Comparison

Knurl Camera vs Old Phone Camera

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

Head to head
About

Knurl Camera

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Knurl is a camera for people who would rather develop the photo themselves. It captures true Bayer RAW: the sensor's own mosaic, written straight to a DNG with none of the computational photography that normally happens on the way. No multi-frame fusion, no tone curve, no sharpening. What lands in your library is undeveloped data with all of its latitude intact, ready for Lightroom or Photos to interpret however you like. THE CONTROLS ARE THE POINT A mode wheel you turn, with the real designations: P for program, Tv for shutter priority, Sv for ISO priority, M for full manual. Every position clicks. ISO and shutter move in thirds of a stop along the standard photographic ladders, on a dial that detents at every rung. Whole stops click harder than thirds, so you can count them by feel without looking. The ends of each ladder are the sensor's genuine limits rather than round numbers, which means base ISO, the cleanest the sensor gets, is actually reachable. Exposure compensation on its own scale, in thirds, with a firmer detent at zero. In manual it becomes the meter, because compensation has nothing left to act on when both controls are already fixed. An AF/MF switch and a focus ring you turn like a ring: relative, so touching it never jumps focus, and marked near to far rather than in invented distances. Three lenses, each at its native focal length, read from the hardware. HONEST ABOUT ITSELF Bayer RAW is 12 MP and does not permit zoom. The 48 MP path would mean Apple ProRAW, which is demosaiced and partially processed, so Knurl does not offer it. When the exposure you have asked for is not achievable, it says so rather than pretending. Your shots go to a Knurl album you can browse in the app, pinch to zoom, and swipe through. Volume buttons fire the shutter. Add the Control to your Action Button, Lock Screen or Control Center to open it without unlocking.

About

Old Phone Camera

Features
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Old Phone Camera turns your iPhone into four legendary cameras from the smartphone era โ€” 2007's grainy VGA original, 2010's crisp glass shooter, 2012's sharper sensor, and 2014's flat, modern look. Every mode recreates the real optics, color science, and quirks of the original hardware, not just a filter slapped on top. FOUR ERAS, ONE CAMERA โ€ข Phone 1 (2007) โ€” soft focus, warm color cast, low-res VGA charm โ€ข Phone 4 (2010) โ€” the glass-and-steel look, sharper but still nostalgic โ€ข Phone 5 (2012) โ€” bigger sensor, cooler tones, the classic 2012 feel โ€ข Phone 6 (2014) โ€” flat design era, 60fps video, the last "old" look before modern computational photography DEVELOP ASโ€ฆ Already shot a photo? Re-develop it through any other era's look after the fact, right on your camera roll copy โ€” your original is always safe. INSTANT-PRINT EXTRAS Add a date stamp or an instant-print border to any shot for that authentic pocket-camera feel, without touching the original file. CAPTURE DETAILS See the resolution, JPEG quality, frame rate, and file size behind every shot โ€” because the old phones had real technical fingerprints, and we kept them. Phone 6 mode is free forever. Unlock All Eras once to get Phone 1, Phone 4, and Phone 5 modes plus Develop As for every era โ€” no subscription, no ads, no accounts.

Screenshots

Knurl Camera4 screens
Old Phone Camera4 screens

Verdict

The call

Knurl Camera and Old Phone Camera are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters โ€” price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them โ€” neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Knurl Camera versus Old Phone Camera: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterKnurl CameraOld Phone Camera
PriceFreeFree
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS18.0 โ€” better18.6
Further details โ€” not scored
Size1 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDimitrios ZarkadasChelsea Hannah

In-app purchases

None

Knurl Camera

No in-app purchases

None

Old Phone Camera

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Knurl Camera free?
Knurl Camera is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Old Phone Camera free?
Old Phone Camera is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Knurl Camera or Old Phone Camera have ads?
Neither Knurl Camera nor Old Phone Camera shows ads.

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