Comparison

Halide Mark III vs ShadeWave Mobile

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

ShadeWave Mobile

This app optimizes iPhone camera performance for detailed dental and medical photography. It offers specialized modes for macro, portrait, and intraoral shots, with secure, compliant cloud storage for case sharing.

Highlights
  • Optimized camera modes (Shade, Portrait, Intraoral)
  • HIPAA/PIPEDA compliant cloud storage
  • Secure encrypted photo storage
  • Direct case sharing (dentist, lab, specialist)
  • Shade tab reference for color correction
Features
Read full description

ShadeWave Mobile app features software that instructs the iPhone camera to produce its very best performance for macro and portrait dental or medical photography. There are three modes optimizing: Shade, Portrait and Intraoral. Featuring HIPAA (USA) and PIPEDA (Canadian) compliant secure cloud storage that connects the case directly between dentist, lab or specialist. Avoids emailing or Drop Box. Pictures are encrypted and DO Not remain on your camera Intraoral photography is unlimited and by Terms and Conditions, You need to include a shade tab or two in the picture and list the name of the shade tab when you Create a Case. The shade tab is used as a reference to color correct your images and find the tooth unknown shades. Terms of use: https://store.shadewave.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=5 Privacy policy: https://store.shadewave.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=3

Screenshots

Halide Mark III4 screens
ShadeWave Mobile4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: ShadeWave Mobile at 100% against Halide Mark III's 41%. ShadeWave Mobile also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.4) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 18.0). Halide Mark III's advantage is ratings volume (14K vs 6) and chart position (#169 vs unranked). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Halide Mark III sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and ShadeWave Mobile sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $399.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ShadeWave Mobile holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Halide Mark III has 14K ratings behind it against 6, 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 100% of ShadeWave Mobile's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Halide Mark III ships an update weekly, ShadeWave Mobile fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 14, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Halide Mark III versus ShadeWave Mobile: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHalide Mark IIIShadeWave Mobile
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (14K ratings)4.7 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews41.1% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings14K — better6
Update frequencyWeekly — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#169 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS18.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size87 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLux Optics IncorporatedShadewave LLC

Customer experience

Halide Mark III

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

ShadeWave Mobile

All ratings6 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

ShadeWave Mobile

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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
1 purchases

ShadeWave Mobile

Subscriptions1
  • ShadeWave Mobile Dentist$399.991 Year

Questions

Is Halide Mark III free?
Halide Mark III is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ShadeWave Mobile free?
ShadeWave Mobile is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Halide Mark III or ShadeWave Mobile?
ShadeWave Mobile is rated higher. Halide Mark III averages 4.4 out of 5 from 14K ratings, while ShadeWave Mobile averages 4.7 from 6 ratings.
Do Halide Mark III or ShadeWave Mobile have ads?
Neither Halide Mark III nor ShadeWave Mobile shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Halide Mark III or ShadeWave Mobile?
Halide Mark III ships an update weekly, and ShadeWave Mobile fortnightly. Most recently, Halide Mark III was updated on November 14, 2026 and ShadeWave Mobile on November 3, 2026.

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