Comparison

Spectre Camera vs Macroscope Cam

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Spectre Camera

This app uses AI to create stunning long exposure photographs, making it easy to capture professional-quality shots. Remove crowds, create light trails, and achieve silky smooth water effects effortlessly.

Highlights
  • AI-powered long exposures
  • Crowd removal
  • Light trail creation
  • Silky water effects
  • Live Photos and video support
  • Automatic scene detection
Read full description

Apple iPhone App of the Year, 2019 Introducing Spectre, from the makers of Halide, one of the top camera apps in the App Store. Spectre uses AI to help you make amazing long exposure photographs. Spectre can remove crowds, turn city streets into rivers of light, make waterfalls look like paintings, and much more. Until now, it was difficult to take long exposures: from keeping the camera steady to guessing the amount of light you need. Spectre takes care of all of that! WHAT YOU CAN DO • MAKE CROWDS DISAPPEAR: Spectre helps take photos of crowded, touristy places. Simply set a medium or long duration and take a shot to erase the crowd from a location. Capture the those special moments like you remember them. • RIVERS OF LIGHT: At night, AI scene detection automatically switches modes to draw beautiful light trails, for stunning nighttime city photography or light painting. • GORGEOUS WATER: Capture waterfalls, ocean waves, fountains and more with beautiful ghostly water. LIVE PHOTOS AND VIDEO Spectre’s intelligent computational shutter takes hundreds of shots over the span of a few seconds, and saves them in an accompanying live photo. That means you can pick a different frame as your photo, apply live-photo effects, and even use the long exposure as a live-wallpaper! ENDLESS SMARTS Spectre is a packed with powerful technology from by the team that brought you Halide. From machine learning-based scene detection to computer vision aided image stabilization, Spectre is jammed full of impressive technologies to get the best possible image. DESIGNED FOR HUMANS Spectre is meticulously designed. Its dark UI is gentle on the eyes when you shoot at night. Gorgeous glowing highlights infuse it with a unique style. Custom typefaces and iconography combined with unique, smooth controls make it as tactile and delightful as an actual physical camera. Like its sister app Halide, the app is easily usable with one hand, even on the largest iPhones. HIGH-TECH SHOWCASE Build with the latest tech, Spectre isn't just a long exposure camera — it’s the cutting edge technology showcase of one of the App Store’s foremost camera apps, Halide. Here’s just a few of the latest technologies that we use in Spectre: - DCI-P3 Wide Color Pipeline - Live Photos - Metal Graphics Acceleration - Tripod Detection - Siri & Shortcuts - AI Stabilization - Machine Learning & CoreML - Computer Vision COMPATIBILITY: Spectre’s smart Automatic Scene Detection requires iOS 12. AI-based stabilization features are available on iPhone 6S and later.* For the best experience, we recommend iPhone 8 or later. On iPhone 6, Spectre captures in lower resolution. ABOUT US We’re Ben and Sebastiaan, two friends living in the San Francisco Bay Area that love building fantastic apps for photography. We hope you love Spectre! We’d love your feedback to make it even better or any reports of bugs you run into. You can always contact us directly via email: support@halide.cam, on our Twitter: @halidecamera or Instagram: @halideapp Don’t forget to share your amazing results by tagging them with #SpectreShot so we can share them on our growing social media accounts!

About

Macroscope Cam

Transform your iPhone into a powerful magnifying tool to explore the intricate details of everyday objects. Capture stunning close-ups of nature, textures, and more with adjustable zoom and focus.

Highlights
  • iPhone to microscope conversion
  • 3x to 15x zoom ruler
  • Privacy-focused, no data collection
  • One-time purchase, forever access
  • Close-up photography of small details
Read full description

Macroscope – Basically turns your iPhone into a Microscope! If you ever wondered how things look up close, Macroscope is the app to answer you that question. From inspecting bugs, flowers to your own skin or something completely random, Macroscope will blow you away in how the close-up world looks like, and to what an iPhone is capable of. Key Features: - Our unique approach to a camera app and our secret focus locking sauce will turn your iPhone into a microscope*. - Zoom ruler from 3x to 15x -> there is no detail we can't capture**. - Privacy focused, we collect no data and only require write access to save Photos. - No in-apps, purchase once keep forever. *) Microscope is a slight exaggeration, you won't be able to replace real world microscopes with this app to see bacteria or other small items. But if you want to see the eyes of a spider, or a hair on a fly, this is definitely close enough! **) Your mileage may vary, depending on lightning and the object you're capturing, colorful objects tend to keep their sharpness much better than those of the same color or smooth surfaces. Pro Tips: - Bring your phone as close as 1,5 fingers distance away from the lens until you start seeing a sharp image. * - Turn on the flashlight even when under direct sunlight for even better sharpness! *) Limited mode is about two palm lengths. Whether you're diving deep into nature's mysteries, examining a minor injury, or just ensuring your meal is hair-free, Macroscope is your go-to app! Please don't get addicted to checking the food out so close, it might be bad for your appetite! !CAUTION! / IMPORTANT NOTICE : Macroscope is made for the following iPhones: - iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max - iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max - iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max - iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus - iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone 17 Non compatible iPhones can now use the app, but with LIMITED quality! See the World Like Never Before! Download Macroscope now and dive into a universe of unseen details!

Screenshots

Spectre Camera4 screens
Macroscope Cam4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Spectre Camera at Free against Macroscope Cam's $3.99. Spectre Camera also leads on ratings volume (2.4K vs 1) and update cadence (every 3 months vs every 5 months). Macroscope Cam's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.3) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). On review sentiment, ads, monetization model and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Spectre Camera is free to download; Macroscope Cam costs $3.99 up front. Spectre Camera sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Macroscope Cam asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Macroscope Cam holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spectre Camera has 2.4K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of Spectre Camera's written reviews are positive against 50% of Macroscope Cam's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Spectre Camera ships an update every 3 months, Macroscope Cam every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Spectre Camera versus Macroscope Cam: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpectre CameraMacroscope Cam
PriceFree — better$3.99
Rating4.3 (2.4K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews45.8% of reviews50.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2.4K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank—#75 — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLux Optics IncorporatedDon Vuckovic

Customer experience

Spectre Camera

All ratings2,408 ratings
Positive83.5%
Neutral3.7%
Negative12.7%
Written reviews437 reviews
Positive45.8%
Neutral10.8%
Negative43.5%

Macroscope Cam

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews16 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

Bugs and requests

Spectre Camera

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes and freezes on some devices
  • Compatibility issues with older iPhones
  • Focusing and stabilization problems

Requested features

5 requests
  • Longer exposure time options
  • More manual control over settings
  • Raw image format support
  • Apple Watch remote support
  • Improved low-light performance

Macroscope Cam

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Spectre Camera

One-time1
  • Spectre Pro$4.99
None

Macroscope Cam

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Spectre Camera free?
Spectre Camera is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Macroscope Cam free?
Macroscope Cam costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Spectre Camera or Macroscope Cam?
Macroscope Cam is rated higher. Spectre Camera averages 4.3 out of 5 from 2.4K ratings, while Macroscope Cam averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Spectre Camera or Macroscope Cam have ads?
Neither Spectre Camera nor Macroscope Cam shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Spectre Camera or Macroscope Cam?
Spectre Camera ships an update every 3 months, and Macroscope Cam every 5 months. Most recently, Spectre Camera was updated on October 14, 2026 and Macroscope Cam on September 30, 2026.

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