Lumen vs NightScope Night Vision Camera
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Lumen
Read full descriptionHide full description
Lumen is an on-device AI camera for still photos. It reads the scene live and tunes focus, exposure and tone for you, then finishes each photo with a hand-crafted, film-inspired color look. Still photography only: Lumen does not record video. TWO MODES • AI · 12MP: scene-aware processing plus your chosen film look. The preview is WYSIWYG, so what you see is what you get. • MAX (Pro): the largest photo size iOS offers for your lens (24MP on iPhone 17 Pro) with the phone's native processing. Lumen's AI finishing and film looks are not applied in MAX. AI CAPTURE: QUALITY OR SPEED In the ··· menu you choose how AI mode balances processing and waiting time. Quality is the default; Speed asks iOS to trade a little processing for a shorter wait after the shutter. FILM LOOKS 14 looks (including Off), inspired by classic analog film: from neutral and soft to warm golden tones, high-contrast black & white, silvery monochrome and sepia, plus punchy street looks like Hard Light and Midnight Glow. Off, Standard and Classic are free; the other looks come with Lumen Pro. Swipe the strip to compare. STYLE CONTROLS (Pro) Fine-tune any look with strength, tone, color, warmth and grain, and add a Texture layer: Soft Skin, Glow or Film. Start from 10 built-in style presets or save your own. Quick Adjust gives you three sliders on the camera screen; the Pro Editor has the full panel. MACRO, BUILT IN (Pro) Macro switches to the ultra-wide lens itself instead of digitally cropping the main camera. Focus Peaking colors the sharpest edges as you shoot, so you always know what's in focus once depth of field gets razor-thin. Turn on Focus Stacking and Lumen shoots a few frames at different focus distances and merges them into one photo, sharp from front to back, entirely on your iPhone. Best with a steady hand or a small tripod. FOCUS TRIGGER (free) Tap a small detail, hold the shutter and rock the phone gently. Lumen watches that exact spot and fires the moment it's sharp. LUMEN BUDDY (Pro) A small mascot watches the live view and gives short, friendly tips on sharpness, keeping the horizon level and framing. When it recognizes your subject it may suggest a film look. Buddy only advises; it never touches the shutter or your settings. PORTRAIT (Pro, LiDAR devices) Background blur built on your iPhone's LiDAR depth data. Choose an f-stop from f/1.4 to f/8 and Lumen scales both the blur and the depth-of-field zone. Requires iPhone 12 Pro or later Pro models. LOW-LIGHT (Pro) Not Apple's Night mode: Lumen allows exposures of up to half a second so the sensor can use a lower ISO, then adds noise reduction and gentle shadow recovery. Hold steady after the shutter click. PRO MANUAL AND RAW (Pro) Control shutter speed, ISO, white balance and focus by hand, and shoot a DNG alongside the JPEG for editing in Lightroom, Darkroom or any RAW editor. BUILT FOR SPEED AND CONTROL • A calm camera screen: shutter and zoom up front, the look strip folds away by itself. Swipe up on the look label for Quick Adjust. • Tap to focus and meter anywhere, with an exposure slider next to the focus box. • Zoom presets that follow your iPhone's lenses, plus pinch. • Camera Control on iPhone 16 and 17: click to shoot, swipe to zoom. • Responsive Capture where your iPhone supports it, so you can keep shooting while the previous photo finishes processing. • Full EXIF preserved; photos are saved to your Photos library in a dedicated album. FREE AND LUMEN PRO Free: AI mode, the Off, Standard and Classic looks, tap-to-focus, zoom, flash and Focus Trigger. Lumen Pro is a one-time purchase, no subscription, and unlocks all film looks, style controls, MAX, Pro manual with RAW, Portrait, Low-Light, Macro with focus stacking, Focus Peaking and Buddy. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything runs on your device. No accounts, no servers, no analytics, no tracking. Your photos never leave your phone unless you share them.
NightScope Night Vision Camera
Enhance your low-light photography and videography with various artistic filters and adjustable boosts. This app offers a free tier with limitations and a Pro version for unlimited, watermark-free content.
- Real-time artistic camera filters
- Adjustable low-light boost
- Zoom functionality
- Torch feature
- Watermark-free exports (Pro)
- Unlimited photo/video capture (Pro)
Read full descriptionHide full description
Capture clearer low-light photos and videos with NightScope. Choose from seven real-time artistic camera filters, adjust low-light boost, zoom in, switch cameras, use the torch, and quickly open your recent captures. Free plan: take up to 10 photos and 10 videos (up to 20 seconds each). Free captures include a small NightScope watermark. Pro unlocks every filter, maximum boost, unlimited photos and videos of any length, and watermark-free exports. Weekly, yearly, and lifetime options are available, with Restore Purchases included. Infrared and thermal modes are visual effects only; NightScope does not turn your iPhone into a true infrared or thermal sensor. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
Lumen and NightScope Night Vision Camera are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. Lumen sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and NightScope Night Vision Camera sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Lumen ships an update every 6 days, NightScope Night Vision Camera every 9 days. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.
| Parameter | Lumen | NightScope Night Vision Camera |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 2.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days — better | Every 9 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mario Steenbergen | Nurmuxammad Jobborov |
In-app purchases
Lumen
- Lumen Pro$6.99
NightScope Night Vision Camera
- NightScope Pro Weekly$1.997 Days
- NightScope Pro Yearly$19.991 Year
- NightScope Pro Lifetime$39.99
Questions
Is Lumen free?
Is NightScope Night Vision Camera free?
Do Lumen or NightScope Night Vision Camera have ads?
Which is updated more often, Lumen or NightScope Night Vision Camera?
Other comparisons















