Comparison

Halide Mark III vs Motion Sensor

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

Head to head
About

Halide Mark III

This app offers advanced manual camera controls and unique image processing for natural, film-like photos. It provides tools for precise focus, composition, and editing, allowing users to capture and refine professional-quality images directly on their iPhone.

Highlights
  • Manual exposure controls
  • Focus Peaking and Loupe
  • Customizable framing guides
  • Dedicated Macro Mode
  • Photographic Looks
  • RAW file support
  • Photo Lab editing
Features
Read full description

Halide unleashes your iPhone’s camera. Disable iPhone processing for natural photos, apply powerful film situations, access manual controls, and more. Halide has over 24,000 5-star ratings and is an App Store Editors’ Choice and Apple Design Award winner. Halide’s Looks are built into the camera itself, changing how your photo is captured and processed - not just a color filter applied after the fact. These are the best photos you can get out of an iPhone. Start with Process Zero for natural, film-like results, without any AI or computational photography. Explore our rich set of creative Looks developed with Hollywood colorist Cullen Kelly, and powered by sophisticated film simulation. For nine years, Halide has set the standard for professional iPhone camera control. Nail your manual focus with Focus Peaking and the Focus Loupe. Compose your shots with intention using sophisticated framing guides, from a basic grid and rule of thirds, to the golden ratio and rabatment of the rectangle. Get perfect macro shots with Halide's dedicated Macro Mode. Hate editing? Halide gives you amazing results straight out of the camera. But when you need to fine-tune, Photo Lab makes it fast and intuitive. Try dramatically different Looks, adjust framing and exposure, experiment with film simulation, or rescue details in highlights and shadows with Tone Fusion. You can even import and load RAWs from other apps, such as Apple’s own camera app, or standalone cameras by Canon, Nikon, Sony, Leica, Fujifilm, and Hasselblad. Specific formats are listed below. *Halide is a paid app. Try it free for 7 days with an annual membership, or buy it outright with a one-time purchase — no subscription required.* Features: - Shoot without Apple’s computational photography for stronger contrast and more natural results. - Photographic Looks developed in collaboration with esteemed Hollywood colorist Cullen Kelly. - Rescue details in shadows and highlights with a Tone Fusion slider inspired by darkroom dodging and burning. - Try any Look on existing ProRAW files - including photos shot in Apple’s camera app. - Become a better photographer by signing up for our 10-day tutorial directly from the app. - Full manual exposure controls including shutter speed, ISO and white balance. - Technical Readout to view all details of your iPhone camera hardware. - Also runs on iPad, for an amazing Photo Lab experience. RAW File Support: - DNG (iPhone, Leica) - CR2 (Canon) - CR3 (Canon) - NEF (Nikon) - RAF (Fujifilm) - ARW (Sony) - FFF (Hasselblad) Terms of Use can be found here: https://halide.cam/terms Privacy: https://www.lux.camera/privacy/

About

Motion Sensor

This application acts as a motion detector, automatically recording video when movement is detected. It offers various features for surveillance, security, or capturing pet activities. Videos can be saved to cloud storage or viewed within the app.

Highlights
  • Automatic video recording on motion detection
  • Cloud storage integration (Dropbox, iCloud)
  • Adjustable video resolution and frame rate
  • Configurable detection zones and schedules
  • In-app gallery and video playback
  • Customizable motion sensitivity and recording duration
Features
Read full description

This app is a motion detector that records video automatically when it detects movement. Perfect for surveillance, motion detection, security, pranks, or just recording what your pet does when you are not home. Features ▸ Dropbox™ - Sends your videos to your Dropbox™. ▸ iCloud Drive - Sends your videos to your iCloud Drive. ▸ Resolution - 4K¹, 1080p¹, 720p or 480p. ▸ Frame Rate - 30, 60¹, 120¹ or 240¹ frames per second. ▸ Detection Zone - Defines the portion of the camera that the motion detection algorithm uses. ▸ Schedule - Defines start and end times for the motion detection. ▸ Gallery - View videos directly in the app. ▸ Time Stamp - Adds the date and time to your videos. ▸ Camera Control - Select between front or rear camera. ▸ Sensitivity - Controls the motion detection sensitivity. ▸ Idle Record - Controls how long the app continues recording after the motion stops. ▸ Visualize Motion - Visualizes motion detected by the app. ▸ Alarm - Plays an alarm sound when motion is detected. ▸ Door Bell - Plays a bell sound when motion is detected. ▸ Light - Toggles the flashlight when using the rear-facing camera. ▸ Rick Roll - Surprise your friends with Rick Roll when you catch them on camera. ▸ Auto Focus - Option to turn off autofocus to avoid re-focusing of the camera during motion detection. ¹ Dependent upon device's capabilities.

Screenshots

Halide Mark III4 screens
Motion Sensor3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Halide Mark III at Free against Motion Sensor's $4.99. Halide Mark III also leads on ratings volume (14K vs 258) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). Motion Sensor's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 18.0). On review sentiment, 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

Halide Mark III is free to download; Motion Sensor costs $4.99 up front. Halide Mark III sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Motion Sensor asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Halide Mark III holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Halide Mark III has 14K ratings behind it against 258, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 41% of Halide Mark III's written reviews are positive against 38% of Motion Sensor's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Halide Mark III ships an update weekly, Motion Sensor every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Halide Mark III versus Motion Sensor: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHalide Mark IIIMotion Sensor
PriceFree — better$4.99
Rating4.4 (14K ratings) — better4.2 (258 ratings)
Positive reviews41.1% of reviews — better38.0% of reviews
Number of ratings14K — better258
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#150 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.010.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size87 MB72 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLux Optics IncorporatedEmmanuel Lauro Garsd

Customer experience

Halide Mark III

All ratings13,678 ratings
Positive86.4%
Neutral2.5%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews915 reviews
Positive41.1%
Neutral8.2%
Negative50.7%

Motion Sensor

All ratings257 ratings
Positive80.2%
Neutral4.7%
Negative15.2%
Written reviews50 reviews
Positive38.0%
Neutral8.0%
Negative54.0%

User reviews

Halide Mark III

From 14K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful manual controls
  • 👍 Intuitive and clean interface
  • 🔍 Excellent RAW capture and editing
  • 📷 Macro and depth features
  • 🎨 Great image quality and color

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 🔍 Depth/portrait mode limitations
  • 🕰️ Slow performance on older devices
  • 💰 Expensive subscription model
  • 🔒 Lack of free trial or demo

Motion Sensor

From 258 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Good for naps at work
  • 👍 Excellent apps!
  • 👍 Pretty cool little app
  • 👍 Works as it should
  • 👍 Children loved to discover how nature documentary are done

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Undulations like on a boat
  • 🐛 Motion detection always triggers immediately
  • 🐛 Video captured is also undulating
  • 🐛 Turning off autofocus has no effect
  • 🐛 Cannot set camera zoom

Bugs and requests

Halide Mark III

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Photos not saving properly
  • Zoom functionality issues
  • Landscape mode UI problems

Requested features

5 requests
  • Shutter speed adjustment
  • Live depth/bokeh preview
  • Custom white balance
  • Time-lapse and video recording
  • Ability to save settings/presets

Motion Sensor

Reported bugs

22 issues
  • Preview undulates like waves
  • Motion detection triggers immediately
  • Video captured is undulating
  • Autofocus has no effect
  • App crashes frequently
Show 17 more
  • Sync to photo album and iCloud is sporadic
  • App freezes
  • App crashes before starting up
  • App crashes while shooting
  • Phone kept dropping calls while app installed
  • App crashes as soon as user walks away
  • No videos recorded after crash
  • App crashes and won't open
  • App crashes after 10 minutes
  • Movements only detected at close distance, inaccurate at further distances
  • App crashes and won't open after closing and reopening
  • App continuously crashes, never worked
  • App does not work for more than 5 minutes
  • App closes as soon as screen cover is put on
  • App crashes everyday
  • App won't save video
  • App won't work if microphone access is denied

Requested features

19 requests
  • Power save option button
  • Zoom feature
  • Ability to hide the screen when recording
  • Ability to run in background when screen is locked
  • Manual focus feature
Show 14 more
  • Full frame HD shooting
  • Ability to turn off light when recording stops
  • Slow motion edit on footage
  • Capture still frames from videos
  • Set alarm indefinite until switched off
  • Option to disable recording start sound
  • Full "manual focus" feature
  • Improve auto-exposure in extreme light/dark conditions
  • Access to full "wide" mode of 1x lens
  • Fix bad review link
  • Allow app to work in background/when screen is off/locked
  • Ability to zoom camera while detecting
  • Make alarm indefinite until switched off
  • Fix microphone access requirement

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Halide Mark III

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Camera, Editor, and Lessons$9.991 Month
  • Pro Camera, Editor, and Lessons7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • One Time Purchase$69.99
None

Motion Sensor

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Halide Mark III free?
Halide Mark III is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Motion Sensor free?
Motion Sensor costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Halide Mark III or Motion Sensor?
Halide Mark III is rated higher. Halide Mark III averages 4.4 out of 5 from 14K ratings, while Motion Sensor averages 4.2 from 258 ratings.
Do Halide Mark III or Motion Sensor have ads?
Neither Halide Mark III nor Motion Sensor shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Halide Mark III or Motion Sensor?
Halide Mark III ships an update weekly, and Motion Sensor every 3 weeks. Most recently, Halide Mark III was updated on November 9, 2026 and Motion Sensor on November 6, 2026.

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