Blackmagic Camera vs Filmic Pro (2026): Which App Should You Film On?

By Jimmy, developer of ContentCam · 25 September 2026

Disclosure first: I build ContentCam, a camera app. Neither Blackmagic Camera nor Filmic Pro competes with it directly (both shoot one framing at a time; ContentCam records two), but I am still an interested party, so every number below is tied to a primary source with the date I read it. Every store figure in this post was read on 25 September 2026.

Blackmagic Camera and Filmic Pro are the two apps people mean when they say "manual camera app for phone video". They are not close on price, they are not close on star rating, and on Android they are not close on how recently anyone touched them. Here is the comparison with the actual listing data attached, because most articles on this question repeat feature lists from 2023.

Which app is actually being updated in 2026?

Blackmagic Camera, on both platforms. Filmic Pro is current on iPhone and 324 days stale on Android.

This is the check almost nobody runs, and it decides more than the feature lists do. Star ratings accumulate over years and never expire, so a long-dead app can keep a good score forever. The update date cannot be faked.

US App Store and Google Play listings, read 25 September 2026. The App Store publisher for Filmic Pro is Bending Spoons Apps ApS; the Play developer is Bending Spoons. Blackmagic Camera is published by Blackmagic Design Inc on both stores.

The 2.3 stars on Google Play is the number to sit with. Filmic Pro has more Android reviews than Blackmagic Camera (17.8K against 14.5K) and both have passed 1 million downloads, so this is not a small sample beating up on a big one. The release notes on that 7.6.4 build read, in full: "* Bug fixes and performance improvements." I wrote about how the app got here in what happened to Filmic Pro.

How much does each app cost in 2026?

Blackmagic Camera is free with no in-app purchases listed at all. Filmic Pro is free to download and then subscription only.

The in-app purchase list on Filmic Pro's US App Store page on 25 September 2026 reads: Filmic Weekly $2.99, Filmic Yearly With Free Trial $39.99, Creator Weekly $9.99, Cinematographer Kit $13.99, plus trial variants listed at $1.99, $2.99 and $9.99. The Google Play listing carries an "In-app purchases" label. Filmic Pro's own store text confirms the shape: "Subscription length: weekly, yearly".

Blackmagic Camera's App Store page lists no in-app purchases, and its Play listing carries no in-app purchase label. Blackmagic Cloud is a separate Blackmagic Design service, but nothing inside the camera app is behind a store purchase. So the price comparison is $39.99 a year, forever, against zero.

Which phones can run Blackmagic Camera and Filmic Pro?

Filmic Pro runs on far older hardware. This is its clearest remaining advantage and it is a real one.

• Blackmagic Camera on iPhone "Requires iOS 18.0 or later and a device with the A12 Bionic chip or later". The device list on the listing starts at iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR. An iPhone X or iPhone 8 cannot install it.
• Filmic Pro on iPhone "Requires iOS 14.1 or later". Its device list starts at iPhone 5s.
• Blackmagic Camera on Android is limited by hardware in a different way. Blackmagic Design's own product page names "Samsung and Google Pixel phones", and the Play listing warns that "Some features are device dependent and may not be available on your device". Check it installs and shoots on your phone before you plan a shoot around it.
• Filmic Pro on Android points you at a separate tool: "Use our free Filmic Evaluator to check what your device supports."

App size, for anyone rationing storage: Blackmagic Camera is 212.7 MB on the App Store, Filmic Pro is 236 MB.

Where does Filmic Pro genuinely win?

On the iPhone feature list, which is longer than Blackmagic's, and on old hardware.

Filmic Pro's App Store listing names capabilities Blackmagic Camera's listing does not: ProRes 4444 and, on iPad Pro M2, ProRes 4444 XQ; high speed frame rates of 60/120/240fps; Dolby Vision HDR and 10-bit SDR; clean HDMI out, which turns the phone into a webcam or a monitor feed; Frame.io Camera to Cloud; Apple Watch support for remote start/stop plus video preview; a second-device remote via Filmic Remote; zebras and false colour in its "Live Analytic suite"; 16 and 24-bit audio with headphone monitoring and manual gain; named gimbal control for "Zhiyun Q3/4 + Smooth 4-5" and "DJI OSMO Mobile 1-5"; and 8 aspect ratios "including Widescreen (16:9); Ultra Panavision (2.76:1); Square (1:1)".

Two honest caveats on that list. Filmic Pro marks many of those entries with an asterisk and states "Features are hardware or configuration specific", so what you get depends on your phone. And the list describes version 7, which has been in maintenance for a while: the 7.5.35 release notes say only that "we needed to fix some minor bugs".

If you own an iPhone older than an iPhone XS, Filmic Pro is not the better app. It is the only one of the two that will install.

Where does Blackmagic Camera win?

Price, maintenance, rating, and the route from the phone into an edit.

• It is free and it is being worked on. Version 3.5.1 landed on 23 September 2026, two days before this post. Nothing is gated.
• Ratings on both stores. 4.8 from 22,991 ratings on the App Store against Filmic Pro's 3.7 from 10,126. On Google Play, 4.6 against 2.3.
• The DaVinci Resolve pipeline. Blackmagic's listing describes uploading a proxy while you shoot, followed by the camera originals, and syncing media "directly into the DaVinci Resolve project so you're ready to edit". If you already cut in Resolve, no other phone app is close.
• Recording formats. The App Store listing says "industry standard 10-bit Apple ProRes files up to 4K", plus H.264 and H.265, anamorphic de-squeeze, lens correction and 3D LUTs for monitoring. Worth noting the two listings disagree with each other: the Google Play version of the same paragraph says "industry standard files up to 8K", with no ProRes, and Blackmagic's own product page states "On iPhone and iPad you can also use Apple ProRes". Read the ProRes claim as iPhone and iPad only.
• The interface. Frame rate, shutter angle, white balance and ISO are one tap each from the heads up display, with histogram, focus peaking indicators, levels and frame guides, and audio metering in VU or PPM. It behaves like a Blackmagic cinema camera because the same company makes both.
• A vertical shooting detail worth knowing. The listing says you can "shoot 16:9 while holding your phone vertically if you want to shoot unobtrusively", which is genuinely handy for filming in public.

Which should you install?

If you are unsure, install Blackmagic Camera first. It costs nothing to find out, and the yearly subscription is the only money at stake here.

Where does ContentCam fit?

Not in the same job, and I will not pretend otherwise. ContentCam does not shoot Apple Log or ProRes. It records HEVC. For a graded piece of work, Blackmagic Camera is the better tool and it is free.

ContentCam solves one narrow problem: it records a 9:16 file and a 16:9 file from the same take, as two separate videos, so the horizontal cut is a real wide shot rather than a crop of the tall one. Both apps above make you choose a framing before you roll. ContentCam runs on iPhone and Android, has a teleprompter, and the iOS build is 5.5 MB against Blackmagic Camera's 212.7 MB, because it does far less.

Frequently asked questions

Is Blackmagic Camera better than Filmic Pro? For most people in 2026, yes. It is free, it was updated on 23 September 2026, and it rates 4.8 on the App Store and 4.6 on Google Play against Filmic Pro's 3.7 and 2.3. Filmic Pro wins on older iPhones and on a handful of specific features such as 120 and 240fps capture, clean HDMI out and Apple Watch control.

Is Filmic Pro worth paying for in 2026? Only if you need something Blackmagic Camera does not do, or your iPhone is too old to run it. The subscription is $39.99 a year on the US App Store, and the free alternative rates higher on both stores.

Which is better on Android? Blackmagic Camera, by a wide margin, if your phone is supported. Blackmagic Camera for Android was updated on 3 September 2026 and rates 4.6. Filmic Pro for Android has not been updated since 5 November 2025, which is 324 days, and rates 2.3 from 17.8K reviews.

Will Blackmagic Camera run on my iPhone? Only if it is an iPhone XS or newer running iOS 18.0 or later. The listing states it needs "the A12 Bionic chip or later". An iPhone X, 8 or SE first generation will not install it.

Does Blackmagic Camera shoot ProRes on Android? No. Blackmagic Design's product page says "On iPhone and iPad you can also use Apple ProRes", and the iPhone listing is the one that mentions "10-bit Apple ProRes files up to 4K". The Android listing describes files "up to 8K" without naming ProRes.

Can either app record vertical and horizontal at once? No. Blackmagic Camera lets you "shoot in 16:9 or vertical aspect ratios" and Filmic Pro lists 8 aspect ratios, but both record one framing per take.

Try ContentCam free. If your problem is posting one take to TikTok and YouTube rather than grading in DaVinci Resolve, record both framings at once. On iPhone and Android.

Every version number, update date, price, rating and hardware requirement above was read on 25 September 2026 from the Blackmagic Camera and Filmic Pro US App Store listings, the Blackmagic Camera and Filmic Pro Google Play listings, and Blackmagic Design's product page. Store figures drift; if something here is out of date, email me and I will correct it. Related: what happened to Filmic Pro · Blackmagic Camera settings explained · Android camera settings for video · iPhone manual camera controls for video · phone teleprompter apps compared.