Comparison

Dossier vs Sidecam

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

Head to head
About

Dossier

Features
Read full description

Dossier is a privacy-first iPhone camera for the three jobs where pointing an unredacted lens at a person is a real problem: real estate, legal, and journalism. Faces blur in real time. Voices pitch-shift before the audio is even written to the file. Nothing ever leaves your phone. FOR REAL ESTATE AGENTS Walk a listing without filming the seller, their kids, or the family photos on the wall. Every face in frame is mosaiced as you record — including the buyer who just walked into your shot. Drop a manual blur box over a license plate or personal mail. Name each clip in your library ("412 Maple — kitchen") and sort by listing, client, or date. FOR PARALEGALS AND INVESTIGATORS Capture a witness statement with the speaker's voice pitch-shifted from the moment of capture, so no unredacted audio is ever stored. Every export carries a SHA-256 fingerprint you can prove later in court — show months from now that a copy is bit-for-bit identical to the original, or prove it isn't. Live captions burn into the recording for transcription. Lock the library behind Face ID. FOR JOURNALISTS Bystanders auto-blur so a source isn't compromised by being in your B-roll. Mark Region covers anything the auto-pass missed — a badge, a door number. The Safety Pass re-scans your finished clip for faces detected at frame edges. Everything happens locally — no servers, no telemetry, no third-party SDKs. WHAT DOSSIER DOES • Real-time face blur — baked into the file, no unredacted version is ever stored. • Voice change — pitch-shifted before audio is written. • Live captions — on-device speech recognition, burned into video. • Tamper-evident receipts — SHA-256 fingerprint + audit PDF for every export. • Dual-aspect & dual-camera — portrait + landscape in one take, or front + back simultaneously. • Mark Region — manual blur box over anything missed. • Safety Pass — second-look scan for missed faces. • Photos too — stills get the same face-blur pipeline. • Import & redact existing footage from your Photos library. • Titles & tags — built for libraries past a hundred clips. PRIVACY • No accounts. No sign-up. No analytics. No ads. • No network access of any kind. Dossier has no servers. • Face detection, voice change, captions, hashing — all run on-device. • Face ID / passcode lock optional on the library. REQUIREMENTS • iPhone running iOS 17 or later. • Multi-camera and dual-aspect need iPhone 11 or later. A NOTE ON LAWFUL USE Recording laws vary by jurisdiction. Many places require all-party consent for private conversations. Dossier shows a one-time disclaimer on first launch — lawful use is your responsibility. The redaction features are a defense-in-depth tool, not a substitute for consent.

About

Sidecam

This app provides a dedicated camera for professional use, keeping work-related photos and videos separate from your personal library. It offers advanced camera features, organized storage, and cloud backup options for enhanced privacy and control.

Highlights
  • Dedicated work camera
  • Separated photo library
  • Advanced camera controls (MP, 4K video, grid)
  • Organized sessions and folders
  • Cloud backup to iCloud Drive
  • Privacy-focused, no data collection
Read full description

Sidecam is your separate camera for work: professional photos and videos kept apart from your personal photo library. Sidecam never touches the Photos app and cannot read your camera roll. What you capture at work stays in the app, organized and under your control. A FULL CAMERA • True 24 or 48 MP, with every iPhone lens and zoom that behaves just like the native camera • 4K video with flash, lens selection and a digital-crop warning • Level, grid and exposure lock for consistent shots ORGANIZED ON ITS OWN • Every work session groups itself — no albums to create by hand • Folders per client, site, case or project, plus reusable tags • Import the work photos you already have in Photos or Files and keep everything together in one app. YOUR BACKUP, IN YOUR CLOUD • Your entire work library mirrored to iCloud Drive (or any folder you choose): browsable folders and dates on any device • Optimize storage: originals stay in the cloud to free up space on your iPhone • Nothing is ever deleted from the cloud: removed items go to a trash folder in iCloud REAL PRIVACY • No accounts, no servers, no data collection • Optional Face ID lock for your library Built for healthcare, inspections, construction, real estate, workshops and any professional who takes photos on the job and wants to keep their personal library clean.

Screenshots

Dossier4 screens
Sidecam4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sidecam at none against Dossier's 1. On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Dossier sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Sidecam asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Dossier versus Sidecam: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDossierSidecam
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequency—Every 2 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWeihan DingFrancisco Nunes de Abreu

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Dossier

One-time1
  • Dossier Pro$9.99
None

Sidecam

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Dossier free?
Dossier is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sidecam free?
Sidecam is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Dossier or Sidecam have ads?
Neither Dossier nor Sidecam shows ads.

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