Comparison

CyanCamera App vs XYST DECK

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

Head to head
About

CyanCamera App

Features
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CyanCamera Your phone becomes a numbered camera on your CyanView gateway, shaded live from the same RCP your team already uses on every other camera in the show. Same panel, same workflow, same look as the 210+ camera models CyanView controls. Remote control from the RCP ISO, shutter, iris, exposure compensation, white balance (temperature, tint or 5600K preset), focus, auto focus and zoom respond to the RCP over REMI, with precise fine clicks and configurable knob steps. Custom buttons switch lenses, toggle the look, flip the camera, start recording, switch RTP and SRT, nudge the bit rate, toggle HDMI, lock, zen mode and stabilization. Red, green and call tally light a border around the picture. The RCP sees battery, thermal state, HDMI, codec and free space. REMI Cloud connects the phone to an RCP over the internet, with auto, regional (Asia, Australia, Brazil, EU, US) or manual server selection and a latency probe. Iris priority on iPhone 18 Pro variable aperture lenses (iOS 27). Auto exposure can be fenced inside an operator-set ISO and shutter window, like a limited AGC. Manual values survive restarts and fall back to auto when the RCP is lost, by policy. External control VISCA over IP. Blackmagic zoom and focus demand over USB MIDI. A REST settings API with export, import, reset and status, so a gateway or script configures the phone. Capture HEVC 8 or 10-bit, ProRes 422 Proxy to HQ, Apple ProRes RAW on supported iPhones. Rec.709, P3 D65, Rec.2020 HLG, Apple Log and Apple Log 2, with Log and HLG at 10 bits end to end. Bit rate automatic or fixed up to 240 Mbps, to the photo library, an SSD or any Files folder, with custom file names. Presets from 23.98 to 60 fps in 1080p and 4K, plus 120 and 240 fps. The sensor clock is pinned to the exact fractional cadence. Still photos, stabilization modes, lens-locked or physical-only zoom, 180 degree flip, microphone policies, frame guides, shutter angle display and a thermal monitor that sheds load before iOS throttles. Genlock and timecode With the Blackmagic Camera ProDock, genlock and LTC on BNC lock the phone to house sync, so the feed cuts frame-accurately. Recordings carry a timecode track with offset trim. Timecode can also come from MIDI timecode over the network or NTP. Genlock needs iPhone 17 Pro or later. HDMI output Rec.709, HLG or Apple Log 2 at up to 10 bits through a USB-C adapter, with audio monitoring and anamorphic de-squeeze. Preview and Output modes bake the look on the GPU. Broadcast mode (iOS 27) sends the sensor feed straight to the link at exact cadence with SMPTE ancillary metadata for the lowest latency. Live color shading A GPU port of the CyanView multimatrix: lift, gamma, gain, saturation, hue, local contrast, a 16-vector multimatrix and gate/select, all live from the panel and baked into a 3D LUT scoped per consumer: preview, HDMI, recording or stream. LiveLab LUT stream Load any .cube as your base look. CyanView LiveLab pushes LUTs live over the network and grabs frames for grading. Look and Apple Log to Rec.709 conversions ship in the app. Scopes Native GPU RGB parade, histogram and vectorscope with a configurable refresh rate, plus an audio meter. Streaming RTP for ultra low latency on the local network, a few frames glass to glass, with a lossless path and a control channel into FXVP. SRT for the public internet in caller or listener mode with encryption, AAC audio and NTP timecode SEI for Makito MultiSync. H.264 or H.265, bit rate changes live from the phone or the RCP. Requirements Remote control and shading need a CyanView RCP. Everything else runs standalone. Genlock and LTC need a ProDock. Apple Log 2 needs iOS 26. Broadcast HDMI and iris need iOS 27.

About

XYST DECK

Features
Read full description

XYST DECK turns your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch into a clean, modern control surface for Bitfocus Companion โ€” the free software behind countless live shows, streams, and studios. Connect to Companion over your local network and your buttons appear instantly: real labels, real colors, real on/off state, updating live as things change. Tap to fire โ€” presses go straight back to Companion. A full control surface that's always in your pocket and on your wrist. WHY XYST DECK โ€ข Two-way and live. Built on Companion's Satellite protocol, so button feedback (state, color, label) reflects in real time โ€” not just fire-and-forget. โ€ข Clean by design. Dark, calm tiles rendered from each button's text and color. No more squinting at busy thumbnails. โ€ข Universal. One app for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, each laid out for its screen. โ€ข On your wrist. The Apple Watch surface mirrors your phone โ€” glance, tap, done. โ€ข Private. No account, no analytics, no tracking. Everything stays on your network and your devices. TRY IT WITHOUT A SERVER Turn on Demo mode in Settings to explore the full interface with sample pages โ€” no Companion needed. REQUIREMENTS XYST DECK is a surface for Bitfocus Companion (free at bitfocus.io/companion). You need a Companion 3.5+ instance on your network with the Satellite API enabled. XYST DECK does not control hardware on its own. Made for broadcasters, streamers, AV techs, houses of worship, and anyone who runs a show with Companion. XYST DECK is an independent app and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Bitfocus AS.

Screenshots

CyanCamera App3 screens
XYST DECK3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: CyanCamera App at fortnightly against XYST DECK's every 3 months. XYST DECK's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, 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

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

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CyanCamera App ships an update fortnightly, XYST DECK every 3 months. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
CyanCamera App versus XYST DECK: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCyanCamera AppXYST DECK
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyFortnightly โ€” betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS26.017.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size51 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCyanViewXYST, INC

In-app purchases

None

CyanCamera App

No in-app purchases

None

XYST DECK

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is CyanCamera App free?
CyanCamera App is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is XYST DECK free?
XYST DECK is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do CyanCamera App or XYST DECK have ads?
Neither CyanCamera App nor XYST DECK shows ads.
Which is updated more often, CyanCamera App or XYST DECK?
CyanCamera App ships an update fortnightly, and XYST DECK every 3 months. Most recently, CyanCamera App was updated on October 31, 2026 and XYST DECK on October 31, 2026.

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