Obscura vs Tacticam
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Obscura
This app offers a powerful yet intuitive photo editing experience. It provides a range of pre-set filters and advanced tools for creative adjustments. Unlock full functionality to save and export your masterpieces.
- Gorgeous pre-set filters
- Custom filter creation
- Pro editing tools
- Exposure, curves, white balance
- Grain and vignette adjustments
- Hue/saturation/lightness controls
- Edits saved between sessions
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Obscura Studio is a brand new image editor that’s intuitive to use, but allows for a lot of creativity. Obscura Studio evolved from working on Obscura, an award-winning, pro camera app. Now Obscura and Obscura Studio are deeply integrated, sharing edits and filters between them. This means that you can edit a photo, save your edits as a custom filter, and then use that filter in Obscura’s camera. Library Obscura Studio integrates with the system Photo Library, so you have access to all your images. It has smart filters to help reduce the clutter and by default, just shows you the photos you care about. You can browse all your albums too, for easy organisation and navigation. Organisation Obscura Studio lets you rate images with star ratings, or mark them as flagged or rejected, to help you stay organised. Editing Obscura Studio has a variety of pro editing tools that let you bring your own taste to your photos. Everything from the basics like Exposure and Contrast, to a Curves Editor, HSL tools, and so much more. Filters In addition to the range of built in filters, you can save any edits as a custom filter if you want to reuse it regularly. Custom Filters are shared with Obscura so you can use them live in-camera. ———— Privacy: https://benricemccarthy.com/apps/obscura-studio/privacy.html Terms: https://benricemccarthy.com/apps/obscura-studio/terms.html
Tacticam
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Tacticam is a professional camera and story maker — built by creators, for creators, to unlock the full potential of the camera you already carry. It works like the camera you already know: one big button, tap for a photo, hold for video. Everything professional waits quietly one tap away. FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS & VIDEOGRAPHERS • ProRes 422 and Apple Log 1 + 2 for real colour grading headroom • Open Gate — record with the entire sensor, reframe to any format later • 4K up to 120 fps, and 240 fps that becomes clean slow motion by itself • 48 MP photos, ProRAW and true Bayer RAW — the purest file possible, no processing • Fast RAW browsing in your Roll, with 4× pinch-to-inspect • One control deck above the shutter — formats, aids and field tools, gone the moment you tap to focus • Live sun tracker — the sun's whole day drawn as a line in your actual frame, hours marked • Colour meter — read the light in Kelvin like a pro meter, one tap locks it as your manual baseline • Waveform, histogram, zebras, focus peaking and false colour • Full manual — focus, ISO, shutter, white balance — plus shutter priority with a one-tap 180° rule: film-like motion, the camera does the math • Shoot through cinematic LUTs live, or import your own .cube — your look, your choice, right in the viewfinder MADE FOR iPHONE DUO • Open your Duo and the camera opens up with it: the viewfinder under your right hand, the control deck beside it, permanently — every format, aid and tool one tap away, nothing covering the picture • Hold it upright and the picture takes the upper half, the deck the lower half, the shutter at the bottom • The Roll can sit beside the viewfinder: watch your shots land while you keep shooting, pick five, make a collage • Closed, it is the Tacticam you know FOR CREATORS & INFLUENCERS • Easy and fast like SO-ME apps — pro quality • True 9:16 capture and a built-in story editor: grade, text, your logo, crop, export • Collage — 9:16, 4:5, 3:4, 1:1 or 16:9, built from your Roll, photos and video mixed • Solo mode: raise a hand or say "action" — the camera counts down and rolls, a slow cinematic push while you talk, and a frame light that quietly tells you when you drift out of frame • Or flip one switch and every shot lands straight in your photo library, with your look already baked in • Apple Watch remote: the shutter on your wrist, a live preview to check your framing, crown zoom, format switching, and a tap for every landed shot THE SMALL THINGS, DONE PROPERLY • Censor tool — pixelate, frost, blur or scramble anything before it leaves your phone • A full develop suite: adjustment sliders plus 8-band HSL colour control • Teleprompter, audio meters, C1·C2·C3 custom camera modes • Every feature explained in plain words — pro depth, no jargon MADE IN NORWAY, PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No accounts, no ads, no tracking • Your photos, videos and location stay on your phone • A direct line to the maker, inside the app — ideas land in releases Tacticam Pro is a monthly subscription with a 7-day free trial. The whole deal is shown before you tap: what unlocks today, when we remind you, and the exact date of the first charge. Cancel anytime. About a coffee a month.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Obscura at 18.0 against Tacticam's 26.0. On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Obscura sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Tacticam sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Obscura ships an update every 5 weeks, Tacticam every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 28, 2026.
| Parameter | Obscura | Tacticam |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (5 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 108 MB | 22 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ben McCarthy | Kasper M. de Thurah |
In-app purchases
Obscura
- Obscura Studio+ Monthly3 Days trial$1.991 Month
- Obscura Ultra - One Month7 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Obscura Studio+ Annual7 Days trial$11.991 Year
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- Obscura Ultra - Annual7 Days trial$24.991 Year
- Obscura Ultra - One Time$64.99
Tacticam
- Tacticam Pro7 Days trial$3.991 Month









