This is a big one.
Before we get into the exciting new features (and we have quite a few of them), let’s talk about the elephant in the room.
Subscriptions
Yes, Camera+ is moving to subscriptions. But don’t panic! If you’re an existing user, you’re not losing anything or going to be charged for what you’ve already paid for. This is absolutely not a decision we’ve taken lightly and our intention is to make Camera+ available to everyone at a reasonable price for the work we do to maintain and add to it. Here’s the general gist:
- $3.99/month or $17.99/year – that’s a discount of over 60% for choosing the yearly plan.*
- We really understand that committing to a set amount over periods of time is simply impossible for some people. So we will continue to offer the full app for an increased flat price of $24.99.*
- If you already own the app, you will not be charged further in order to continue accessing what you’ve purchased. We absolutely appreciate the support you’ve given us over the years.
Now I’m sure you’re wondering why we’ve chosen to do this. The simple and honest answer is that the number of people buying paid apps is shrinking faster and faster over the past few years. For a long time we’ve depended on new customers discovering and buying the app in order to pay the 6 of us working in the project. Not knowing whether next month’s sales will be enough is a continuous stress on our company. We are here for the long run, and we trust this change will provide us with some measure of certainty.
We love Camera+. We believe in its future growth potential, and that we have been, and will continue to be able to deliver you features that are well worth the cost. And with that said, here are the features we have for you today:
New Foundations
We have rewritten a lot of the app to use the latest technologies, making it faster, modernized, and future-proof. But you may be wondering, what’s in it for you? For starters, we have been able to redesign the editor, to make it much prettier and way more streamlined. For example, you can now effortlessly scroll through dozens of filters instead of seeing them in pages of 9 at a time. Layering effects and tweaking their intensities is now a much more intuitive and accessible process. And the new design is simply gorgeous on iPad: you have a big editing area and a vertical toolbar to work with. We are really proud of all of these changes, and we think you’ll enjoy the smoother, more effortless editing experience.
UltraRes: Capture Every Detail
Second up is our new UltraRes feature: it allows you to upscale your photos up to 48 Megapixels, which is 4 times what the native camera sensor can achieve. How does it work? It uses a lightning fast machine-learning model that we painstakingly trained on millions of photos, to teach it how to upscale images without making them blurry. Keep every detail in your photos, and don’t ever be afraid to crop or print them! UltraRes is available both through a camera preset, and also as a new tool in the editor: you can apply it to any photo you’ve taken, even with the system camera.
Tweaks and Fixes
In addition to the usual bug-squishing fest we perform for every major release, we enjoy taking the time to throw in a request or two from our favorite people, you! The one we love most this time around is the live histogram in the camera screen, which you can enable through the tools button in the top left corner of the camera. This has been a popular request from our pro customers, but it can be very useful for anyone interested in getting better pictures!
The Fine Print
- UltraRes is available in devices with a neural engine and enough RAM (i.e., iPhone 11 or better, iPad Pro 3rd generation or better, iPad 9th generation or better, and iPad Mini 6th generation or better). This is because the process is much slower in other devices, and editing takes more memory than they have. Additionally, UltraRes will not upscale photos larger than 12 Mpx.
- Live histogram is available in devices with a notch and some iPads. We love how it looks in the phone’s left “ear”.
As always, if you have a question, problem, or suggestion, you can contact us via the in-app bug reporter, conveniently located in the menu, and we’ll be happy to help!
*Please note that prices are subject to change by territory.