Comparison

Blackmagic Camera vs Tether

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

Head to head
About

Blackmagic Camera

Transform your iPhone or iPad into a professional digital film camera. Achieve a cinematic look with Hollywood-grade controls, including frame rate, shutter angle, and ISO adjustments. Record in industry-standard formats directly to cloud storage for seamless global collaboration.

Highlights
  • Digital film camera controls
  • Cinematic 'look' for Hollywood films
  • Adjust frame rate, shutter angle, white balance, ISO
  • Record to Blackmagic Cloud
  • Industry standard 10-bit Apple ProRes files up to 4K
  • Interactive Heads Up Display (HUD)
  • Professional audio options
Features
Read full description

Introducing Digital Film for iPhone and iPad! Blackmagic Camera unlocks the power of your iPhone and iPad by adding digital film camera controls and operating systems! Now you can create the same cinematic ‘look’ as Hollywood feature films. You get the same intuitive and user friendly interface as Blackmagic Design’s award winning cameras. So it’s just like using a professional digital film camera! This means you can adjust settings such as frame rate, shutter angle, white balance and ISO all in a single tap. Or record directly to Blackmagic Cloud in industry standard 10-bit Apple ProRes files up to 4K! Recording to Blackmagic Cloud Storage lets you collaborate on DaVinci Resolve projects with editors anywhere in the world, all at the same time! Get the "Hollywood Look" with Digital Film! Blackmagic Camera puts the professional features you need for feature film, television and documentaries in your pocket. Now you can create YouTube and TikTok content with a cinematic look, and broadcast quality ENG! Imagine having a run and gun camera on hand to capture breaking news whenever it happens! Or use Blackmagic Camera as a B Cam to capture angles that are difficult to reach with traditional cameras, while still retaining control of important settings. Best of all, recording to Blackmagic Cloud allows you to get your footage to the newsroom or post production studio in minutes. Interactive Controls for Fast Setup Blackmagic Camera has all the controls you need to quickly setup and start shooting! Everything is interactive, so you can tap any item and instantly change settings without searching through confusing menus! The HUD shows status and record parameters, histogram, focus peaking indicators, levels, frame guides and more. Show or hide the HUD by swiping up or down. You can auto focus by tapping the screen in the area you want to focus. You can shoot in 16:9 or vertical aspect ratios, plus you can shoot 16:9 while holding your phone vertically if you want to shoot unobtrusively. On Screen Heads Up Display The heads up display, or HUD, controls have the most important camera controls such as lens selection, frame rate, shutter angle, timecode, ISO, white balance, gain and audio levels. You can adjust settings such as exposure by touching the ISO indicator, or you can change the audio levels simply by touching the audio meters. Everything is interactive, so if you tap any item you can instantaneously change its settings without having to search through complex menus! Camera Setup Menus The settings tab unlocks the full power of your phone’s camera, with quick access to advanced settings such as monitoring, audio, camera setup, recording and more! The record tab gives you total control over video resolution and recording format including industry standard Apple ProRes or space efficient H.264 and H.265. Plus, you can set anamorphic de-squeeze and lens correction settings. Professional audio options include AAC and PCM format and VU or PPM audio metering. You can even add external microphones! Or add 3D LUTs to recreate film looks! Media The Blackmagic Camera media tab has all the controls you need to browse or scrub clips for quick review, search and sort and view the upload status of your media. Access your media from Blackmagic Camera’s all clips folder by choosing the Media button to see the thumbnails for each clip you have stored. Plus, you can save to the files folder on the phone, send it to Blackmagic Cloud Storage via Blackmagic Cloud or manually choose which clips to upload to a project library. You can even sync media from Blackmagic Camera directly into the DaVinci Resolve project so you’re ready to edit! Live Sync to Blackmagic Cloud Storage When shooting with Blackmagic Camera, the video you capture can be instantly uploaded as a proxy file, followed by the camera originals, and saved to Blackmagic Cloud Storage. This means you can start editing quickly using your proxies, speeding up your workflow.

About

Tether

Features
Read full description

Tether is a private home for one relationship — just the two of you. No feed, no followers, no public profiles. You pair with one person, and everything you make is yours alone. SHARED ALBUMS Organize your life together into albums. Add photos and videos from your library, at full quality and any length, or capture them right inside the app with the built-in camera. Everything syncs privately between the two of you. MY EYES ONLY A separate, passcode-locked space for the photos and videos meant for no one else — kept out of your shared albums and never shared outside the app. QUESTION OF THE DAY One thoughtful prompt a day to stay close. You each answer privately; neither of you sees the other's reply until you've both answered. Your answers become a shared journal you write just by showing up. STREAKS & PROGRESS See your memory streak, your question streak, and the moments you've captured together — small reasons to keep showing up for each other. BUCKET LIST Keep a running list of things you want to do together, and let "Surprise us" pick your next adventure. PRIVATE BY DESIGN - Pairing is invite-only — one partner, period. - Sign in with Apple supported. - Delete your account and all your data anytime from Settings. - Report a photo or remove your partner's access at any time. Tether is for two people who want one quiet, private place to be a couple.

Screenshots

Blackmagic Camera4 screens
Tether4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Tether at every 4 days against Blackmagic Camera's monthly. Tether also leads on iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). Blackmagic Camera's advantage is chart position (#30 vs unranked) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Blackmagic Camera ships an update monthly, Tether every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Blackmagic Camera versus Tether: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBlackmagic CameraTether
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (23K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews69.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings23K — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
Best chart rank#30 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size203 MB59 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperBlackmagic Design IncIsaiah Harris

Bugs and requests

Blackmagic Camera

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Stabilization issues in certain recording modes
  • Exposure and focus settings not staying locked
  • Timelapse mode not clearly indicated
  • HDMI output not working reliably
  • Audio source randomly switching to 'None'

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add log/flat color profiles
  • Implement waveform and vectorscope monitors
  • Allow locking shutter speed with auto ISO
  • Provide preset options for common settings
  • Add support for external accessories (e.g., gimbals)
Show 1 more
  • Integrate Apple Watch remote control

Tether

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Blackmagic Camera

No in-app purchases

None

Tether

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Blackmagic Camera free?
Blackmagic Camera is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tether free?
Tether is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Blackmagic Camera or Tether have ads?
Neither Blackmagic Camera nor Tether shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Blackmagic Camera or Tether?
Blackmagic Camera ships an update monthly, and Tether every 4 days. Most recently, Blackmagic Camera was updated on September 30, 2026 and Tether on September 10, 2026.

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