# ZPTH — A camera without light > Depth camera visualizer and creative tool for photos and videos. (iPhone/iPad app by ari lintzeris.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/zpth/id6777710069 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [ari lintzeris](https://appshunter.io/developer/1874497643) - Category: Photo & Video, Graphics & Design - Price: Free with in-app purchases - Rating: 3.50/5 from 2 App Store ratings · 2 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 26.5 · 31 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2026-06-16 - Data updated: 2026-08-25 - Monetization: free with in-app purchases - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/zpth/id6777710069/reviews.md ## What is ZPTH? ZPTH reads the depth in front of you and paints it in real time. Point it at a face, a room, or your hand and watch it become light, contour lines, plasma, chrome, cut paper, or a drifting cloud of dust. Capture a photo or record video straight to Photos — or stream the live preview to your computer over NDI. Fifteen of the modes need no depth sensor at all: a Core ML model running on your device infers depth from a single camera, so they run on both the front and rear camera of any iPhone ZPTH installs on. The other thirty read the front TrueDepth camera, or the rear LiDAR scanner on Pro models. FIFTEEN MODES, NO DEPTH SENSOR NEEDED • Parallax — the camera orbits the scene from one still viewpoint. • Anaglyph — real red/cyan 3D from one lens, plus a glasses-free wiggle. • Aperture — a cinema lens: shaped bokeh, iris blades, a focus puller. • Vertigo — Hitchcock's dolly zoom, live. • Nebula — a cloud that wraps behind people rather than over them. • Motes — dust, snow and embers drifting in the air in front of the scene. • Godlight — sun shafts your hand casts a real shadow through. • Aerial — true atmospheric perspective: haze, distance, a warm sun glow. • Woodblock — an engraving whose hatch lines curve around every surface. • Stipple — ink dots sized by curvature and spaced like a Seurat. • Papercut — the scene as up to 20 torn paper plates, each shadowing the next. • Riso — a risograph print in misregistered spot-colour plates. • Lattice — a scan plane leaves a glowing wireframe mesh in its wake. • Hologram — scanlines, chromatic fringing, a projection cone from below. • Datamosh — codec smear, with depth deciding what tears and what holds. THIRTY DEPTH-CAMERA MODES Environment, Face, Raw, Plasma, Organic, Data, Contour, Hillshade, Chrome, Oil Slick, Pulsar, Sonar, Pin Screen, Voxel, Facets, Light Trails, Miniature, Iron Filings, Dither, Juicy, Aerochrome, Heat Ghost, Solarise, Cymatic, Aquarelle, Tessera, Chemigram, Ripplefield, Ferrofluid and Lichtenberg — from topographic isolines and liquid chrome to false-colour infrared, wet watercolour, Roman mosaic, a vibrating Chladni sand plate, and forking lightning. Pulsar and Cymatic can move to live sound. CREATOR MODE (Pro) Build your own mode. Start from an empty depth field and stack effect layers grouped by function — texture, lighting, lines, edge, colour, bloom. Each layer has its own controls, opacity and blend mode. Shape how they fall through near and far depth, import a photo as a depth-projected tileset, then save it as a named mode. CAPTURE • Tap the shutter for a photo; hold and swipe up to record video. • Everything saves straight to your Photos library. • Double-tap to toggle 3:4 and full-screen 9:16. • Cut to the plain camera and back, even mid-recording. NDI STREAMING (Pro) Broadcast the live preview to OBS, TouchDesigner, vMix and other NDI receivers on your local network, turning your iPhone into a depth-camera source for your desktop. A second optional stream carries the raw camera alongside the effect. Off by default; Wired mode over USB-C lowers latency. PRO ZPTH Pro is a one-time $2 purchase — no subscription. It unlocks the fifteen monocular modes, every other mode's settings, the colour maps, all presets, Creator Mode and NDI streaming. The thirty depth-camera modes are free to explore on their first preset; the monocular modes need Pro. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No accounts, no servers, no analytics, no tracking. Camera frames are processed on the device and never leave it — unless you save a photo or video, or turn on NDI to reach your own computer on your own network. The microphone is used only by Pulsar and Cymatic, is off by default, and is never recorded or transmitted. REQUIREMENTS iPhone only. The monocular modes run on any supported iPhone. The rest need a front TrueDepth camera (iPhone X or later) or a rear LiDAR scanner (Pro models). ## Key features - Depth camera to visual instrument - 20 unique depth rendering modes - Real-time photo and video capture - On-device processing, no network needed - Creator Mode for custom effects (Pro) - Saves directly to Photos library ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: Free. **One-time purchases** | Purchase | Price | Type | | --- | --- | --- | | ZPTH Pro Lifetime | $1.99 | one-time | ## Recent user reviews (2 of 2) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/zpth/id6777710069/reviews.md ### 5/5 — Amazing visual tool *2026-07-27* Yet another fantastic app from this developer. Like his even more in-depth tool TDLiDAR, this app provides a bucket-full of effects and adjustable parameters using the output from the iPhone’s LiDAR sensor. Perfect for artistic displays, music VJs, or just for fun. ### 2/5 — buggy *2026-06-18* cool app but it’s a buggy mess and the interface sucks with hidden swipe gestures and collapsing menus and infinite scroll on the mode selection. ## Frequently asked questions about ZPTH ### What is ZPTH? ZPTH turns your iPhone's depth camera into a living visual instrument. It reads depth and paints it in real time using various artistic modes, allowing you to capture unique photos and videos. ### Does ZPTH have ads? No, ZPTH does not contain advertisements. The app is free to explore with previewable modes and universal LiDAR presets available for free use. ### How much does ZPTH Pro cost? ZPTH Pro is a one-time purchase of $2. It unlocks all visual mode settings, color maps, presets, and the advanced Creator Mode. ### What devices are compatible with ZPTH? ZPTH requires an iPhone with a front TrueDepth camera or a rear LiDAR scanner. It is currently supported on iPhones. ### Can I create my own visual effects in ZPTH? Yes, Creator Mode (available in ZPTH Pro) allows you to build custom depth modes by stacking and blending various effect layers. ### How often is ZPTH updated? The latest version of ZPTH is 2.0, last updated on June 18, 2026. Updates typically bring new features and improvements. ### Is my data private with ZPTH? Yes, ZPTH is designed for privacy. All camera frame processing happens on your device and data never leaves unless you choose to save it to your library. ### What are the different depth modes in ZPTH? ZPTH offers twenty distinct depth modes, including Environment, Face, Raw, Plasma, Organic, Data, Contour, Hillshade, Chrome, Oil Slick, Pulsar, Sonar, Pin Screen, Voxel, Facets, Light Trails, Miniature, Iron Filings, Dither, and Juicy. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 3.3 — 2026-08-06 ZPTH 3.3 adds fifteen new modes — and they don't need a depth sensor at all. FIFTEEN MONOCULAR MODES • Depth is now inferred from a single camera by a Core ML model running on your device. That means these fifteen modes work on the front AND rear camera of any iPhone ZPTH runs on, with no LiDAR scanner required. • Parallax orbits the scene from one still viewpoint. Anaglyph gives you real red/cyan 3D, plus a glasses-free wiggle. Aperture is a cinema lens with shaped bokeh and a focus puller. Vertigo is Hitchcock's dolly zoom, live. • Nebula, Motes, Godlight and Aerial put real atmosphere in the air between you and the scene — cloud, dust, sun shafts and haze that wrap behind people instead of sitting on top of them. • Woodblock, Stipple, Papercut and Riso rebuild the frame as print: engraved hatching, ink stipple, torn paper plates and misregistered spot colour. • Lattice, Hologram and Datamosh handle the science-fiction end: a scanning wireframe mesh, a projected hologram, and codec smear where depth decides what tears. HOME SCREEN WIDGETS • A small tile that opens ZPTH, a medium carousel for stepping through modes, and a large grid that puts every mode one tap from the Home Screen. ALSO IN THIS RELEASE • Papercut now stacks up to 20 paper plates, with a new Depth Reach control that sets how far back into the scene the plates are cut. • Stipple's dot field no longer skews out of the top-left corner — the perspective now converges where the lens does. • On iPhones without a rear LiDAR scanner, the camera flip button now appears in the monocular modes, so you can use the rear camera there too. Everything still runs on your device. No account, no internet, no tracking; the microphone (Pulsar, Cymatic) and local-network (NDI) features remain opt-in and off by default. ### 3.2.0 — 2026-07-09 ZPTH 3.2 adds a live camera-view toggle and a second NDI stream. CAMERA VIEW TOGGLE • A new button next to the shutter switches instantly between your depth effect and the plain RGB camera — even while you're recording. Switch back and forth as many times as you like; it's one continuous recording, one continuous cut. SECOND NDI STREAM • NDI users can now turn on a second stream, "ZPTHRGB," that broadcasts the raw camera alongside your usual "ZPTH" effect stream — mix them live on your desktop. Everything still runs entirely on your device. No account, no internet, no tracking; the microphone (Pulsar, Cymatic) and local-network (NDI) features remain opt-in and off by default. ### 3.1.0 — 2026-07-05 ZPTH 3.1 adds ten new depth modes and a recordings rescue. TEN NEW DEPTH MODES The live camera colour now drives a whole new family of looks: • Aerochrome — false-colour infrared: living things bloom hot magenta, far surfaces wash cyan. • Heat Ghost — a colour-schlieren wind-tunnel image; surfaces flare along their slope. • Solarise — a darkroom Sabattier fold into metallic colour with bright edge lines. • Cymatic — a vibrating Chladni sand plate; can optionally ring to live sound (mic, opt-in). • Aquarelle — the scene as wet watercolour, pigment pooling and granulating on the paper. • Tessera — reality re-laid as a Roman stone mosaic that hugs every contour. • Chemigram — a darkroom developer tide that eats dull areas while vivid colour resists. • Ripplefield — the room becomes a pool with spreading wakes that refract over the depth. • Ferrofluid — a glossy black magnetic-bead lattice that pushes toward you with depth. • Lichtenberg — glowing lightning branches forking down the depth gradient. SAVE OLD IN-APP RECORDINGS • A new button in Settings finds any videos an older version kept inside the app, saves them to your Photos library, and clears them from app storage. It reads "No saves found" when there's nothing to move. Everything still runs entirely on your device. No account, no internet, no tracking; the microphone (Pulsar, Cymatic) and local-network (NDI) features remain opt-in and off by default. ### 3.0 — 2026-06-24 The Pulsar mode is rebuilt as a Rutt-Etra-style line synth driven by depth, colour and — if you turn it on — live sound from the microphone, so the lines pulse in time with music or your voice. Audio is optional and off by default; when on, it's analysed live on your device only and is never recorded, saved, or sent anywhere. Broadcast your live preview to NDI receivers — OBS, TouchDesigner, vMix and more — on your local network, so your iPhone becomes a depth-camera source for your desktop setup. Off by default; a Wired mode over USB-C gives lower-latency streaming. The rear LiDAR camera now captures and records at up to 60 fps (on supported LiDAR cameras) for smoother motion; the front TrueDepth camera runs at 30 fps. It switches automatically with the camera — nothing to set. A round of performance and memory cleanup for smoother, lighter long sessions. Everything else still runs entirely on your device. The microphone (Pulsar) and local-network (NDI) features are opt-in; no account, no internet, no tracking. ### 2.0 — 2026-06-18 NEW: CREATOR MODE • Build your own depth mode. Start from an empty depth field and stack effect layers — textures, lighting, contour lines, edges, colour maps and bloom — mixing and matching freely. • Tune each layer with a slider and multiplier, set its opacity and blend mode, and shape how effects fall through near/far depth. • Import a photo from your library and project it through the depth as a custom tileset. • Save your creations as named custom modes and reuse them any time. 13 NEW DEPTH MODES (now 20 in total) Hillshade, Chrome, Oil Slick, Pulsar, Sonar, Pin Screen, Voxel, Facets, Light Trails, Miniature, Iron Filings, Dither and Juicy — joining Environment, Face, Raw, Plasma, Organic, Data and Contour. ALSO • A new on-camera mode switcher: browse every mode and jump straight to one. • Lower energy use and smoother long sessions from a round of performance + memory work. Everything still runs entirely on your device. No account, no network, no tracking. ## More apps by ari lintzeris - [Atom Commando](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/atom-commando/id6758692528) - [Zetan Invaders](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/zetan-invaders/id6758810849) - [Vortex Watch](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/vortex-watch/id6758829369) - [Icedrift](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/icedrift/id6759012872) - [Vision Emoji](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/vision-emoji/id6759308509) - [Splat Frame](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/splat-frame/id6759489794) All apps by ari lintzeris: https://appshunter.io/developer/1874497643 --- *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 2026-08-25.*