NightCap Camera vs MoonCatcher
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
NightCap Camera
Capture stunning low-light and night photos and videos with advanced features like long exposure, AI-powered controls, and specialized astrophotography modes. Achieve DSLR-like results and unlock your device's full potential in challenging lighting conditions.
- Low light and night photo/video capture
- Long exposure and motion blur effects
- Astrophotography modes (stars, aurora, ISS, meteors)
- AI camera control for automatic settings
- Manual gesture-based adjustments
- 4K time lapse recording
- ISO Boost for brighter low-light shots
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Photograph star trails or stunning smooth waterfalls. Capture a meteor mid-streak or traffic with light trails. And clear, detailed photos where there’s barely any light at all. One-time purchase, no subscription. ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY Four modes that automatically set the camera up for you. - Star Trails: watch the stars draw circles overhead - Meteors: automatic capture of shooting stars - ISS: the International Space Station passing over - Stars: starry skies and the Milky Way - New in version 10: Aurora, a time-lapse mode for the Northern and Southern Lights LONG EXPOSURE Hold the shutter open for seconds or minutes and movement becomes light. - Long Exposure: motion blur, or a cleaner shot when you hold still - Light Trails: traffic at night, fireworks, light painting - Both as time-lapse too, up to 4K with adjustable speed LOW LIGHT - ISO Boost for up to 4x beyond the standard camera range - Light Boost - Noise Reduction - Night Mode video and timelapse HANDHELD New in version 10. NightCap steadies and aligns every frame as you shoot, so long exposures no longer need a tripod. MANUAL CONTROL - Swipe to adjust exposure, ISO, focus and white balance - Camera Control on iPhone 16 and later - Zoom to 16x - Black and white mode Also includes an interval programmer, self-timer, and an Apple Watch app with live preview and remote control.
MoonCatcher
Capture stunning images of the moon with advanced focus and zoom capabilities. Offers both automatic and manual modes for precise control over exposure, ISO, and white balance. Ideal for aspiring astrophotographers.
- Easy moon photography
- Advanced zoom (40x)
- Automatic focus adjustment
- Manual focus control
- Adjustable ISO/shutter speed
- Multiple exposure modes
- Night scene enhancements
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This is an app that allows you to easily photograph the moon at night, including its pattern. You can also zoom easily. Usage is simple. (A) Tap the moon from the menu and tap the closest moon shape among the three. (B) Point the camera at the moon and zoom. (C) Release the shutter without moving the smartphone (tripod recommended). The shutter will fire several times, so don't let it slide until the end. If you cannot take any of the photos with the moon in focus, you can try "changing the center of focus" as many times as you like below. Tap the manual mode button (second button from the bottom right) to enter manual mode, where you can manually set focus, ISO/shutter speed, white balance, and multiple exposure parameters. ------------------------- The features of this app are (1) Fully automatic function - If you select "Moon", the exposure will be automatically darkened in response to the bright moon in the night sky, and the focus will be adjusted to the distance. Since it fires continuously while changing the focus multiple times, you can choose the best result among them. (The number of consecutive shots and the center of focus can be changed with the slider) *"Change the focus center": Tap "Moon" on the shooting screen to display the moon shape selection segment, the number of consecutive shots slider, and the focus center slider. Now you can change each value. Because the moon is far away, it is difficult to focus when zoomed in. Therefore, if you take pictures while changing the focus little by little, you can expect the moon to be in focus at some point. The focus range is from 0 (nearby) to 1 (far), but in reality, the focus is shifted by 1/5 when shooting. For example, 0.7 to 0.9 (0.8 in the center). By changing the center of focus, you can shift the focus within any range and fire continuously. - There are two types of night views. ・"Night Scene 1" brightens a dark night scene by one level. ・“Night Scene 2” brightens the image one step brighter than “Night Scene 1”. It fires continuously while changing the brightness 4 times. - If you select "HDR", multiple consecutive images with different exposures will be combined to create a pseudo-large dynamic range. Multiple exposure 3 times. (2) Full manual function You can take photos by manually setting the focal length, exposure, white balance, photo composition method, and number of photos. ・Tap "Focus", "ISO/SS", and "WB" to select auto or manual. ・Tap "Multiple Exposure" to select the multiple exposure composition method and set the number of composite images (up to 100). The synthesis methods are as following. Bright: Screen composit (Screen Blend) Normal: Comparison(light) composition (Lighten Blend) Dark: Comparison (dark) composition (Darken Blend) HDR: Special composition (Special Blend) (3) Other camera functions ・Zoom function: Achieving a zoom ratio of 40 time ・A camera position: The LCD screen side or the back camera is selectable. ・Focus position specification ・Mesh display ・Aspect selection ・Deviation correction selection (4) Filter function just after the photography To display the photograph just after photography and the following filtering are possible by slider operation. ・Purity (sharpness) ・Comparison degree (contrast) ・Luminosity (exposure) ・Display list function The photos taken in this app is stored in the camera roll and in app itself too and you can see the list of them with the shooting date and time information. ・Image processing function When you tap the image on the list, it displays the list of filters for image processing. It has about 70 filters such as 'Brightness','Contrast','Blur','Sharpening','Sepia','Monochrome','Edge detection','Sketch' and so on. *** This app include the following open sources. - GPUImage (Copyright (c) 2012, Brad Larson, Ben Cochran, Hugues Lismonde, Keitaroh Kobayashi, Alaric Cole, Matthew Clark, Jacob Gundersen, Chris Williams. All rights reserved.)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: NightCap Camera at every 3 weeks against MoonCatcher's every 4 months. NightCap Camera also leads on review sentiment (51% vs 29%) and chart position (#3 vs unranked). MoonCatcher's advantage is price ($0.99 vs $2.99) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 18.6). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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
NightCap Camera costs $2.99 and MoonCatcher $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
NightCap Camera ships an update every 3 weeks, MoonCatcher every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NightCap Camera | MoonCatcher |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | $0.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.4 (3K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 50.8% of reviews — better | 28.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #3 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | RTD | HIROFUMI MARUO |
Customer experience
NightCap Camera
MoonCatcher
Bugs and requests
NightCap Camera
Reported bugs
3 issues- Photos not saving properly
- Meteor mode not working as expected
- Compatibility issues with iOS 8 and iPhone 6 Plus
Requested features
5 requests- RAW image support
- Bluetooth remote shutter control
- Ability to save settings
- More exposure options
- Improved timelapse features
MoonCatcher
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
NightCap Camera
No in-app purchases
MoonCatcher
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is NightCap Camera free?
Is MoonCatcher free?
Do NightCap Camera or MoonCatcher have ads?
Which is updated more often, NightCap Camera or MoonCatcher?
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