Best Camera App for Android in 2026 (Samsung Galaxy Picks)

It’s not easy finding the best camera app for Android. Many camera app roundups are written with Pixel phones (or even iPhones) in mind, so they include apps that either only work on Pixels (looking at you, Pixel Camera) or iPhones (cough cough, Halide). Meanwhile, Camera, Samsung’s camera app, comes loaded with a slew of shooting modes as well as Pro mode and RAW capture (on Galaxy flagships, at least). So any third-party camera app has to offer something Samsung’s Camera app doesn’t in order to warrant a download. Prices and last-updated info are as listed in Google Play (US) and the Galaxy Store as of 5 November 2026.

Which camera app for which job

Decide what you’d like to be different with the stock camera app, and pick your new app accordingly. Unless otherwise noted, assume the table refers to a recent Galaxy S or Z series phone. In some cases, the notes say where functionality differs in lower-cost Galaxy phones.

The apps compared

Prices vary by country, and these are listed prices in the US, so be sure to check the app’s store page before purchasing. The last updated date can indicate if the app is being updated regularly, which is important for camera apps as permissions available to third-party apps can change with each One UI update.

Start with the camera you already have

If you think Galaxy pictures come out too enhanced, too sharp, or too bright, you might find yourself in search of a different camera app. But there are ways to tone down Samsung Camera's photo enhancements. In Camera settings there's a Photo enhancer setting (checked on a Galaxy S25 Ultra with One UI 9, November 2026). It has three options. Prioritize quality aims for the best result, Balanced trims processing to speed up capture, and Prioritize speed promises fast capture with minimal processing. There's also a toggle for Scene detection, which analyses what you're photographing and tweaks the colour and contrast accordingly. Photo enhancer and Scene detection only affect pictures taken in Photo mode.

You can soften pictures with the Photo softening option in Camera Assistant. You can set it to High or Medium, or leave it turned off. You can also put a floor under shutter speed and a ceiling over ISO sensitivity (at 12MP) using Camera Assistant's Advanced Photo mode controls, which can help cut down on blurriness and graininess, respectively. If you want to shoot RAW images but don't want to use a different camera app, you can change the Pro mode picture format in Camera settings under Photo format. Our guide to natural-looking Galaxy photos goes through these options one at a time, and the Pro mode guide covers manual shooting.

RAW files with Expert RAW

Expert RAW, which Samsung says will capture images in both 16-bit linear DNG and JPEG format, is available for free on the Galaxy Store and listed by Samsung as compatible with the Galaxy S20 through Galaxy S26 series, Galaxy Z Flip and Fold series and some Galaxy A phones ("Galaxy A series (models with advanced camera systems)", Samsung says, without elaboration). Expert RAW has options for shooting in 12, 24, 50 or 200MP resolutions, according to its Galaxy Store listing. Some features, the listing notes, are limited to the Galaxy S26 series. On a Galaxy S25 Ultra with One UI 9, Expert RAW’s Labs menu included Ocean mode, Virtual reflector, Virtual aperture, ND filter, Astrophoto, Astroportrait and Multiple exposure options.

It’s not available for the Galaxy S25 FE, according to SamMobile. Expert RAW isn’t preinstalled on the Galaxy S26, Tom’s Guide notes, but once you’ve downloaded it, you’ll find it in the Camera app’s More menu. SamMobile cautioned in September 2026 that one Expert RAW update for One UI 9 required a version of the Galaxy phone’s main software that hadn’t been released at the time. Check recent Expert RAW reviews before updating. In our Expert RAW guide we compared Samsung's device list with various media outlets' model-by-model reports.

Extra settings with Camera Assistant

Samsung’s free Camera Assistant app is an add-on made by the Good Lock team that offers more options for customising the stock camera app, and it reaches further down the Galaxy range than Expert RAW. The Galaxy Store listing reveals that Camera Assistant supports Samsung’s S and Z phones as well as its Galaxy A57, A56, A36 and A35 (all require a minimum version of One UI). Among the many changes and tweaks it offers, Camera Assistant’s Galaxy Store listing mentions a 24MP mode and focus peaking in Pro modes. Tom’s Guide also points out that Camera Assistant can reinstate Night and Single take to the mode options list on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. See the Camera Assistant guide for information about what each of these does.

Free manual camera apps

Developer Mark Harman's long-running, free Open Camera has focus peaking and zebra stripes (as well as focus bracketing for macro). Its recently updated (May 2026) Play listing notes that the camera can use the Camera2 Android API for manual settings and can shoot in DNG format. Although the Play page has a Contains ads label, according to Harman, the app itself doesn't include third-party ads. (The app's help section also notes that not all cameras on all devices may be accessible to other apps and that lens switching may not always be available with RAW capture enabled.)

Adobe's camera in Lightroom also offers manual controls. According to Adobe's help documentation, the app offers three different shooting modes and can capture images as either DNG or JPEG files. The most advanced (Professional) mode offers control over white balance, ISO and shutter speed, and manual focusing. Photos go straight into Lightroom (saves a step!), and our Lightroom guide for Galaxy phones deals with editing. Finally, Snapseed 4 recently added a camera that applies the app's looks as you shoot.

Paid apps for stills

For manual controls, ProShot ($8.99 in the US; updated October 2026) is the most fully featured stills app still receiving updates. You can shoot in RAW, JPEG or both; use shutter or ISO priority or be fully manual; and it even has a bulb mode for long exposures (actually part of a special light painting mode with presets for shooting star or water trails). There’s also a free app (ProShot Evaluator) that’ll let you see what you’d be getting before you buy.

Camera FV-5 ($4.99 in the US; updated May 2026) puts its controls where you’d find them on a DSLR. The paid version lets you shoot RAW and has an intervalometer. Its listing says you can take exposures up to 30 seconds, with a footnote, so check what your phone allows. There’s also a free version (Camera FV-5 Lite; updated May 2026) without RAW support.

An app for less processed photos

Zerocam bills itself as having almost no settings and not over-processing photos with AI like other camera apps do. It can also take advantage of your phone’s ultrawide and telephoto cameras (where available), thanks to a lens switch option (currently in beta). And it can shoot RAW images in addition to JPEGs. Zerocam is free to download, but you can make in-app purchases ranging in price from $3.39 to $34.99 (according to its US Play Store listing). When Android Authority checked it out back in July 2025, the free app limited them to five photos per day and images still appeared to receive some processing, so I’d double-check what Zerocam’s free tier offers before ponying up. But first, give Samsung's Prioritize speed a whirl, since it doesn’t cost a dime and you retain access to all of your cameras.

Video apps

Developed by the same company as Blackmagic's cinema cameras, the free Blackmagic Camera app supports recording up to 8K with H.264 or HEVC codecs and the APV codec (on select phones) on Android. Its spec sheet for Android mentions the Galaxy S21 to Galaxy S25 models as well as Galaxy Z Fold models with Android 13 or newer. The Galaxy S26 isn't mentioned, but that list may simply not be updated yet. There's no RAW recording support on Android, but according to SammyGuru and Newsshooter, Blackmagic Camera 3.1 and 3.1.2 added Samsung Log recording support (on compatible phones). Our Blackmagic Camera guide covers which Galaxy phones get what.

mcpro24fps is the paid app for people who grade their footage. This $23.49 (US) app supports recording in a handful of Log profiles, as well as 8-bit and 10-bit recording, and shooting at frame rates starting at 24fps and higher. CinemaDNG RAW recording is also now supported in the base price (there is still a separately purchased RAW Bundle that supports an additional, more file-size efficient RAW codec). Compatible phones must support at least Camera2 Limited-level API, and there is a free mcpro24fps Demo app you can use to check if your Galaxy phone is supported.

For $29.99 (US), MotionCam Pro can shoot RAW photos and bursts as well as video captured directly from the camera sensor. It also supports recording video in DirectLog mode as well as showing false colour and highlight clipping indicators to help you determine if your footage is properly exposed. The free MotionCam Pro Trial is functionally the same app, except it limits recording to five-second clips; use that to make sure your Galaxy phone is supported before dropping the cash. Note that shooting video in RAW produces enormous files and needs a computer for processing; the developer also makes desktop tools to facilitate this.

Filmic Pro is harder to recommend now. Filmic Pro's fortunes have waned since Filmic was purchased by Bending Spoons in 2022, and The Verge reported in December 2023 that Filmic Pro's original team had been laid off. It's now a subscription app on Android, last updated in November 2025.

Can you use Google Camera on a Samsung phone?

Google’s Pixel Camera app (that’s what it’s called now) only officially works on Pixels running Android 17 and up, according to its listing in the Play Store.

If you still want it, you’ll need to hunt around for a GCam port, a version of Google’s camera app tweaked by a third-party developer to work on more devices. Celso Azevedo, who runs a hub for downloading GCam ports (and mirrors a bunch of other ones, too), stresses that Google’s camera app isn’t designed to work on every handset, and these ports aren’t the official version of the app. According to Android Authority, it’s worth downloading a port tailored to your specific phone or chipset as these unofficial versions can be hit-and-miss, may not have all the latest features from Google and can contain bugs.

On a Galaxy phone, you’ll also need to navigate around Samsung’s Auto Blocker feature, which, as the name suggests, blocks apps from being installed unless they’re from approved app stores (like Google Play and the Galaxy Store). According to Samsung, Auto Blocker is enabled by default on devices that ship with One UI 6.1.1, so you’ll need to head into Settings > Security and privacy to switch it off if you want to sideload apps (note that doing so leaves your device vulnerable to potentially malicious apps). You can see from the Samsung vs Pixel camera comparison how different the two handsets are if you're after the Pixel look.

Apps that aren't on Android

Lux make Halide and Spectre, which are both iPhone-only camera apps. Adobe have Project Indigo, which again is iPhone-only at the moment (although they do state on their research webpage that an Android version is next, with no timescale given). RNI Films is an image editor for iOS rather than a camera app. Footej Camera used to be available on Google Play but is no longer available, and Footej Camera 2 is now published by ZipoApps and contains adverts.

Before you install a third-party camera app

• Before making a purchase, you may want to use the ProShot Evaluator, mcpro24fps Demo or MotionCam Pro Trial versions of an app to see what’s supported on your particular phone.
• Keep in mind, too, that not all phones give apps access to all cameras, as Open Camera’s help page notes, so test the lens (ultrawide, telephoto, etc.) you want to use before you pay.
• The Samsung camera app will always be there for quick photos, with access to all lenses and no fussing to get to Night mode.
• Look at an app’s update history; if an app hasn’t been updated in a year, there’s a chance it won’t work after a One UI update.

Camera apps are one part of the kit. Check out our photography apps for Android roundup for info on everything else, from editing to backup.