# Open Camera 16 Hacker News commenters recommended Open Camera and 14 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 1 years (3 owners). **Verdict:** Free Android camera app offering full manual control and optional features; critics say it lags on high-resolution shots and trails stock apps on newer phones. ## Why people recommend it - Preferred over native camera apps (3 comments): "It's far superior to anything I've seen natively installed on any device." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47276908)) "open camera is really good. we use it all the time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47278489)) "then I found Open Camera and haven't looked back" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47053400)) - Full manual control, no forced processing (2 comments): "the main reason I use it is because the camera, by default, has this annoying, overly aggressive denoising filter built into it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47278645)) "I am able to turn off all extra post-processing (noise, yes please) and use my phone camera with full manual settings" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47280510)) - Open source without vendor branding (2 comments): "works, does the thing without guggle logo and chirpy blather" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47278913)) "Open Camera - Open Source Camera App" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47046520)) - Many optional features and resolutions (2 comments): "I quite appreciate that Open Camera has a large, granular list of image resolutions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47282634)) "I've found OpenCam to be useful because of the various optional features" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47278112)) ## What people warn about - Image quality below stock apps (3 comments): "the photo quality simply was worse than the stock manufacturer app in newer phones" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47278950)) "open camera pretty much always delivers worse results than gcam" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47279213)) "my conclusion is that the phone's camera app is best" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47277083)) - Slow capture and processing (4 comments): "there is noticeable lag to capture high resolution images, and lacks shutter speed control" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47278989)) "Changing settings for simply adjusting ISO makes the processing of images take forever." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47276917)) "takes two seconds longer to be ready to shoot it is significantly worse as a camera" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47278492)) - Limited camera and hardware access (3 comments): "With Open Camera, my device (and seemingly many others) have phantom cameras with IDs that crash Android's camera server if accessed." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47280377)) "OpenCamera is available, but due to OS restrictions it doesn't work with hardware controls." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49331211)) "in Open Camera I can only select two out of the three cameras" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47087528)) - Ads and website trust concerns (2 comments): "it significantly reduces trust and respect for the website and developer" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47279465)) "The website is almost unreadable with so many ads." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47278459)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Halide camera app](https://hackerapproved.com/p/halide.md): 18 recommend - [Google Camera](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-camera.md): 10 recommend - [iPhone dual-lens photo fusion app](https://hackerapproved.com/p/show-hn-iphone-dual-lens-photo-fusion-app.md): 8 recommend - [GCam (Google Camera port)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gcam.md): 5 recommend - [GrapheneOS Camera](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grapheneos-camera.md): 5 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Open Camera", https://hackerapproved.com/p/open-camera/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).