# Cortex Camera — user reviews > 50 indexed App Store user reviews of Cortex Camera by John Corcoran, rated 3.60/5 from 91 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cortex-camera/id517488939/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cortex-camera/id517488939.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 44 · 4★ 11 · 3★ 7 · 2★ 7 · 1★ 20 ## Newest reviews (11 of 50) ### 4/5 — Must have app *2022-04-14, version 2.18* One of the best. Please update. Thank you ### 4/5 — Great app but... abandoned? *2021-03-23, version 2.18* This used to be a frequently updated app but there have been no updated in over two years. Plenty of improvements still to be made, guys. Apart from that, great app. Way better photos than the stock camera app. ### 3/5 — C’mon guys *2019-11-22, version 2.18* Desperately needs an update for the newer phones. This is a great app—one that I’ve been using for years—that has become almost unusable with the newer iterations of iPhone. Imagine how powerful this would be on the iPhone 11 pro. Please update! ### 3/5 — Crashes too often *2019-10-30, version 2.18* I usually get one picture out of this app before it crashes endlessly. Restarting the phone doesn’t help, neither does un/reinstalling the app. This used to be one of my favorite apps, but no longer. ### 2/5 — crash on iOS 13 *2019-10-14, version 2.18* Please fix it. Thanks ### 3/5 — iPhone 6sp. difference minimal *2019-03-17, version 2.18* There seems to be no difference between 6sp camera app and the cortex. I'll shoot a few more to make sure. ### 2/5 — Can’t import *2019-02-06, version 2.18* Researched online if this app could focus stack photos you’ve taken rather than using its camera. Couldn’t find that into so took a chance and paid for it. You cannot. ### 3/5 — Camera shutter sound still there after the most recent update *2018-11-18, version 2.15* Please give users an option to disable shutter sounds. Its not an option for Korea and Japan because too many perverts take pictures of women without their consent, so the law mandates phone manufacturers to disable silence function on cameras. 3rd party apps are the only option for silent cameras, and cortex used to be my life saver. Otherwise, I love this app. ### 1/5 — Not a video app. Don’t waste money. *2018-02-14, version 2.12* I got this app to take Great photos and videos and I have found that it doesn’t take good of either. It doesn’t take video at all. If it does then it’s not easy to find out how. I wrote the developers and it’s been three weeks or more with no response at this point. Don’t waste your money. ### 2/5 — Major need of an update. *2018-01-03, version 2.12* App is great but now that the iPhone X is out, it needs an update. ### 2/5 — Doesn’t work well on the X *2017-12-21, version 2.12* the only difference I see is that there is color noise in the photo the app took which is worse than having luminance noise. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — NEEDS UPDATE *2020-12-04, version 2.18* This used to be an amazing app, now it crashes every single time I try to take a picture. Hasn’t been updated in 2 years!! Ridiculous! Completely unusable as of now. ### 1/5 — Crashes on photo *2020-08-08, version 2.18* I wish apple had a refund policy. I can’t use this app at all - it crashes everyone I try to take a pic. ### 1/5 — No longer usable; constant crashes *2020-05-14, version 2.18* I have used this app for a few years. It does a pretty nice job capturing sharp images when needed. However it seems that it now just crashes soon after capturing an image, so it no longer processes and saves like it used to. Can't recommend it in its current abandoned state. ### 1/5 — There is a bug they need to fix *2019-12-10, version 2.18* I bought this app just to have it crashing on me each time or showing a pitch black screen. Will update my review if they fix it! So far it’s been a total rip off! ### 1/5 — Issues *2019-10-16, version 2.18* Cortex cam was my to go camera but now with the. Ew iPhone 11 is having a lot of issues. They’ve always been slow on updates. ### 1/5 — Not as advertised *2019-07-16, version 2.18* This app is not very good, and does NOT reduce noise! I took a variety of photos using this app, using a variety of manual settings and they all had noise. I wish I could get my money back. I’m annoyed I spent anything on this useless app. ### 1/5 — the Photo on iphone6s not Good as taking on iphone 5 *2019-06-14, version 2.18* Please fix it ! i love this app alot! why before this app so good , i mean that your app is better on the old version that can support on iphone 5 ! but it become not good when it process on iphone 6s iphone 7 ... Please Fix it or making it to be the best for competition with Google Pixel camera!!!!!💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔 ### 1/5 — Not good HDR *2018-12-02, version 2.18* This may have been an improvement over the stock camera on the iPhone 7 and earlier but on my X, it is worse than the stock app. Even at 90 frames on a tripod, highlights are still blown and shadows are still too dark. I am having trouble understanding why this is so highly rated. Every pic I take vs stock app is just darker and less sharp. Very disappointed. ### 1/5 — Used to be good / abandonware *2018-10-13, version 2.12* Hasn’t been updated in almost two years. Not optimized for the new version of iOS or cameras systems. A shame. ### 1/5 — Waste of money *2018-05-05, version 2.12* In every case the photos from this app are blurrier and grainier than photos taken directly with the stock Camera app. Use burst mode and average them in photoshop if you want to achieve what this app only claims to. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Needs update *2020-12-03, version 2.18* Last update was 2 years ago. ### 5/5 — Using it for a couple of years now and it just keeps getting better. *2020-04-21, version 2.18* I’ve been using this app for some time now and for static subjects or subjects with minimal motion it does great. You must be able to hold your phone reasonably steady for several seconds. It’s low light capability is impressive even though that is not its primary purpose. Color rendition is excellent. With shadow enhance turned on it provides an HDR effect. My favorite camera app. Now I just need to get a newer model iPhone to get the most out of it. - Update: latest version has added back video capture and it works great. (Uses video to capture multiple frames quickly and composites them quickly producing a very clean and sharp image. ### 5/5 — Brilliant Camera App for Photography *2020-04-10, version 2.18* I have been looking for an app can do stacking photos directly on the phone for years. This is great, and since this is an app which only for extreme image quality, support stacking images into DNG or RAW, just like Google Camera with professional UI look will make this app even more appealing. ### 5/5 — Love this app on my 6S *2019-09-15, version 2.18* It’s a simple app with amazing results. It pumps up the iPhone 6S sensor from 12 megapixels to 19 megapixels with super-resolution, and impressive quality. ### 5/5 — Better than the stock camera *2019-03-13, version 2.18* I’ve been using this app for the past 4 years and it continues to amaze me. It captures all the details in low light that the native camera app misses, and images are sharp. Nearly as good as my Mate 20 Pro camera in low light. ### 5/5 — Glitch *2019-01-13, version 2.18* There was a glitch preventing me from using the telephoto lens, due to opening the app while it was on front camera. When on rear camera, trying to use telephoto lens wasn’t possible, no option was shown. I initially thought they had removed the ability to use it but it was just a bug. Other than that, 5/5 stars it’s a great app ### 5/5 — My expectation! *2018-11-30, version 2.18* I really like this app, it works amazingly. Hopefully developers will add a hdr features into this app! ### 5/5 — Excellent companion to stock camera app *2018-11-24, version 2.16* This camera app is perhaps one of the most unique on the App Store and is a must have if you take a lot of pictures in low light or just want the maximum amount of detail possible from an iPhone camera. Typically, pictures out of the stock iOS camera app are rather lackluster in low light due to heavy noise reduction, resulting in a smudgy, watercolor-esque image that’s rather unappealing. Although exact implementation details aren’t available, this app circumvents the limitations of the iPhone’s camera setup by creating a super picture from stacking multiple exposures to increase detail and lower noise. The results of the app are similar to that of the “dynamic” pixel-shift feature of the Pentax K-1 II DSLR or the much-lauded Night Sight feature exclusive to Google’s Pixel phones. However, these are fully automatic and allow for no customization of the exposure setup. The Cortex app not only has an auto mode, it also allows for complete manual control over the number, shutter speed, and ISO of the exposures, allowing the user to fine-tune how the picture is taken to best fit the current circumstances. Image quality depends on the subject as well as environment where the picture is taken. In bright light, detail is superior on the Cortex app compared to the stock camera app. However, as this difference is not as easily noticed unless viewing the pictures at maximum resolution, and the Cortex pictures are lower in dynamic range due to a lack of HDR, you’re many times better off just using the stock camera app. Where this app really shines is in low light performance. Pictures taken with Cortex display noticeably better detail than those with the stock camera app in such a situation. Additionally, dark locations that are unable to be captured with the stock camera app can be with Cortex. While using Cortex, do keep in mind the limitations of this app. A moving subject cannot be captured correctly with this app, nor can you be moving. Despite this, I have found that the app works rather well even with some slight hand shake. While functionality of the app is great, I do have some minor complaints. Sometimes the auto white balance is off, and there appears to be no way to adjust it in app. It would be excellent if a slider of other way of changing white balance could be added. Also, some form of HDR ability would be excellent, as multiple exposures are already being taken. Additionally, the app UI is somewhat rough, and some elements don’t rotate when the phone is in landscape mode. ### 5/5 — Great low light pictures! *2017-10-08, version 2.12* Just tried this out on my iPhone 8+ and the raw to Tiff mode gives excellent results. ### 5/5 — Very good app but I don't use it often *2017-08-20, version 2.12* The app does exactly what it claims to do and does it very well. I don't use it all that often because my "go to" camera app, ProCamera, has a setting named 'LOWLIGHT+' that is nearly as good as this app. I only turn to Cortex Cam when the ProCamera result is inadequate. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*