Nowadays, there are countless applications for smartphones. Whatever you need, there is surely an app for it. There are apps for ordering food, booking a ride, managing finances and even playing games. If you have a smartphone or tablet, you can just download apps to help you in your everyday life.
While there are many useful general and specific apps that can help you with your daily activities and other tasks, there are also amazing apps out there that can help make your work easier especially if you’re a photographer. Here is a list of the best Android apps for photographers!
Table of Contents
Best Apps For Photographers Android
Once upon a time, taking photos, processing them, and getting your work seen meant hours toiling away in the darkroom or thousands of dollars spent on advertising. Those days are long gone. Today there are smartphone apps for both iOS and Android devices that make all aspects of photography, from location scouting to shoot planning to release signing, loads easier. This is a collection (in no particular order) of some of our favorites.
Best Photography Apps
Graphic of smartphone showing The Photographer’s Ephemeris app
- The Photographer’s Ephemeris
iOS and Android
$8.99
The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE) has been one of the most popular shoot planning apps out there for a long time, especially for Android users who don’t yet have access to Photopills. Pick a location anywhere in the world, drop a pin on the aerial map, and see how the sun and moon will move across the landscape on a given date. TPE is very useful for planning shoots in locations you’re not familiar with. Going on a big trip and hoping to maximize your shooting time? That’s what TPE is there for. Getting good landscape shots is often a combination of good planning and a little bit of luck. TPE makes the planning part easier.
Graphic of smartphone showing Google Earth app
- Google Earth
iOS and Android
Free
Good old Google Earth. If you’ve spent any time near a computer in the last decade or so you’ve probably played with Google Earth, but did you also know you can also use it on your phone? Google Earth is an incredibly useful tool for scouting out locations from afar. It allows you to easily see buildings, geological features, and other areas that might be of interest to you in planning a shoot. Google Earth uses a very simple interface that you’re probably already familiar with. There’s not much of a learning curve here. Just download the app, start getting the lay of the land, and get ready to shoot away.
Graphic of smartphone showing Scene Scout app
- Scene Scout
iOS and Android
Free
If you’ve ever gone scouting for locations and come home unable to remember what you just saw, Scene Scout is here to help. This useful scouting app allows you to collect details and photos from your scouting sessions, save them on your phone, and share them through social media. This not only makes it easy to remember and keep track of what you saw but also to share your ideas with friends, clients, and collaborators.
Graphic of smartphone showing Pocket Light Meter app
- Pocket Light Meter
iOS and Android
Free
Light meters are useful for helping film photographers calculate exposure. Sure, you can carry around a separate light meter all the time but what if you could use your phone (which you already have on you) instead? The Pocket Light Meter app does just that. This useful little app measures the light in the room using your phone’s camera and allows you to adjust ISO, aperture, and shutter speed to see how it will affect exposure in your image, helping you to get your settings dialed in just right. And it’s surprisingly accurate.
Graphic of smartphone showing VSCO app
- VSCO
iOS and Android
Free
There are many mobile editing tools out there but VSCO might be one of the most popular due to the large number of filters it has, the easy user interface, and the fact that it can also be used as a tool for sharing. Use the free VSCO filters or purchase additional ones for a small price. VSCO lets you adjust things like exposure, contrast, and white balance within the app. With a lot of different filter options to chose from, this app has something for everyone who likes to edit on their phone.
Graphic of smartphone showing Facetune app
- Facetune
iOS and Android
$3.99
When it comes to retouching photos on your mobile device, Facetune is one of the best options out there. This app lets you do things like remove blemishes, whiten teeth, reshape faces, and correct red eyes right on your phone. For a mobile option, it’s incredibly powerful. It does have a steep learning curve which is to be expected from an app this powerful but getting the hang of it is well worth the effort. This app is useful for photos taken with your phone but also for ones transferred to your phone through wireless devices.
Graphic of smartphone showing Lightroom Mobile app
- Lightroom Mobile
iOS and Android
Free
Lightroom is probably the most popular editing software around and the mobile app is a powerful tool for photographers who like to edit photos in the field. While other editing apps are handy for making adjustments to JPEGs, Lightroom Mobile ups the ante with raw file editing. Keep in mind that raw files are significantly larger than JPEGs so they will take longer to transfer from your camera and take up more space on your phone but for photographers who like to edit raws on the go, this app is invaluable.
Graphic of smartphone showing Instagram app
- Instagram
iOS and Android
Free
Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve surely heard of Instagram, the wildly popular photo sharing app that was purchased by Facebook to the tune of $300 million. When it first hit the scene it was mostly used by people taking photos on their phones, applying sometimes cheesy filters to them, and sharing them with the world. Not anymore. These days Instagram has become one of the primary ways for photographers to get their work noticed, book paying gigs, and find inspiration. If you thought that Instagram was just for taking pictures of your coffee, think again.
Graphic of smartphone showing Flickr app
- Flickr
iOS and Android
Free
Flickr was one of the first big photo sharing communities on the internet and, while it has a lot of competition today, it still has a big following. The Flickr app makes it easy to upload photos directly from your phone as well as to see what other people are doing. If you’re looking to get your work seen or get inspired by other photographers, Flickr is a great way to do it.
Graphic of smartphone showing Cluster app
- Cluster
iOS and Android
Free
If you’ve ever wanted to share photos with your family and close friends without the pictures being seen by everyone you’re connected to on Facebook, Cluster is a great option. This app allows you to invite people to private groups where you can share, comment on, and “favorite” photos. It’s a great way to share photos and interact with the important people in your life while still maintaining some sense of privacy.
Graphic of smartphone showing Lenstag app
- Lenstag
iOS and Android
Free
Having your gear stolen is the stuff of any photographer’s nightmares but all too often that nightmare becomes a reality. Lenstag wants to change that. Register your lenses, cameras, and other equipment with Lenstag (a photo of the serial number is required for proof of ownership) and, in the unfortunate event that your stuff goes missing, mark it as stolen on your account. If a third party buyer does a search for the serial numbers of the equipment you are missing, they will be notified that the stuff they are looking to buy was stolen. This app is helping to reunite photographers with their stolen equipment while also helping purchasers not buy illegally acquired goods.
Graphic of smartphone showing Posing app
- Posing App
iOS and Android
$4.99
Few things are more uncomfortable than being in the middle of a shoot and running out of things to tell your subjects to do. It’s an awkward and terrible feeling. The Posing App helps make this a thing of the past. This app has posing ideas for everyone from couples to kids presented in a clearly drawn, easy to use fashion. Think of it as a posing cheat sheet that is stored right on your phone.
Graphic of smartphone showing Easy Release app
- Easy Release
iOS and Android
$9.99
Model releases might not be the most exciting thing to talk about but if you’ve ever been in a situation where you see someone who looks awesome and want to take their picture, you know how important they are. The Easy Release app lets you get model releases right on your phone. It has contracts available in 12 different languages which is incredibly useful when traveling abroad. A model release is one of those things you don’t think about — until suddenly you need one. This app will make sure you always have one in your pocket.
Graphic of smartphone showing Starwalk app
- Star Walk II
iOS and Android
$2.99
Astrophotography is a lot of fun but it can be challenging to know when and where to shoot to get the images that you want. Star Walker II makes this process a lot easier. While not technically a photography app, Star Walk II is extremely helpful for photographers who like to take pictures of the night sky. Star Walk II will help you identify stars and constellations and plan Milky Way shots anywhere in the world. If you’ve ever dreamt of nailing that perfect shot of the Milky Way rising over a certain location, Star Walk II can help you get there.
Graphic of smartphone showing NOAA app
- NOAA Hi Def Radar
iOS and Android
$2.99
There is no shortage of weather apps on the market but the NOAA Hi Def Radar may be the best for photographers. This app gives you hi-def satellite imagery of approaching weather systems. This is useful not only for keeping you and your gear safe from inclement weather but also for getting those epic sky shots. If you’re wanting to find a break in the clouds, this app can help you do it. Bad weather can either make for great photos or a miserable shooting experience—this app will help you be on the right side of this equation.
Graphic of smartphone showing My Aurora Forecast app
- My Aurora Forecast
iOS and Android
$1.99
Photographing the Northern Lights is a bucket list item for many photographers. Unless you’re lucky enough to live in a place where the aurora borealis happens regularly, it’s going to take a lot of planning and a little bit of luck to get that perfect shot. My Aurora Forecast takes some of the guess work out of the equation by telling you when and where you’re likely to see the lights and sending push notifications to your phone if the likelihood is strong that the sky will light up in a given location. The app also provides aurora tour information for people who don’t want to go at it alone.
Graphic of smartphone showing Photo Pills app
- PhotoPills
iOS and Android
$9.99
PhotoPills is designed to be a one stop shop for location scouting and shoot planning. It’s especially useful for trying to plan a shoot from far away. This powerful app can tell you exactly where the sun and moon will be anywhere in the world on any given date. Want to know exactly when the Milky Way will be at a certain point above a particular feature in the land? PhotoPills’ augmented reality features can tell you. It uses augmented reality to help you plan and visualize your shots. This app has a bit of a learning curve but it’s well worth the effort to figure it out.
Graphic of smartphone showing The Great Photo App app
- The Great Photo App
iOS only
$2.99
This is another great tool for learning about photography. Designed for beginners, The Great Photo App helps you learn the basics of things like lens selection, aperture, shutter speed, and depth of field in an interactive and easy to understand way. The app lets you play with exposure by moving sliders around to see how it changes the image. The lessons are designed for true beginners so you will outgrow this app fast but it’s still a great way to get started.
Graphic of smartphone showing Dark Sky Finder app
- Dark Sky Finder
iOS only
$2.99
Getting great shots of the stars isn’t just about high ISOs or wide apertures—it’s also about finding the darkest skies possible. In a world with a lot of light pollution, this can be a challenge. The Dark Sky Finder app is here to help. This app uses information from NOAA and Google to compile a map showing where the darkest skies are found in any given place. For some locations it also provides crowd-sourced information on things like access restrictions, parking, and restrooms. This app helps take the pain out of finding a dark, safe place to shoot.
- SnapseedGraphic of smartphone showing Snapseed app
iOS and Android
Free
Snapseed combines a lot of the best editing tools of the mobile versions of Lightroom and Photoshop with creative filters in the style of Instagram and VSCO. Adjust things like exposure, contrast, and white balance within the app while also exploring HDR effects, film emulators, and even blemish correction. This is a powerful editing add but without a steep learning curve.
With the ability to have so many tools right in your pocket, doing photography on the go has never been easier. These photography apps make it easier than ever to take beautiful photos, even if you’re just starting out. We hope this list has introduced you to your new favorite tool or helped you to see how something you’ve always used may be a useful for your photography.
top 10 camera apps for android
Cameras on smartphones are a much bigger deal than they used to be. Companies are chomping at the bit to make their cameras more reliable, work better in low light, and add features that people want. Many will base their purchase decisions on the strength of the camera. The point is that cameras are important on mobile devices these days.
Usually, that makes stock camera apps better than third-party apps. OEMs simply know their camera setups better and optimize more appropriately. This is especially true for Google, Samsung, and Huawei phones that use AI and other software optimizations in conjunction with the camera hardware. Still, a third-party app may be useful in some scenarios. Here are the best camera apps for Android!
Finally, keep in mind that newer versions of Android may force the use of the stock camera app anyway. It’s just something to keep in mind.
The best camera apps for Android
Adobe Lightroom
Camera FV-5
Cymera
Filmic Pro
Google Camera and GCam ports
HedgeCam 2
Manual Camera
Open Camera
Photoshop Camera
Pixtica
ProCam X
SayCheese
Snap Camera HDR
VSCO
Your stock camera app
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Adobe Lightroom
Price: Free / $52.99 per month
Adobe Lightroom is technically a photo editor and not a camera app. However, it also comes with a camera app built-in. The camera is reasonably decent and includes big keyword features like HDR, RAW support, and various modes and presets. Plus it has the usual array of manual camera controls if you need that as well. The good news is Adobe Lightroom is one of the best photo editor apps for mobile right now so you can use the camera app and immediately bounce it right into editing.
Camera FV-5
Price: $3.95
Camera FV 5 screenshot 2021
Camera FV-5 was removed from the list a while back due to a lack of updates. However, it seems FGAE wasn’t done with this one yet. The current version of Camera FV-5 is actually pretty good. It has a swatch of manual controls, exposure bracketing, and even more specialized stuff like a built-in intervalometer. The list of features is simply too long for a simple list like this to encompass. The app runs for $3.95 and gets regular updates as of the time of this writing. The only downside is some phones seem to behave poorly with this one so make sure to give it a proper test inside the refund time in case your phone is one of them.
Cymera
Price: Free / Up to $3.49
Cymera screenshot 2020
Cymera is another one of the older and popular camera apps. It focuses more on mainstream features. That means you’ll get a bunch of filters, stickers, special effects, and similar features. It also has a beauty camera mode. It can add or take away features from your face and body. We’re not big fans of such dramatic alterations, but to each their own. It also includes a photo editor for minor edits. It’s free to download. You can buy additional stuff as in-app purchases.
Filmic Pro
Price: $14.99 + $9.99
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Filmic Pro is one of the newer camera apps on Android. It’s also the most expensive camera app on this list. It has some unique features as well. That includes some extremely specific manual controls. For instance, it has a dual slider for exposure and focus, a white balance adjustment matrix, and a gamma curve control. In addition, it comes with some added analytics, a live RGB control, and a lot more. This one had a very shaky start. However, the developers seem to be actively taking user feedback and updating the app to fix bugs. It will hopefully be good someday. Be sure to test this one thoroughly inside of the refund period if you want to try it out.
Google Camera
Price: Free
Google Camera screenshot 2022
Google Camera is Google’s official camera app. It’s the one you’ll find on most Google devices. It has a small, but effective set of features. They include a lens blur mode, slow motion (on supported devices), photospheres, video stabilization, and more. The only downside is compatibility. This app isn’t available for many devices. These days, it seems to only be available for Pixel devices. Still, there are ports out there for some other devices that you can find and sideload. It’s the only way to get some Google-specific features and the camera works pretty well once you have it.
See more:
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10 best photography apps for Android
10 best photography wallpaper apps for Android
HedgeCam 2
Price: Free / Up to $10.99
HedgeCam 2 screenshot
HedgeCam 2 is a fork of the open-source Open Camera app. It takes the winning combination of simplicity and features and adds to them with a few extra features. This version is also open-source, by the way, and the link for the code is in the Google Play description. This one includes a bunch of manual controls, HDR and DRO (dynamic range optimization) photo modes, various customization elements (like turning off the shutter sound), and even things like face detection support. Open Camera is quite good. This one is a little better, but also a little more complex. You can choose the one you like more.
Manual Camera
Price: $4.99
Manual Camera screenshot 2022
Manual Camera is a reasonably decent camera app. It includes a host of manual controls, including exposure, white balance, ISO, focus, shutter speed, and support for RAW files. You can even use it for slow motion video if your phone supports it. The app also adds a variety of shooting modes like burst shots and 4K video recording to make a well-rounded experience. The post-processing isn’t quite as good as a stock camera app, but it likely has some shooting modes your phone doesn’t have. It hasn’t seen an update since 2020, so we hope the developer hasn’t abandoned this one.
Open Camera
Price: Free / $1.99
Open Camera screenshot 2020
Open Camera is one of the most popular camera apps for serious photographers. It has most of the serious features we’ve discussed before. That includes manual camera controls. It also includes a timer, support for some external microphones, HDR, exposure bracketing, and more. It’s also a great option for both photographers and videographers. The app is completely free with no in-app purchases or advertising. It’s also completely open source. That’s always a plus. There is an optional (and separate) donation app if you want to support the developer.
Photoshop Camera
Price: Free
Photoshop Camera screenshot 2022
Photoshop Camera is technically a photo editor with a built-in camera app. It lets you take pictures of stuff and then use the app to dress them up. This isn’t nearly as powerful as desktop Photoshop nor is it as professional-focused as Adobe Lightroom. This app gives you a bunch of filters to play with along with auto-tone, portrait mode controls, and more. It’s definitely more for social media than it is for your photography portfolio. Plus, the filters can be quite unique. It’s a decent overall option if you’re looking to pretty up your Instagram.
Pixtica
Price: Free / $3.99 per year
Pixtica screenshot 2021
Pixtica is one of the newer camera apps on the list. It features a bunch of neat little tricks and some decent post-processing. Some of the features include live filters, manual controls, exposure control, a GIF recorder, a slow motion mode, RAW file support, QR code scanner, and more. It even comes with a very basic gallery and photo editor. We like its wide range of features and its all-in-one style. However, it does require a subscription for some of the features and your stock camera app can probably still do post-processing better.
More app lists here:
Best mobile camera add-ons you can get right now
5 best Nikon apps for Android
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ProCam X
Price: Free / $4.99
ProCam X screenshot
ProCam X is one of the newer camera apps on the list and it does a fairly reasonable job. It focuses more on professional-oriented features rather than filters and social media-style stuff. The app includes a burst mode, facial recognition, support for 4k video recording, and support for RAW. Additionally, there are manual controls (if your device supports it), the option to turn off the shutter sound, and a few camera modes like a scene mode or a focus mode. It hits a lot of the checkboxes for a good third-party app and the post-processing isn’t half bad. Plus, the premium version isn’t all that expensive.
SayCheese
Price: Free / Up to $13.99
SayCheese is a different kind of camera app. It’s a remote camera app with some neat functionality. It lets you connect to a friend’s phone and take pictures with their camera on your device. This is an excellent solution for those situations where you want to take a group photo but you don’t have someone to do it for you. The app is in early access beta at the time of this writing so there are some bugs. However, it worked pretty well in our testing and we assume more updates will add more stability.
Snap Camera HDR
Price: Free / $1.99
Snap Camera HDR is a good mix for serious and amateur photographer types. There is support for manual camera controls, 4K video recording, RAW support, HDR, and file size options. It also includes fun shooting modes, effects, borders, color effects, and vignettes. There are camera apps that do manual controls a little better and apps that do fun filters and such a little better. It’s rare to find an app that does both as well as this one. Make sure to try the free version before buying the pro version.
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