Comparison

Cam vs PlainCam

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

Head to head
About

Cam

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Cam Era turns your iPhone into the digital camera you grew up with. no ugly skin sharpening. no janky HDR. no computational photography. skip the over-processing. your photos come out looking like they were taken on a camera, not a phone. choose between 4K, HD, and SD resolution. add bloom, chromatic aberration, film grain, and lens vignette for the full analog look. burn the date into your photos like a real camera date-back. choose your font, color, format, and style. skeuomorphic design with physical shutter button, zoom rocker, flash toggle. tap to focus. add stickers because why not. no two cameras look the same.

About

PlainCam

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PlainCam is a minimal iPhone camera focused on photo capture and output control. It keeps the shooting interface quiet while keeping the essential controls close: viewfinder, shutter, flash, exposure compensation, grid, front/back camera switching, and rear physical lens selection. In Settings, you can choose JPEG, HEIC, and, on supported devices, RAW DNG, RAW + JPEG, or RAW + HEIC output. PlainCam does not require an account, does not upload photos, and does not include ads or social features. Captured photos are saved to the system Photos library. The in-app gallery is only used to browse photos saved by PlainCam. RAW availability depends on the current iPhone and lens hardware. If RAW capture is not reported as available, PlainCam does not present RAW as an output option.

Screenshots

Cam4 screens
PlainCam3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PlainCam at Free against Cam's $2.99. Cam's advantage is update cadence (every 11 days vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

PlainCam is free to download; Cam costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cam ships an update every 11 days, PlainCam every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 8, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 3 level
Cam versus PlainCam: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCamPlainCam
Price$2.99Free โ€” better
Update frequencyEvery 11 days โ€” betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.0 โ€” better26.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size171 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMax Retikๅ˜‰่ฑช ้‚“

In-app purchases

None

Cam

No in-app purchases

None

PlainCam

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Cam free?
Cam costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is PlainCam free?
PlainCam is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Cam or PlainCam have ads?
Neither Cam nor PlainCam shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Cam or PlainCam?
Cam ships an update every 11 days, and PlainCam every 2 months. Most recently, Cam was updated on October 8, 2026 and PlainCam on October 8, 2026.

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