The viewfinder, in your hand
A live picture from the camera, the shutter under your thumb, and shutter speed, aperture, ISO and white balance on dials you drag rather than tap one value at a time.
What it does
A remote, an intervalometer and a wire — all of them wireless
Timelapses, finished on the phone
Set an interval and a length; the app tells you how long it will shoot and how short the video will be, and lets you drag back through the frames while it shoots. When it's done, the video assembles itself on the phone, no computer — and can be rebuilt up to 4K from the originals.
RAW, over the camera's FTP
Point the camera's FTP transfer at the app and files arrive as they are shot, RAW and JPEG both. Nothing is uploaded anywhere; your phone is the destination.
The memory card, from where you stand
Browse the card by day or by folder, pick what you want and pull it over — at full size, or at a smaller one when the wait matters more than the pixels.
The full list
Everything it does, in one place
Remote and live view
- A live picture from the camera, with a rule-of-thirds grid
- The shutter under your thumb, and a separate focus button that works like a half-press
- Shutter speed, aperture, ISO and white balance on dials you drag
- White balance, flash, drive and a shutter timer in one panel
- Video: start and stop recording with the camera's dial on Movie
- Pairs once by QR code, then rejoins the camera's Wi-Fi by itself
Timelapse and bracketing
- An intervalometer: set an interval and a length, see the shooting time and the video length before it starts
- A warning when something is on automatic and the video would flicker
- Drag back through the frames while it keeps shooting
- The video assembles itself; the frames are kept to export again at another rate
- Rebuild it at full size, up to 4K, once the originals are on the phone
- Bracketing the camera can't do remotely: 3, 5 or 7 frames, by shutter or ISO, ⅓, ⅔ or 1 EV apart
The memory card
- Browse by day or by folder, photos, videos or both
- Tap a shot to see it full screen first: pinch to zoom, Full size on request to check focus
- Choose which size to download where the camera offers several
- What's already on the phone is dimmed, counted per day, or hidden with one switch
- Slide a finger across photos to select a run of them; a day's Select takes the whole day, or only what's new
- Downloads say which file they're on, stop when you press Stop, and end with what arrived
RAW over FTP
- The camera sends ARW and JPEG straight to a receiver inside the app
- Over the iPhone's own hotspot, or a Wi-Fi network both share
- A three-step setup that shows exactly what to type into the camera
- Tap any file that arrived to open it full screen
- Works with any camera that can send over FTP, from any maker
Library and viewer
- Ordered by when you shot, or by when it arrived; day chips jump through the roll
- Pinch to zoom, a histogram with the numbers beside it, and the exposure the camera used
- Pick and Reject to cut a session down; deletes wait in the trash
- Videos and finished timelapses play right in the Library
- Import from Files or Photos: RAW, JPEG, HEIC, PNG, TIFF, WebP, AVIF
The editor
- A Develop panel in four tabs — Light, WB, Colour, Balance — each with its own reset
- Highlights and shadows: pull back a blown sky, lift the dark end
- Auto white balance in one tap; faces count, so skin is never green
- Eight zones of the colour wheel, each with hue, saturation and brightness
- Colour balance for shadows, midtones and highlights, on a wheel or as exact numbers
- Looks, including your own .cube LUTs
- Presets: save a whole recipe, lay it on a selection, share it as a file
- Non-destructive, per photo; a standing colour correction for your camera
Sharing
- Share as JPEG first: edits baked in, RAW converted on the way out
- The originals below it, for AirDrop and Files
- A warning while the phone is still on the camera's Wi-Fi, where nothing online can send
- Saving to Photos remembers what it saved, so no quiet twins
Privacy and price
- No accounts, no cloud, no analytics — the app talks only to your camera
- Every feature free for seven days, then $2.99 once
- Your photographs and the editor stay open whether you buy or not
- A demo camera and a demo card, to try it all without hardware
How it works
Three steps, no manual
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1
Scan
The camera shows a QR code in its network menu; the app scans it and joins the camera's Wi-Fi by itself. Once paired, it reconnects on its own.
-
2
Shoot
Live view with the exposure on dials, a focus button that half-presses like the camera's own, and an intervalometer that turns the series into a video on the phone.
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3
Fetch
Browse the card and pull what you keep — or let the camera push RAW and JPEG to the phone as you shoot, over its FTP transfer.
What it looks like
The darkroom, under a safelight
Shoot
Fetch
Look and develop
Connect
Shown against the built-in demo camera and demo card, which ship with the app. How to connect your own →
What it costs
A price, not a meter
$2.99 once
- Seven days free — every feature, no card asked
- One purchase after that. No subscription, ever
- Your photographs stay open whether you buy or not
- A demo camera ships inside, so you can try it on the couch
Or get it free, while codes last
A handful of lifetime unlocks are set aside here. Each code works once — if the App Store says it's been used, take another.
What you need
One camera, one iPhone
- A Sony camera with Sony's Camera Remote API — the bodies with “Ctrl w/ Smartphone” in their network menu. That covers most models from roughly 2014 to 2019, including the α7 III, α7R III, α9, α6000/6300/6400 and RX100 IV and later.
- An iPhone running iOS 17 or later.
- For file transfer, any camera with an FTP function — that part is not Sony-specific and works with other makers too.
The full list of bodies, and how to connect each way →
Camera Red is not made by, endorsed by or affiliated with Sony. Newer bodies (α7 IV, α1, α6700 and others) use a different protocol and cannot be controlled by this app.
Questions
Asked before, answered plainly
Which Sony cameras does it work with?
Bodies with Sony's Camera Remote API — the ones with “Ctrl w/ Smartphone” in their network menu. Most models from roughly 2014 to 2019: α7 III, α7R III, α9, α6000/6300/6400, RX100 IV and later. Newer bodies (α7 IV, α1, α6700) use a different protocol and are not supported.
How do I connect the camera to my iPhone?
On the camera, open MENU → Network → Ctrl w/ Smartphone → Connection; in the app, tap Add camera and scan the QR code the camera shows. The app joins the camera's Wi-Fi by itself and remembers the pairing. The card is shared through Send to Smartphone, and RAW travels over the camera's FTP Transfer Func. — the connection guide covers all three step by step.
Can it transfer RAW files?
Yes — over the camera's own FTP transfer, ARW and JPEG arrive on the phone exactly as shot. The card browser pulls JPEGs; for shots taken as RAW-only the card offers previews, so RAW itself travels over FTP.
Do my photos go to a server?
No. Everything moves between the camera and your iPhone over local Wi-Fi. No accounts, no cloud, no analytics — the app doesn't talk to anything except your camera.
Is it a subscription?
No. A week free, then $2.99 once. Photographs already on your phone stay open whether you buy or not.
Does the timelapse need extra hardware?
No — the app is the intervalometer. It shoots the series, assembles the video on the phone with no computer, and can rebuild it up to 4K once the full-size originals are fetched.
The α7 III and α7R III (firmware 3.00 or later) and the α6400 have interval shooting of their own, but it leaves stills to assemble on a computer. On the α6000, α6300, α6500 and RX100 IV/V timelapse was Sony's Time-lapse camera app — and PlayMemories Camera Apps downloads ended on 31 August 2025, so a reset camera can't get it back.
What about Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm?
Remote control is Sony-specific. Receiving files is not: any camera that can push over FTP can send photographs straight to the app.
Contact
Questions, bug reports, a camera you'd like supported — write to menceralexust2@gmail.com. It reaches the person who wrote the app, and gets an answer.