The 10 Best Apps for Shooting Video on Your Phone (The Best One Is Free)

For most people the best video camera app on a phone costs nothing: Blackmagic Camera is free on iPhone and on a growing list of Android phones, and it gives you the controls of a real cinema camera. On a recent iPhone Pro, Apple's own free Final Cut Camera is a close second. Paid apps earn their place only when they make a specific job easier, and the most famous paid app of all, Filmic Pro, is now the one we would skip.

How we picked

• Manual control: can you lock shutter, ISO, white balance and focus so the picture stops changing mid-shot?
• Recording quality: codecs (ProRes, HEVC, APV), 10-bit, Log profiles, frame rates including 24 and 25 fps.
• Monitoring: zebras, false colour, focus peaking, audio meters.
• Price model: free, one-time purchase or subscription, and what is locked behind it.
• Is it still maintained in 2026, on current phones and current iOS or Android?

An honest note: these picks are based on official app store listings, developer pages, current prices and named public reviews, not on our own hands-on tests. Prices are US list prices at the time of writing (October 2026); app store prices vary by country.

The 10 best apps for shooting video on your phone

1. Blackmagic Camera – free – for anyone who wants proper camera controls without paying. It puts shutter angle, ISO, white balance, tint and focus on screen, with zebras, false colour, focus peaking, LUT import and ProRes, H.264 or HEVC recording on iPhone, according to Videomaker's review. Version 3.1.2 added 1920x1440 open gate recording in Apple Log and fixed recording failures on iOS 26 (No Film School). On Android it records H.265 in Rec.709 or HLG10 and up to 8K where the phone allows (PhoneArena); the November 2025 Android update added SRT live streaming (ProVideo Coalition). The catch: on Android it only runs on supported phones, mostly recent Samsung Galaxy S, Pixel, Xiaomi, OnePlus and Sony Xperia models, and the dense interface can overwhelm a first-time user.
2. Final Cut Camera – free – for iPhone owners who edit in Final Cut Pro or want a multicam shoot. Version 2.4, released at the end of September 2026, needs iOS 26.6 or later and adds manual aperture control on the iPhone 18 Pro, false colour, RGB parade and histogram, according to its App Store listing and Apple's announcement. It records ProRes and Apple Log, ProRes RAW in open gate on iPhone 17 Pro or later, offers time-of-day and external timecode, and links up to four phones in a Live Multicam session with Final Cut Pro for iPad. The catch: the best features need a recent Pro iPhone, and there is no Android version.
3. Kino – $19.99 one-time, per TapSmart's roundup (updated September 2026) – for beginners who want a graded, filmic look with almost no decisions. Made by the team behind the Halide photo app, it offers AutoMotion, which picks a shutter speed for natural motion blur, and InstantGrade presets that turn Log footage into a finished look (Gigazine review). A March 2026 update added Apple Log 2 support (iphone-ticker.de). The catch: iPhone only, and Gigazine's 2024 review noted a 45-minute limit per file (unverified for the current version).
4. Apple Camera (built in) – free with every iPhone – for people who just want to press record. On Pro models it already records ProRes and Apple Log, and the iPhone 18 Pro spec sheet lists Apple Log 2 and ProRes up to 4K 120 fps with external recording. Its auto exposure, stabilisation and lens switching are hard to beat for casual clips. The catch: there are no zebras, no peaking and no proper shutter control, so exposure and motion blur drift as the light changes.
5. mcpro24fps – $19.99 on Google Play, per AppBrain's listing, with a free demo – for Android users whose phone is not on Blackmagic's list. It is the deepest manual video app on Android, runs on Android 7 or later with an OpenGL ES 3.1 GPU, and was last updated in September 2026. Reviewers on the store highlight HDMI preview, manual shutter, ISO and white balance, and support for anamorphic adapters. The catch: the interface is cluttered and results depend heavily on how much of the camera hardware each phone maker exposes.
6. Open Camera – free and open source (GPL v3) – for Android users on a budget phone. It runs on Android 6 or later and, on phones that support Google's Camera2 interface, adds manual ISO and exposure, and a log profile for video, according to its official site. There are no ads and no in-app purchases. The catch: it is built for photos first, and what you get for video depends entirely on your phone.
7. Samsung Camera, Pro Video mode (built in) – free on Galaxy phones – for Galaxy S26 Ultra owners who want Log without a third-party app. Samsung's own app records Log and 10-bit HDR, 4K up to 120 fps and 8K at 30 fps, and on the Ultra it can record the professional APV codec straight to external storage (SamMobile, Samsung Developer). The catch: APV and the full pro feature set are Ultra-only, and APV files need DaVinci Resolve 20.2 or later, LumaFusion or a recent FFmpeg to open.
8. Sony Video Pro (built in on Xperia) – free on Xperia phones – for people who already shoot Sony Alpha cameras. The Xperia 1 VII brought S-Cinetone and Creative Looks to the phone, along with Pro Video controls inherited from Alpha cameras and 4K 120 fps HDR recording (ProVideo Coalition). The catch: the phone launched at €1,499 and is not sold officially in the US; we could not confirm whether a newer Xperia 1 has replaced it.
9. ProCam – $9.99, plus $4.99 to unlock 4K video, per App Pricing Lab's in-app purchase list – for iPhone users who shoot as many stills as clips. It is a hybrid photo and video app from Tinkerworks with manual controls in both modes. The catch: the base price does not include 4K, and its video tools are thinner than Blackmagic's.
10. Filmic Pro – subscription (weekly or yearly) – listed here only so you know its status. Filmic was the app that made phone filmmaking credible, but owner Bending Spoons moved it to subscriptions in 2022 and laid off the whole Filmic team in December 2023 (AppleInsider). An app-tracking site reports it in maintenance mode, with no update in about four months and a 3.7-star rating (Marlvel; unverified against the App Store). The catch: you would be paying a subscription for an app that free alternatives now beat.

Which one should you buy?

• If you have an iPhone and want one app, install Blackmagic Camera. It is free, deep and actively updated.
• If you have an iPhone 17 Pro or 18 Pro and edit in Final Cut Pro, use Final Cut Camera, especially for multicam or timecode.
• If you want nice-looking results without learning exposure, pay once for Kino and use its presets.
• If you have a supported Android flagship, start with Blackmagic Camera; on a Galaxy S26 Ultra, also try Samsung's own Pro Video mode for APV.
• If your Android phone is not supported, try the mcpro24fps demo first, then Open Camera if you want to spend nothing.

What to skip, and what to check before you shoot

Skip Filmic Pro unless you already pay for it and it works on your phone. Moment's Pro Camera, once a common recommendation, is reported as removed from the US App Store (AppGoblin; unverified with Moment). Whatever app you choose, do three things before a real shoot: set 24 or 25 fps to match your project, lock white balance, and record a five-minute test to check that the phone does not overheat or drop frames. A free app that you have tested beats a paid one you have not.