Comparison

Stills vs Surface Camera

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

Head to head
About

Stills

This app simulates a disposable camera experience, letting you capture moments without previews or retakes. Once a roll is full, your photos develop, revealing what you've captured.

Highlights
  • Simulated disposable camera
  • No photo previews
  • Delayed photo development
  • On-device search
  • Friend connection via proximity
Read full description

Stills is a disposable camera for your phone. Load a roll. Shoot it. You don't get to see the photos — not yet. When the roll is full it develops, and you find out what you actually caught. That's the whole idea. No preview, no retakes, no deleting the bad one before anyone sees it. You take the picture and you live with it, the way you used to. Every frame develops through Stills 400, a film process built for this app — warm highlights, real grain, halation around the light. It runs on your phone, in about a second. Your photos never leave your device. Search runs on-device too: ask for "that night we walked home in the rain" and it finds it, without anything being uploaded to anyone. Presence adds friends the only sensible way — hold two phones together. No usernames to hunt for, no requests from strangers.

About

Surface Camera

Features
Read full description

A film camera for iPhone. Choose your film. Compose the frame. Make the photograph. Surface brings eight distinct film profiles to your iPhone, with the look visible in the viewfinder before you shoot. Add blur or light leaks, take control of focus and exposure, and save directly to Apple Photos. FIND YOUR FILM Four black-and-white profiles: Selenium 400, Bromide 125, Metol 125, and Palladium 3200. Four color profiles: Chroma 100, Tonal 400, Radian 400, and Prism 100. Your chosen profile becomes part of the photograph at capture. Editing refines that photograph while keeping its film. SHAPE THE FRAME Position blur and adjust its strength. Add a light leak, then randomize it to explore a different color and pattern. Tap to focus, adjust exposure, and use focus peaking. Flash, a timer, and slow shutter are close at hand. EDIT IN SURFACE Adjust Exposure, Contrast, Blacks, Whites, Saturation, Warmth, Tint, Grain, Halation, and Vignette. Crop and straighten, undo and redo, and save your edits back to Photos. ONE PHOTO LIBRARY Captures and edits live in Apple Photos. Browse your Surface photographs, import photos for editing, share favorites, and manage your collection without maintaining a second library. CAPTURE YOUR WAY Choose HEIC, JPEG, or Apple ProRAW on supported iPhones. Capture at 12, 24, or 48 MP depending on your hardware and settings. ProRAW supports 12 or 48 MP. Open the viewfinder from Siri, Shortcuts, the Lock Screen, or Control Center. MADE FOR YOUR IPHONE Film rendering and editing happen on your device. No Surface account, ads, or tracking. Apple services handle purchases, optional iCloud Photos sync, and location-name lookup. Available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Korean. Requires iOS 18 or later. Camera features vary by iPhone model. MEMBERSHIP Choose a monthly or yearly auto-renewing subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Purchases are handled by Apple. Subscriptions renew unless canceled through your Apple Account settings. Local prices are shown before purchase. Privacy Policy: https://surfacecamera.app/privacy/ Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Stills4 screens
Surface Camera4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Stills at none against Surface Camera's 3. Surface Camera's advantage is iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Surface Camera sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month. Stills asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Stills versus Surface Camera: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStillsSurface Camera
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (15 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings15 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS26.018.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size216 MB37 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperSiarhei KaranchukCarlos Tarrats

In-app purchases

None

Stills

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Surface Camera

Subscriptions2
  • Surface Monthly$1.491 Month
  • Surface Yearly$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • Surface Lifetime$49.99

Questions

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

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