Half Frame vs Oqra Cam
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Half Frame
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Half Frame — Shoot Like It's a Roll of Film Half the frame. Twice the story. You've seen those retro digital half-frame cameras everywhere. You've watched the reviews, added one to your cart, hovered over "buy" — and winced at the price of what is, let's be honest, a small sensor in a nostalgic shell. Put your wallet away. That camera you've been dreaming about? It's already in your pocket. Half Frame turns your iPhone into a true half-frame film camera experience — the anticipation, the discipline, the happy accidents — without the overpriced hardware and without ever pretending your photos need to look worse to feel analog. Shoot a roll, not a feed Pick your roll length — 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, or 72 exposures — and commit. There's no gallery to obsess over mid-roll. You frame, you shoot, you move on. Only when the roll is finished (or you cut it early, like rewinding mid-roll) do you get to review your shots, pick the keepers, and develop them to your photo library. If you like, every finished roll becomes its own numbered album — Roll 001, Roll 002, …. One frame, two frames, three True to the half-frame spirit, you don't have to shoot alone: Single — one full frame, all yours. Diptych — two shots, side by side, one story, the half-frame classic. Triptych — a big frame plus two stacked companions. Sequences, contrasts, before-and-after. Choose your format: 3:2, 4:3, cinematic 16:9, or square 1:1. Twelve films in your pocket Swap "film stock" with one tap: Natural — No makeup, just your sensor at its honest best. Vivid — Slide film: punchy, saturated colors that pop off the screen. Classic — 90s negative film with green-shifted foliage and punchy contrast. Gold — Warm everyday film with golden, sun-soaked highlights. Sepia — Warm, faded film for photos that feel like memories. Magenta — The unmistakable color shift of expired film. Faded — Matte retro with softly lifted, blue-tinted blacks. Chrome — Muted, documentary color: cool and restrained, staying out of the way. Cool — A crisp teal-and-orange cinema look for daylight scenes. Tungsten — Night film: glowing lights, teal shadows, bold grain. Silver — Soft monochrome with gentle, quiet tones — the calm counterpart to Black & White. Black & White — Classic monochrome with real film contrast and grain. Star your favorites and they stay at the front of the shelf. Dial in the look Every film brings its own character — you get the knobs anyway. Vignette, halation, and grain, each in three strengths or off. Or leave any of them on Auto and let the film decide. Vignette — darkened corners, from subtle to full retro tunnel. Halation — the red-orange glow film casts around bright lights. Grain — the speckled texture of film, from barely-there to heavy and gritty. Manual soul, modern brain Shutter control — cap your shutter at 1/30 up to 1/2000, or leave it on smart Auto that speeds up as you zoom in. No blurry shots, no exposure homework. Real photographic metadata — every developed picture carries its lens, ISO, shutter speed, aperture, exposure bias, and focal length in EXIF. Full-quality captures — computational photography stays on. You get the film workflow, not the film-era image quality. Tap to focus, pinch to zoom — with a zoom badge that snaps back to 1x on tap. Flash included — one tap, clearly badged when armed. Your dividers, your rules — white or black frame dividers in diptychs and triptychs, from none to extra bold. Keep the originals — optionally save every full exposure alongside the finished diptych or triptych. Available in English, German, Spanish, and French. Who this is for For everyone who fell in love with the idea of half-frame photography — the thrift, the rhythm, the diptychs — but couldn't justify spending premium money on a fashion-forward point-and-shoot with yesterday's internals. Scratch the itch. Keep the money. Shoot the roll. Half Frame. Load a roll. See what develops.
Oqra Cam
This app brings the authentic look and feel of film photography to your iPhone. It allows you to apply various film styles in real-time, customize them deeply, and even share your unique creations with others. Capture stunning photos and videos with a distinct analog aesthetic.
- Real-time film look application
- Physics-based film engine
- Customizable film recipes
- Shareable film recipes via QR codes
- ProRAW and RAW DNG capture
- Live Photos and Film Clips support
- Lock Screen controls
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Oqra brings the character of film to your iPhone, with looks you can make your own. Its physics-based film engine models light-sensitive layers, dye color, grain, and halation, developing each image entirely on your device. LOAD A FILM. POINT AND SHOOT. Choose a film recipe and see its character in the live viewfinder. Shoot with the look already applied, without a separate editing step. MAKE LOOKS YOURS. Start with a preset or build your own. Shape color, grain, halation, and the response from shadows to highlights. Go deeper with individual emulsion layers, dye settings, and H&D response curves. In-app guides explain the controls as you explore. SCAN. LOAD. SHARE. Share your film recipes as QR codes or links. Scan a friend's code, add the recipe to your collection, and shoot with their look. FILM CHARACTER. RAW DETAIL. Capture and develop Apple ProRAW or RAW DNG on supported cameras. Still-photo capture reaches up to 48 MP where supported by your device and camera. Enable Keep RAW Original to retain the original DNG alongside your developed photo when shooting RAW stills. KEEP THE MOMENT MOVING. Capture Live Photos with the film look in both the still image and the motion, or record Film Clips up to 30 seconds long. READY FROM THE LOCK SCREEN. Open Oqra from its Lock Screen control, or assign it to Camera Control on supported iPhones. Your selected film recipe is ready when the camera opens. PRIVATE BY DESIGN. Your photos are developed on your iPhone. No Oqra account. No upload needed for processing. Live Photos, Film Clips, and unlimited custom recipes require a one-time in-app purchase. No subscription. REQUIRES iOS 18 or later. iPhone 12 or newer, or iPhone SE (3rd generation). Apple, iPhone, Live Photos, ProRAW, and Camera Control are trademarks of Apple Inc. DNG is a trademark of Adobe Inc. Oqra is an independent product and has not been authorized, sponsored, or approved by Apple Inc.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Half Frame at none against Oqra Cam's 3. On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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
Both are free to download. Oqra Cam sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Half Frame asks for nothing beyond the download.
Half Frame ships an update every 3 weeks, Oqra Cam every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Half Frame | Oqra Cam |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.4 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 33 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Harald Schubert | 匡明 秦 |
In-app purchases
Half Frame
No in-app purchases
Oqra Cam
- A Small Print$2.99
- A Medium Print$4.99
- A Large Print$9.99









