Blackie vs Camera1
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Blackie
This app is designed for black and white photography enthusiasts, offering a minimal interface and powerful tools for both beginners and professionals. It provides real-time effect previews, manual camera controls, and extensive editing options to achieve stunning monochrome images.
- Real-time effect previews
- Manual camera controls
- Extensive editing mods
- Customizable presets
- Minimalist design
- Fast camera access
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The perfect app for the Black & White photography. It doesn't matter if you've just started or you are a professional. The Blackie has something for everyone. Its minimal design and easy use with many features will make it your go-to app when you're in the mood for the Black & White. It will help you explore all the possibilities of the Black & White photography and achieve the best result. • Fast. Blackie opens in camera mode, so you can instantly capture moments around you and give them vintage feeling. • What you see is what you get. All effects are previewed in Real-time. • Shuffle your best. The smart shuffle works exceptionally. You only need to shuffle a couple of times and snap the best one. • Customize. If you have time, you can manage every effect in your photo with Mods by yourself. • Simple Minimal Design. The way that Blackie works is unique. The experience is clear and fast. No need for unnecessary buttons. • Just save it! Captured photo goes instantly to your photos library. It is up to you when you are ready to share it with the world. • No in-app purchases and no ads. Nothing to bother you while making memories. • Settings Save Original Photo On / Off. Save Photos with Compression (JPEG) On / (TIFF) Off. Modify UI to Lighting Conditions. (Black or White design). • Camera Manual Controls Manual Focus with Focus Peaking. Lenses. Manual Exposure. Shutter Speed and ISO. Manual White Balance. EV. • Grids 9x Grid Types with custom Opacity. Center Lines On / Off. Grid Color Black / White. • Presets 8x Slots for custom Presets. • Mods Crop and Rotate. Films. 5x Scanned Analog Films. 3x Digitally Created. Brightness. Contrast. Color Filters. 6x Types Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Infra. Vignette Overlay. 5x Types with rotations and inverted light. Fade. Low, Mid, High mods. Shadows. Highlights. Sharp. 2x Types Clarity and Bloom. Grain. Frame. Black & White frame with custom size. • Post processing Before / After function. Tags: #blackieapp #blackie Note: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4/4S, iPod 4th generation, iPad2, iPad Mini 1st generation, iPad3 is Missing Sharp and Grain Mods. All iPads preview and capture is in Square Mode only.
Camera1
This app offers a dedicated manual camera experience for black and white photography. It provides full creative control over contrast and exposure in real-time, allowing users to develop their vision before capturing the shot. Users can also manually adjust focus and exposure for professional-quality monochrome images.
- Black and white photography only
- Manual focus and exposure control
- Real-time contrast and exposure adjustments
- Live histogram and over-exposure warning
- Support for RAW, ProRAW, TIFF, and JPEG formats
- Zen mode for distraction-free shooting
- Multiple crop formats and grid views
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Camera1 is the dedicated Black & White manual camera for iPhone. No colour, no compromise — just pure monochrome photography with full creative control. DEVELOP YOUR CREATIVITY Learn to "see" in Black & White through Camera1 unique simultaneous contrast and exposure adjustments. Explore the infinite black and white image possibilities in real-time, such as high-key/low-key right in the viewfinder, before taking the shot. Use the Zen mode to focus all your creative attention on the picture, and not the camera or technique. TAKE CONTROL Take control of the camera, with manual overrides of exposure and focus. Super easy access to focus lock using the manual focusing slider, for ultra-fast shooting - as the camera won’t need to re-focus between shots. PROFESSIONAL OUTPUT Camera1 takes full advantage of your camera hardware and saves in a variety of different file formats, including JPEG, TIFF, RAW & ProRAW / DNG, allowing for maximum editing flexibility in applications like Photoshop and Lightroom later in your workflow. Advanced iOS image processing such as Deep Fusion and Smart HDR is used on supported devices. Live histograms, flash, grid views and a range of manual controls allow you to get the perfect shot, every time. Features • Black & white photography only: commit to Black and White at shooting time. • High-quality image processing engine. Take full advantage of your device camera hardware. • Manual focus (with magnification of the center focusing area), focus lock, spot focus, auto-focus • Manual exposure compensation, or use Auto exposure • Live histogram, when adjusting exposure, optional over-exposure warning indicator (zebras) • 6 contrast/color filters for Black & White: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, infrared (simulated) • Manual contrast control • High-resolution capture (48MP) (*) • Support for multi-lens devices - standard, telephoto and ultra wide-angle (*) • ProRAW, RAW, JPEG, HEIC, TIFF file formats. DNG files contain colour information, allowing later editing. A full-resolution JPEG, processed to Black and White by Camera1 is saved alongside the DNG file, to the camera roll • Support for iOS Deep Fusion and Smart HDR (*) • Tap on the picture to take the shot • 5 crop formats: 3:2, 4:3 (native), 1:1, 16:9, 2.35:1 (panorama) • Zen mode: all controls disappear, leaving only the viewfinder on the screen for the ultimate picture-taking experience • 3 flash modes: On, Off, Torch • 2 framing grid types: Rule of Thirds and Golden Triangles • Live view of all controls above • iOS Widget - quickly launch the app from your lock or home screen • Camera Control: use hardware camera control to launch Camera1, or to take shots (iPhone 16 Pro & Pro Max) • Black and White camera roll, image viewer at full resolution "The most brilliant Camera App in recent years" -- Keisuke Takahashi "I like the results-a bit like film (Tri-X) with a slight grain pattern. Lots of latitude" -- Eric Mencher @emencher Don't forget to tag your pictures with #camera1app ! Privacy-first • Camera1 does not embed any tracking / third-party SDKs (*) Compatibility Notes Camera1 features depend on the capabilities of your iOS device: • High-resolution (48MP) capture: iPhone 14 Pro and later Pro models • ProRAW capture: iPhone 12 Pro and later Pro models • RAW capture: iPhone 6S and later, iPad Pro • Smart HDR & Deep Fusion: iPhone 11 and later • Multi-lens support (standard, telephoto, ultra wide): devices with multiple rear cameras • Ultra Wide lens may not support RAW or manual focus/exposure on some devices
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Camera1 at 4.7 against Blackie's 3.1. Camera1 also leads on review sentiment (76% vs 58%) and chart position (#185 vs unranked). Blackie's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 4 months) and price ($3.99 vs $4.99). On ratings volume, 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
Blackie costs $3.99 and Camera1 $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Camera1 holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 44 and 128 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 58% of Blackie's written reviews are positive against 76% of Camera1's.
Blackie ships an update monthly, Camera1 every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Blackie | Camera1 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 — better | $4.99 |
| Rating | 3.1 (44 ratings) | 4.7 (128 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 58.5% of reviews | 75.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 44 | 128 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | — | #185 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 27 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Brutality Arts | Sebastien Ardon |
Customer experience
Blackie
Camera1
Bugs and requests
Blackie
Reported bugs
53 issues- Severe crashes
- Photos not saving
- Editing not saving
- Upper side of pictures cut off
- Double assignments in UI (e.g., histogram)
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- Filter usage broken
- Setting a frame to black does not persist
- GUI not usable on iPad Pro
- Camera shuts down with manual focus on wide angle
- App crashes when using manual focus on wide angle lens
- App did not save any images
- Latest update crashes consistently
- App crashes on opening/shutter click
- Photo not recorded in Photos app
- Cannot take pictures after setup choice
- App no longer works, shutter circle does nothing
- App freezes on opening screen
- App crashing with iPhone Pro 15
- App freezes when opening photos
- App freezes and hangs
- Some shots lost and not saved
- App drains battery even in background
- App freezes on each section
- App crashes when trying to load/edit from library
- App crashes when importing photos
- App crops images
- App not responding
- App crashes frequently
- App not working on iPhone 7
- App not working on iPhone XR
- App not working on iPhone XS Max
- App not working on iPhone X, Xs, Xs Max
- App not working after last update (iPhone XS Plus)
- Icons too small
- Buttons too small
- Icons are tiny
- UI not optimized for screen size
- Interface not user-friendly
- Cropping to square is forced
- Random/shuffle FX is perfect but cannot be saved
- Clunky unintuitive UI
- Cannot access photos, freezes phone
- Uploads sporadically, then uploads wrong photo
- No icons show up, cannot take photos
- App still doesn't work on new iPhone, unable to take photos
- Controls not quite right for iPhone 14 Pro Max
- App doesn't work with iPad Pro 11
- App doesn't work with iPad Air 4
- Buttons cut off at screen edge and don't respond
- Live camera image visible, but UI buttons cut off
- App crashes
- Bug crashing again
- App not responding
Requested features
24 requests- Customizable default comment in metadata
- Home screen shortcut icon
- Masking function
- Retouch/correction function
- Support for 48MP max grid
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- Features for night photography
- Optimization for new iPhones
- Ability to turn off shuffle
- RAW capture support
- Zoom while shooting
- Ability to edit preset names
- Save favorite combinations from shuffle
- Support for second lens on iPhone 7 Plus
- Ability to pinch out to zoom in
- Tiff format support
- Color photo option with same interface
- More film simulations
- Smaller font size
- Support for larger photo databases
- Guidance on app usage
- Permanent settings after restart
- Ability to reset chosen preset
- Scroll through camera roll within the app
- Clear way to upload to computer/camera roll
Camera1
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Blackie
No in-app purchases
Camera1
No in-app purchases









