Skip it if you will not subscribe; Open Camera plus a free editor covers the mechanics, if not the look.
↑ Back to the comparisonTinkerers
Pixtica bundles a surprising amount into one app, including manual controls, live filters, time lapse, and even a slow motion mode. It suits tinkerers who like one app that does a bit of everything.
It is free with in-app purchases from $1.25 to $4.99 for the Pro unlock, which adds raw and extra capture modes, and the listing currently shows no ads label. The caveat outweighs any feature: the last Play update was August 2023 (checked 6 August 2026), so it is no longer actively maintained. Skip it if you want an app with a future; Footej covers similar ground and was updated in April 2026.
↑ Back to the comparisonYour hardware sets the ceiling. The sensor, the lens and the image pipeline do most of the work; an app can steer that pipeline or expose data the stock app hides, but it cannot add detail the sensor never captured. If you only ever point and shoot, the stock camera is usually well tuned for your hardware and a fine default. The practical reasons to add a third party app are narrow: manual control the stock app withholds, RAW files to edit later, a particular creative look, or stock processing that leaves quality on the table.
Google Camera, or GCam, is the app that gives Pixel phones their reputation, mostly through computational tricks like Night Sight and strong HDR. Because that processing is software, the community produces GCam ports: modified copies built by third parties for non Pixel phones, and on some devices, especially in low light, a port genuinely improves photos. The limits are real too. A port is adapted to a model rather than built for it, results vary between phones and between port versions, some features stay broken, and an update can quietly change behavior. A port is also third party software with camera and storage access, so where you get it matters; see the privacy section below.
If you own a Samsung Galaxy phone, the equivalent manufacturer pick is Expert RAW, Samsung's free pro and RAW camera app for Galaxy S20 and S21 flagships through the S25 series and the Z Fold 7.
It gives you manual control and saves a 16-bit Linear DNG file alongside the JPEG, so it lines up with the RAW guidance below. One scope note: Expert RAW comes from the Galaxy Store rather than Google Play, so it sits outside our Play Store list above, but it is the closest Galaxy answer to the GCam-on-Pixel advantage.
If you plan to edit, look for RAW capture, usually saved as a DNG file. A RAW file keeps far more of the sensor's data than a finished JPEG, so you can recover shadows, fix white balance and pull back highlights afterward; the trade is large, flat-looking files that reward people who actually open an editor later. Some budget phones cap RAW output at the hardware level, so confirm yours supports it. Manual modes are the other reason to reach past the stock app: direct control of ISO, shutter speed, focus and white balance covers long exposures and matched series. Start in auto, and add manual control when auto hits a wall.
A camera app is one of the more sensitive things you install, because it can watch through your lens and read what you have already shot. The good news is that Android gives you clear ways to see and limit that, once you know where to look.
A camera app typically needs camera and storage access, and sometimes location. It does not need your contacts or your call logs; treat a request for those as a reason to pause. On Android 12 and later, the system shows a small indicator when an app uses the camera or microphone (a green dot for the camera, an orange one for the mic), so unexpected access is visible; older versions have no such dot. If it appears when you are not knowingly shooting, investigate.
You can read how the indicator works from the Android Open Source Project, and Android's own overview of these controls lives on the Android site.
Most photos carry hidden EXIF metadata: phone model, date and time, camera settings and, if the camera app has location permission and geotagging on, the GPS coordinates of the shot. Sharing a photo can therefore reveal where it was taken even when nothing in the frame gives it away. The two defenses are simple: strip the metadata before sharing, or turn off the camera app's location permission so the tag is never written in the first place. From Android 11, the system stopped other apps from silently launching a third-party camera and lifting GPS coordinates out of the resulting photo's EXIF, a change explained by 9to5Google. Your own camera app's location permission still decides whether photos get a GPS tag, so leave location off unless you want geotags, and check metadata before posting from a private place.
Even the stock Google Camera once shipped a vulnerability that let other apps control the camera and read photos and their metadata without permission. It was patched, but it shows why updates and tight permissions both matter: updates close holes like that one, and tight permissions limit the damage if something goes wrong.
A port is a modified copy of Google Camera made by a third party, and you give it camera and storage access to do its job. A genuine port from a reputable maker can be perfectly safe and improve your photos; a malicious copy dressed up to look the same could abuse that same access. So install a port only from a source you trust, be wary of look alike downloads, and if a port asks for permissions a camera has no business wanting, do not install it.
None of this requires being an expert. A few minutes of setup covers most of the risk and lets you go back to enjoying the photos.
Once your camera is set up the way you like, the rest of the workflow is the fun part. Send your best frames to a capable photo editor app, and if you also photograph documents and receipts, a dedicated scanner app handles those far better than a general camera does.
Pair it with: a photo editor app to finish RAW files and recover shadows after the shot, a gallery app to sort and find the keepers fast, and a video editor app if your camera does double duty for clips.
Not always, but it helps. Stock cameras are great for quick shots, yet a dedicated app gives you manual exposure, raw files, and creative modes your default may lack. If you only ever point and shoot, the built in camera is fine. If you want more control or a specific look, one of these apps is worth installing.
For most people we point to Open Camera. It is completely free and open source with real manual controls, though its Play build carries a Contains ads label. If you own a Pixel, the built in Google Camera is hard to beat for sheer photo quality. Both cost nothing, so it is worth trying each to see which layout you prefer.
Adobe Lightroom and Camera FV-5 are our top picks for raw capture, and Open Camera supports it on many phones too. Raw files hold far more detail for editing, though they take up more storage. Just check that your specific phone allows raw output, since some budget models limit it at the hardware level.
The ones we list here all come from the Google Play Store and have strong track records. Stick to official listings, glance at the permissions a camera app requests, and be wary of clones with odd names. When you finish shooting, a good photo editor app or a tidy gallery app rounds out a safe, useful setup.
A camera app normally needs only camera and storage access, plus location if you want your photos geotagged. It does not need your contacts or call logs, so treat a request for those as a reason to pause. Android also shows a small privacy indicator, a dot at the top of the screen, whenever an app is using the camera or microphone, so if that dot appears when you are not knowingly taking a photo, check which app is responsible and revoke access you did not intend to grant.
Photos store hidden EXIF metadata, including the phone model, date and time, camera settings, and GPS coordinates if location is enabled, so sharing one can quietly reveal where it was taken. You have two easy options: turn off the camera app's location permission so no coordinates are ever written, or strip the metadata from a photo before you share it. From Android 11, the system stopped other apps from silently launching a third-party camera and lifting GPS coordinates out of the resulting photo's EXIF. What decides whether your own photos get a GPS tag is the camera app's own location permission. The simplest habit is to leave location off unless you actually want geotags.
GCam ports are modified copies of Google Camera built by third parties, and they can improve photos on some phones, especially in low light. Because a port gets camera and storage access, install one only from a source you trust. A malicious copy could abuse that same access, so be wary of look alike downloads from unknown sites, and do not install any port that asks for permissions a camera has no reason to want.
On S-series and Z-series flagships, start with the stock camera plus Samsung’s free Expert RAW app from the Galaxy Store: together they cover raw capture, long exposure and astro shots. On A-series phones, Open Camera adds the manual controls Samsung reserves for flagships. GCam ports exist for Galaxy phones, but Samsung is the brand that needs them least.
Yes, and Xiaomi, POCO and Redmi owners typically see the biggest jump in photo quality from it, especially in low light. The port community covers almost every model with builds and per-model config files. You will need Android 11 or newer for current ports; see our step-by-step in the how-to-choose section above for the safe way to pick a build.