Halide is the better app overall, scoring 8.7 to 8.5. Halide wins on 3 of the 5 scores, Snapseed on 1, with 1 tied.
iPhone photographers who want manual control and natural-looking RAW files
Photographers who want capable, ad-free editing on a phone at no cost
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Halide | Snapseed |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Photo & Video | Photo & Video |
| Category rank | #4 of 8 | #6 of 8 |
| Developer | Lux Optics | |
| Pricing | Subscription | Free |
| Usable for free | No | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | — | ✓ |
Strengths and weaknesses
Halide
- Controls fall right under your thumb
- Process Zero gives natural, less processed images
- No account needed and very little data collection
- iPhone and iPad only
- No free tier beyond the trial
Halide is the best manual camera app for iPhone. It puts focus, shutter speed and ISO under your thumb, and adds focus peaking, a live histogram and RAW capture. Process Zero skips Apple's heavy image processing for natural, film-like shots. The catch is price: after the trial you pick a subscription or a one-time purchase. Get it if you care how your iPhone photos are processed.
Full Halide review
Snapseed
- Totally free with no ads or sign-in
- Selective tool gives precise local edits
- Edit stack lets you revisit any change later
- No AI subject or sky masking
- No cloud sync or desktop version
Snapseed is still the best completely free photo editor. Its Selective tool lets you brighten or recolor one part of an image with a tap, and Healing, Curves, Brush and RAW editing cover most fixes. There are no ads, accounts or paywalls. The catch is that it lacks the AI subject and sky masking found in paid rivals. Get it if you want great results without paying anything.
Full Snapseed review
