Comparison

LAB* vs Pure Camera

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

Head to head
About

LAB*

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# LAB* — App Store Listing --- ## App Name LAB* RAW Photo Editor & Darkroom LAB* is a professional RAW photo editor for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Silicon Mac — built for photographers who care about quality, privacy, and speed, without subscriptions or paywalls. Edit RAW, ProRAW, and standard photos directly from your camera roll, SD card, USB drive, or cloud storage. Every edit happens entirely on your device. Nothing is ever uploaded, tracked, or shared. **RUNS ON ALL YOUR APPLE DEVICES** • iPhone — edit on the go • iPad — full-screen editing with touch precision • Mac with M1, M2, M3, or M4 chip — same app, same power, on your desktop **POWERFUL EDITING TOOLS** • Exposure, Brightness, Contrast, Clarity • Highlights & Shadows with split toning — push warm or cool color into your tones independently • Whites, Blacks, Saturation, Vibrance, Warmth, Tint • Bloom, Halation, Fade, Grain, Vignette, Sharpness, Noise Reduction • Master tone curve + per-channel RGB curves • HSL color grading — adjust Hue, Saturation, and Luminance for 8 individual color ranges (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, Purple, Magenta) **MASKING & LOCAL ADJUSTMENTS** • Radial masks — circular spotlight adjustments • Linear masks — graduated filter for skies and horizons • Luminance masks — target shadows, midtones, or highlights • Color masks — select and adjust specific colors • Subject & Background masks — AI-powered person detection • Depth masks — near/far selection using Portrait mode depth data • Stack multiple masks on one photo **CROP & GEOMETRY** • Free-form crop with all 4 corner handles • Fixed aspect ratios: 1:1, 4:3, 16:9 • Straighten with auto-zoom (no black corners ever) • Rotate 90° left or right • Vertical and horizontal keystone correction **LOOKS & COMMUNITY PRESETS** • Built-in looks: Vivid, Classic Warm, Cool Blue, B&W, Vintage Fade, Moody • Save your own custom presets • Share presets as .labpreset files via AirDrop or iMessage • Import presets from friends — tap to install instantly **WORKFLOW** • Open RAW files directly from SD cards and USB drives — no import needed • Before/after split view with draggable divider • Hold to compare original • Pinch to zoom and pan • Full undo/redo history • Batch edit — apply a preset to multiple photos at once • Export as HEIC or JPEG with quality and resize controls • Share directly via AirDrop, iMessage, Instagram, and more **100% PRIVATE** No account required. No analytics. No ads. No data collected — on any device. Everything stays on your device, always. Built with love for photographers, by a photographer. --- ## Category Primary: Photo & Video Secondary: Utilities ## Age Rating 4+ ## Pricing Free ## Privacy Policy URL https://spurious-delphinium-b23.notion.site/LAB-Privacy-Policy-3be54f36504a8096ba69e56523206c30 ## What's New (first release) Welcome to LAB* — a free, privacy-first RAW photo editor for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Silicon Mac. Edit RAW files straight from your SD card, use professional tools including masks, curves, and HSL, then share your presets with the community.

About

Pure Camera

Features
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Pure Camera brings authentic true photography to your iPhone. Images are rendered directly from the iPhone’s raw sensor data through a simulated film process rather than applying a filter to a preprocessed photograph. Most camera applications begin with a processed image and apply color grading. Pure Camera utilizes raw sensor data without multi-frame fusion, Smart HDR, sharpening, noise reduction, or upscaling. The result is a photograph developed through an authentic film emulation—incorporating gamma, color separation, interlayer effects, and grain—using traditional darkroom characteristics rather than post-processing adjustments. This unique approach produces authentic, unprocessed images.. Nine Film Stocks Options range from neutral, accurate profiles to saturated slide film, faded prints, motion-picture stock, and high-contrast black-and-white. Each profile is derived from genuine film properties rather than visual inspiration. Manual Control Users have full control over ISO, shutter speed, white balance, exposure compensation, and aspect ratio. Preferred settings may be saved to named banks and selected with a single tap, or the application may be left to manage exposure automatically. Grain as a Variable Grain is a selectable parameter rather than a fixed attribute. Settings include off, weak, normal, and strong; intensity scales realistically with exposure—subtle at low speeds and more pronounced at higher speeds. Reliable Viewfinder The preview is calibrated to match the final developed image, ensuring accurate framing rather than a generic live-view approximation. Pure Camera is designed for photographers who prefer traditional camera behavior: exposure, focus, and composition are user-defined, while the film handles the remainder authentically. Premium The application is fully functional but limited to the primary lens. Access to additional lenses is available via a one-time in-app purchase with family sharing enabled.

Screenshots

LAB*4 screens
Pure Camera4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: LAB* at none against Pure Camera's 1. LAB* also leads on device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads 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. Pure Camera sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. LAB* asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 4 level
LAB* versus Pure Camera: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLAB*Pure Camera
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 11 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.526.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSchilliro MassimilianoGijs Raggers

In-app purchases

None

LAB*

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Pure Camera

One-time1
  • Premium$4.99

Questions

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

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