Microsoft Selfie vs Hydra › Pro Camera (RAW + AI)
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Microsoft Selfie
Enhance your selfies and portraits with intelligent, one-click adjustments. This application uses computer vision to automatically optimize photos based on various factors like lighting and skin tone, transforming average shots into ideal portraits quickly.
- Intelligent portrait enhancement
- Automatic noise reduction
- Auto exposure correction
- Photo clarifying
- One-click adjustments
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Microsoft Selfie is a selfie and photo enhancement application available on iOS, web and WeChat. Backed by computer vision technology, Microsoft Selfie intelligently considers age, gender, skin tone, lighting, and many other variables all with one click. Users can transform average photos into enhanced, ideal portraits in seconds. [Key Features] - Intelligent Portrait Enhancement: The app intelligently considers age, gender, skin tone and lighting when enhancing the portraits, and it will make the result much more natural. - Noise reduction: In dim light condition, the app would automatically enable “Denoise” mode, and effectively reduce noise by using burst shots. When “Denoise” mode is enabled, you can see “Denoise” on the screen. - Auto exposure: It can do automatic exposure correction and photo clarifying, especially for backlit photos. This function can be achieved when user chooses the “Boost” filter mode.
Hydra › Pro Camera (RAW + AI)
This app enhances mobile photography with AI and computational imaging, offering extreme HDR, advanced denoising, and high-resolution capture. It provides manual controls, style presets, and a powerful editor for professional-level results in challenging lighting.
- AI-powered computational photography
- Extreme HDR capture (> 20-stop)
- Detail-enhancing denoising
- Up to 110-megapixel resolution
- Manual camera controls
- High-fidelity photo editor
- Multiple output file formats
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Hydra is a camera app for iPhone & iPad with innovative capture technology that lets you take gorgeous and unique pictures even in challenging lighting conditions. Making use of the latest advances in artificial intelligence & image processing, Hydra’s independent computational core offers to overcome the physical limits of small sensors, with features such as over 20-stop extreme HDR, detail-enhancing denoising, macro shooting, crisp 6/8x zooming, and a whopping 110-megapixel resolution. But there's more. Hydra now features a new highly capable manual mode for photo enthusiasts, an improved faster shooting for reduced artifacts, and the addition of a new normal capture mode for everyday photos. It also comes with a number of presets to define your own style as well as a completely new high-fidelity photo editor. Last but not least, Hydra’s constantly evolving photo capabilities are your best asset to continue enjoying picture quality improvements after device purchase and to obtain state-of-the-art camera innovations all through its lifetime. “The Hydra app […] is one of the more interesting iOS camera apps we have seen in the recent past.” — Lars Rehm (DPReview) “Hydra is for people who enjoy iPhone photography at a higher and more rewarding level.” — David Robinson (iPhonographer) “The user interface is particularly well made […] If Apple were to purchase this app, they wouldn't have to change anything in its design.” — Florian Innocente (Mac Génération) “Hydra […] is a well thought out and terrific performing photo app with solid features that will improve your images in challenging lighting conditions.” — Mel Martin (Engadget) KEY FEATURES • Refined camera experience for iPhone & iPad. • Computational photography with artificial intelligence (AI). Neural processing & fusion of RAW sensor data. • Unique capabilities: extreme HDR (> 20-stop range) to accommodate lighting conditions, superior detail-enhancement and denoising for low-light & macro, up-to-6/8x zooming, and a whopping 110-megapixel resolution. New normal camera mode. • Versatile viewfinder: approachable ergonomics, tactile input & sensory feedback (1-stop vibrations). “Zebra” exposure previewing. • Manual mode for precise camera control: focus, ISO, shutter speed, white balance. • Rich capture options: Apple Watch remote, timer, flash & selfie, geotagging, grid overlay… • Photo style presets (tonal intent, color rendition…). • Powerful photo editor for 32-bit non-degrading edits, including tone mapping, detail boosting, precise colorimetry, and Apple ProRAW editing. • Side-by-side pixel-level comparison with unprocessed RAW input. • Exhaustive output options with varied file formats, including pro options (JPEG, HEIC, TIFF, TIFF-32, OpenEXR, Radiance, DNG, Apple ProRAW, and next-gen JPEG XL) & color spaces (sRGB, Display P3, ROMM ProPhoto). • Aftershot: saving to HyperRAW for deferred photo development, including Bracket and Fusion containers. • Improved saving to Files (iCloud & 3rd-party apps) including shared folders for professional use cases, and folder management. • Redesigned photo gallery. • Lock screen and home screen widgets. • Optimized for latest iOS, Metal, CoreML, and Apple Neural Engine (ANE) for high-speed AI computations on Apple Silicon. • Privacy first: full on-device processing, privacy filter for social sharing. PRICING The free app offers unrestricted shooting in normal mode (auto & manual), including RAW, HyperRAW & Apple ProRAW (compatible devices only). Other capture modes & restrictions can be unlocked either with the Pro Pack 3 one-time purchase, or with the Pro Plan subscription. Upgrade pricing is available within the app for previous version owners. MORE INFO Website: https://creaceed.com/ihydra Privacy Policy: https://creaceed.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://creaceed.com/terms Feedback: hydra@creaceed.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Microsoft Selfie at none against Hydra › Pro Camera (RAW + AI)'s 6. Microsoft Selfie also leads on review sentiment (54% vs 29%) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 18.0). Hydra › Pro Camera (RAW + AI)'s advantage is rating (3.4 vs 3.2). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Hydra › Pro Camera (RAW + AI) sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Microsoft Selfie asks for nothing beyond the download.
Hydra › Pro Camera (RAW + AI) holds the better App Store score, 3.4 against 3.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 386 and 252 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 54% of Microsoft Selfie's written reviews are positive against 29% of Hydra › Pro Camera (RAW + AI)'s, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Microsoft Selfie | Hydra › Pro Camera (RAW + AI) |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.2 (386 ratings) | 3.4 (252 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 53.9% of reviews — better | 29.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 386 — better | 252 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 76 MB | 101 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Microsoft Corporation | Creaceed SRL |
Customer experience
Microsoft Selfie
Hydra › Pro Camera (RAW + AI)
User reviews
Microsoft Selfie
From 386 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💫 Impressive automatic photo enhancement
- 🤩 Surprisingly effective and free
- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 🌟 Fantastic for selfies
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🤖 Doesn't work with recent iOS updates
- 🔒 Unable to access photo library
- 🤷♀️ Inconsistent performance
Hydra › Pro Camera (RAW + AI)
From 252 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Powerful features
- 👍 Great photo quality
- 💡 Innovative AI-powered processing
- 🚀 Intuitive and easy to use
- 👍 Excellent HDR and low-light performance
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
- 🔋 Slow processing times
- 👎 Watermark on free version photos
- 👎 Worse quality than native camera app in some cases
- 👎 Forced subscription model
Bugs and requests
Microsoft Selfie
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes when selecting photos
- Unable to save edited photos
- Permissions issues with iOS 11 and later
- Incompatibility with newer iPhone models
Requested features
4 requests- Update app for latest iOS versions
- Add option to edit existing photos
- Improve photo saving and sharing functionality
- Introduce more advanced editing tools
Hydra › Pro Camera (RAW + AI)
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes when taking 110MP photos
- Unable to save RAW/HEIC files
- Inconsistent behavior in different lighting conditions
- Zoom and macro features not working as expected
Requested features
5 requests- Add ultra-wide lens support
- Allow editing of photos after capture
- Improve low-light and macro performance
- Optimize for latest iPhone hardware
- Provide better value for paid version
In-app purchases
Microsoft Selfie
No in-app purchases
Hydra › Pro Camera (RAW + AI)
- Pro Plan (Monthly)7 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Pro Plan (Yearly)7 Days trial$9.991 Year
- Pro Pack 3 (Upgrade)$7.99
- Pro Pack (Upgrade)$15.99
- Pro Pack 3$23.99
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- Pro Pack$23.99
Questions
Is Microsoft Selfie free?
Is Hydra › Pro Camera (RAW + AI) free?
Which has better reviews, Microsoft Selfie or Hydra › Pro Camera (RAW + AI)?
Do Microsoft Selfie or Hydra › Pro Camera (RAW + AI) have ads?
Which is updated more often, Microsoft Selfie or Hydra › Pro Camera (RAW + AI)?
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