Codecam vs Watcher VMS
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Codecam
Unlock the full potential of your iPhone camera with advanced manual controls for both photos and videos. Adjust settings like shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and focus for professional-quality results. Explore various compression and frame rate options for video recording.
- Manual shutter speed and ISO
- Manual white balance (temperature, tint)
- Manual focus control
- Adjustable video compression and frame rates
- Video zoom with focal length display
- Video stabilization options
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All the power of the iPhone camera at your fingertips! With the incredibly capable camera that is your iPhone, and Codecam, the most simple, easy to use, yet very powerful app, you can enjoy the unlimited possiblities that the complete control over your iPhone's camera can provide! Photo features: - shoot in JPEG, like the stock camera app, or shoot JPEG+RAW, which also records a DNG file next to your jpeg (it will still look like a single photo in the photos app). You can import the DNG to you computer, or edit it on your iPhone with an app that supports DNG raw files. - manual shutter speed, ISO. Lock your exposure by picking a new value, or by long pressing the automatically selected one. Long press again to go back to auto. You can also swipe up and down on the screen to apply an exposure compensation while in automatic exposure mode. - manual white balance: temperature and tint. You can lock the current value just like the exposure, or pick the exact values. White balance presets are also available: Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, plus two Incandescent and Fluorescent presets. - manual focus: switch between auto an manual focus by tapping the button, or by tapping an area on the image to focus on it. A slider to manually focus is also available. Video features: - video zoom: you can zoom by pinching the image, up until the point where upscaling would occur. For 4K, you can override this behaviour to allow zooming until the 1080p crop. The approximate focal length for the given zoom is also shown on the screen (converted to the equivalent focal length of a Super 35 or Full Frame sensor). - the same manual controls for shutter speed, ISO, white balance and focus as in photo mode. Smooth autofocus using Focus Pixels on the iPhone 6 or newer is available. - compressions supported: 15 Mbit, 25 Mbit, 50 Mbit, 75 Mbit, 100 Mbit, 200 Mbit, 400 Mbit in H.264 (or H.265 in newer devices) with selectable IPB or ALL-I modes, and MPJEG compression with either optimal (9/10 or 8/10 for 4K) or full quality (10/10) setting (note: the displayed bitrate in MJPEG mode is an estimation of the maximum possible bitrate) - frame rates supported: 1080p24, 1080p25, 1080p30 - additional frame rates supported by iPhone 5s: 720p50, 720p60 - additional frame rates supported by the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 6: 720p120 - additional frame rates supported by the iPhone 6: 1080p50, 1080p60, 720p240 - additional frame rates supported by the iPhone 6s and 7: 1080p120, 2160p30, 2160p25, 2160p24 - additional frame rates supported by the iPhone 8, X, 11, 11 Pro: 1080p240, 2160p50, 2160p60 - video stabilization is supported, you can toggle between on, off or cinematic, depending on availability on your device - show shutter angle instead of shutter speed - cinematic 1:2.35 overlay: crop mark option is available in the settings menu to switch between 16:9 and cinemascope. This feature is for composition only, the image that will be recorded is the full 16:9 frame. Additional features: - automatic save to camera roll: all images and supported videos are saved to the camera roll - gallery: You can see the images and videos you took in a grid or loupe view, with full metadata. You can also share them, or delete them right in the app.
Watcher VMS
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Watcher VMS can be connected via wireless network or mobile data traffic.It implements previewing real-time image, playbacking remote video,pushing alarm message and PTZ control function. Watcher VMS software supports TCP or P2P connection mode to connect the device.If your mobile phone is located in a private LAN, you may need to do port mapping for the data port of the device.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Watcher VMS at 10.0 against Codecam's 13.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Codecam ships an update monthly, Watcher VMS every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 9, 2026 and June 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Codecam | Watcher VMS |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (24 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 24 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 10.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 19 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Laszlo Varadi | Watcher Products |
In-app purchases
Codecam
No in-app purchases
Watcher VMS
No in-app purchases









