Comparison

Lucid vs True Color

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

Head to head
About

Lucid

Features
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Shutter, ISO, white balance and focus — on real dials, laid out like a camera body instead of buried in a menu. The viewfinder shows exactly what saves. Pick the one thing you care about — Aperture-free Auto, Manual, Shutter or ISO priority — and Lucid floats the rest live as the light moves. One purchase. No subscription. UNFOLDS ON IPHONE DUO Open iPhone Duo and Lucid becomes a camera body: the viewfinder fills one half of the display, and the other half is a full control plate under your thumb — shutter and ISO on two live dials at once, big readouts, a labeled zoom ring, flash, timer, grid and level as buttons, your Looks and Profiles one tap from the shutter. The viewfinder turns with the camera, not the screen. Close it, and Lucid is the camera you already know. OPENS FROM THE CAMERA CONTROL BUTTON On iPhone 16 and later, set Lucid as your Camera Control app. One press opens Lucid right from the Lock Screen: no unlocking, and every manual dial is there. Half-press to adjust zoom, exposure, priority and Looks without taking your eye off the frame. WHY LUCID Most camera apps hand you a filter and a shutter button. Lucid hands you the camera. Four exposure priorities (Auto, Manual, Shutter, ISO) let you decide what to control and what to let the camera solve, live. Everything you set, you see. Everything you see, you keep. And it's yours. One purchase, no subscription. The camera doesn't stop working when the month ends. WHAT YOU CAN DO - Shoot full manual: shutter, ISO, white balance, and focus, on real dials - Choose what you control: Auto, Manual, Shutter or ISO priority — the camera solves the rest, live - Capture RAW, ProRAW, HEIF, and 48MP, keeping every bit of the file - Nail focus with peaking and a magnified loupe - Read your light with a live histogram and zebra stripes - Grade with Looks: film LUTs previewed live in the viewfinder, baked on capture - Import your own .cube LUTs - Pull long exposures, bracket, and set a self-timer - Save full setups as Profiles and recall them in a tap - Launch from the Camera Control button, even on the Lock Screen - Open iPhone Duo for a two-dial control plate beside the viewfinder - Shoot manual video too: Apple Log, ProRes, and a cinematic 180° shutter BUILT HONEST No aperture slider. Your iPhone's lenses have fixed apertures, and faking it would be a lie. No account. No analytics. No cloud. Your photos never leave your phone, and location tagging stays off until you turn it on. ONE PURCHASE. YOURS FOREVER. Try every feature free. Then unlock Lucid for a single payment: no subscription, no upsells, no expiry date. Shoot like you mean it. Support: support@lucidcamera.app Privacy: https://lucidcamera.app/privacy/

About

True Color

Features
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True Color is a real photo editor, not another filter app. It brings the color tools of a desktop editor to your iPhone: layers, curves, masks and LUTs, with every step editable for as long as you keep the project. EVERY EDIT IS A LAYER • Stack adjustment layers over your photo. Nothing is baked in until you export • Reopen a project next week and retune, reorder or switch off any layer • 26 blend modes, opacity and a channel switch on every layer • Pipeline: flip through the photo after each layer and see how the edit is built COLOR GRADING, THE PRECISE WAY • Curves, drawn right on the photo: the whole image, or red, green and blue on their own • Levels, Color Balance, Selective Color, Channel Mixer, Gradient Map and more • Hue & Saturation by color range: turn one color and leave the rest alone • Black & White with six color sliders and a tint • Tone, Exposure, White Balance, Vibrance, Detail, Vignette and film Grain MASKS: EDIT JUST ONE PART • Brush, Gradient, Luminosity, Subject and Depth masks • Combine them with Add, Subtract and Intersect • Blend If: let an edit land only in the shadows, or only in the highlights FILTERS, LOOKS AND LUTS • Film and cinema filters, each with its own Intensity • Import your own .cube and .3dl LUTs • Save any stack of layers as a Look and put it on the next photo • Alchemy: mix styles on a pad and keep the recipe as your own Look A WHOLE SHOOT AT ONCE • Edit a series of up to 30 photos together: grade one and the rest follow • Fine-tune any single photo without breaking the set RAW, DONE PROPERLY • Opens RAW and ProRAW with a develop stage of its own • 16-bit TIFF export from the RAW LEARN AS YOU EDIT • The Academy: short, free lessons on real photos, with the tools right there • Learn why a move works, not just where to tap PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your photos are edited on your iPhone. No account, no upload. Projects, Looks and LUTs sync through your own iCloud. MADE FOR IPHONE AND IPHONE DUO Portrait on every iPhone, and a wide landscape editor when an iPhone Duo is open. FREE AND PRO True Color is free to download. The free editor gives you up to three layers on every photo, the everyday adjustments (Tone, Exposure, Brightness & Contrast, White Balance, Vibrance, Hue & Saturation, Black & White, Detail, Vignette and Grain), crop, every Academy lesson, and export with a small "Made with True Color" mark. You can try every Pro tool on your own photo before you decide. True Color Pro is needed to save an edit that uses one. Pro unlocks unlimited layers, Curves, Levels, Color Balance, Selective Color, Channel Mixer, Gradient Map and the other advanced layers, masks and Blend If, filters, Looks and LUT import, Alchemy, series of more than two photos, unlimited saves from the one-tap tools, and export without the mark. SUBSCRIPTION True Color Pro is an auto-renewing subscription, offered in three lengths: • Pro Weekly, $4.99 per week • Pro Monthly, $7.99 per month • Pro Yearly, $29.99 per year Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically for the same period at the same price unless auto-renewal is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the current period ends. You can manage your subscription and turn off auto-renewal in your Apple Account settings after purchase. Prices are in US dollars and may vary by region. Terms of Use: https://gettruecolor.com/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://gettruecolor.com/privacy.html

Screenshots

Lucid4 screens
True Color4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Lucid at every 10 days against True Color's every 3 months. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Lucid sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and True Color sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lucid ships an update every 10 days, True Color every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference Ā· 5 level
Lucid versus True Color: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLucidTrue Color
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB43 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPerry HamptonIhor Malovanyi

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Lucid

One-time1
  • Unlock Lucid$4.99
3 purchases

True Color

Subscriptions3
  • Pro Weekly3 Days trial$4.997 Days
  • Pro Monthly$7.991 Month
  • Pro Yearly - Best Value7 Days trial$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Lucid free?
Lucid is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is True Color free?
True Color is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Lucid or True Color have ads?
Neither Lucid nor True Color shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lucid or True Color?
Lucid ships an update every 10 days, and True Color every 3 months. Most recently, Lucid was updated on October 28, 2026 and True Color on November 10, 2026.

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