FilmTexture's camera is a film camera for iPhone with a live viewfinder: the film you choose is applied as you frame, in photo and video. Choose a film, shape its texture and color, and take the shot you already saw.
Every camera tool is open to everyone. Three shots a day are free, with any film, photo or video; Pro lifts the limit.
Look
Choose your film.
Tap Look and the shutter row becomes a strip of films. Hold it, and the LOOK panel rises with every film. The film is applied live, as you frame.
How it works Each film is its own color model and brings its own grain; halation and bloom are set in Effects. The color of each disc comes from the film itself, from the way it paints a middle gray.
Look · LOOK
Effects
Film grain, halation and bloom, live.
Effects gathers the film's three textures in one tool. Grain comes in 35mm, 16mm and 8mm; halation and bloom in 35mm and 16mm. Each turns on or off with a tap.
How it works You set each texture yourself, and the film's color develops over it, the way color forms over grain in the emulsion.
The color panel holds two pads: one for warmth and tint, one for density and tone. Between them, Grain, Halation and Bloom turn on and off with a tap.
How it works Density works like the density of a print: as it rises, color grows richer, not darker. Skin tones move less; reds and blues, the film's strongest colors, move a little more. Warmth is read in Kelvin, as on a camera.
WB · Tint · Density · Tone · Grain · Halation · Bloom
PRO
Manual, the moment you want it.
PRO opens from the top row. Shutter, ƒ, ISO and white balance each get their own ruler, as on the iPhone camera. Double-tap a value to return it to auto.
How it works These are the camera's own controls, and the film reads what they capture. White balance is set directly in Kelvin and tint. The longest exposures gather frames, the way an open shutter gathers light.
Shutter · ƒ · ISO · WB · A · M
Before & After
See what the film does.
Tap Before & After beside the shutter to set the film aside and see the scene as it is. Tap again and the film is back.
Tap to compare
How it works While it is on, the button turns gold and anything you shoot is saved without the film. Leave the camera and the film returns on its own.
Before & After
Top row
Your tools, on top.
The row above the viewfinder is yours. Add Effects, ƒ or white balance, take tools away, or go back to the essentials. Look stays on the left, PRO on the right.
How it works Photo and video each keep their own row.
Add Photo Controls · Add Video Controls · Reset to Essentials
Essentials
And the essentials.
Aspect Ratio: 4:3, 16:9 or 1:1. Flash: off, or three levels of power. Exposure, for a lighter or darker frame. Zoom moves between the lenses; macro turns on by itself up close, and can be turned off.
Aspect Ratio · Flash · Exposure · Zoom · Macro
Inside FilmTexture
Made the way film works.
One film, everywhere.
The viewfinder, the recording, the photo and the editor read the same film, so one scene gives one result.
A film, not a filter.
Each film is a complete color model, built from how a real film responds to the spectrum, with its own grain.
Color over grain.
Grain sits in the emulsion, and the film's color forms over it.
Grain in the density.
It follows the film's speed and stays in the whites, like a scanned negative.
Glow where film glows.
Halation rises from the film base; bloom comes from the lens.
Every film, and the tools of a real lab. Built around the way film behaves, so your edit looks developed, not filtered.
Every tool is open to everyone. Saving and sharing your edits comes with Pro.
Film Stocks
Start with a film.
Choose a film from the strip. It is applied at the strength it was made for.
How it works The editor uses the same film as the camera, so a photo developed later matches one shot live. Each film is built as its own color model: how it answers light, how its dyes behave, how it was developed.
Film Stocks
Balance
Color, balanced to the light.
Temperature, Tint and Saturation set the color of the whole frame.
How it works Temperature and Tint move the white point from one light source to another, as if the light itself had changed.
Temperature · Tint · Saturation
Light
Light, set like a print.
Exposure, Brightness, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Blacks and Curves.
How it works Light adjusts the image after the film has been applied, the way a print is made lighter, darker or harder in the darkroom.
Color Wheels push shadows, midtones and highlights in their own directions. HSL refines each color on its own.
How it works Bleach Bypass recreates a lab process: silver is left in the image during development, so color grows quieter and contrast rises.
Color Wheels · HSL · Bleach Bypass
Detail
Detail, the way a lens draws it.
Sharpness, Soft Focus and Vignette.
How it works Sharpness and Soft Focus act on the image before the film is applied, the way a lens shapes the negative. The film's color and texture form on top. Vignette is a lens's gentle fall-off at the edges.
Sharpness · Soft Focus · Vignette
Grain
Grain that lives in the film.
Choose a grain size, then tune it in the shadows, midtones and highlights, with its own resolution and color.
How it works Grain forms in the density of the image, not on top of its light. Faster films grow coarser grain, as real stock does. And like a scanned negative, grain stays even in the whites, carrying only as much color as the film itself allows.
A soft glow around the brightest parts of the frame. Threshold decides what glows; Spread decides how far.
How it works Bloom is light spreading in the lens and through diffusion. FilmTexture lifts the points that cross the threshold, spreads them and lays them back over the image.
OFF · 35mm · 16mm · Threshold · Spread
Halation
Halation, from the film base.
A red glow that gathers around strong light.
How it works On film, bright light passes through the emulsion, reflects off the film base and returns as a reddish halo. FilmTexture draws it from the highlights outward, one narrow halo and one wide, with red the strongest color. 35mm and 16mm differ in how far it spreads.
OFF · 35mm · 16mm · Spread
Crop
Frame it again.
Freeform, 16:9, 3:2, 4:5 or 1:1, and Straighten.
How it works 3:2 is the classic 35mm frame.
Freeform · 16:9 · 3:2 · 4:5 · 1:1 · Straighten
Every edit, a new copy.
Each save becomes a new photo, dated today, in your FilmTexture album. The original stays exactly as it was.
Inside FilmTexture
Made the way film works.
One film, everywhere.
The viewfinder, the recording, the photo and the editor read the same film, so one scene gives one result.
A film, not a filter.
Each film is a complete color model, built from how a real film responds to the spectrum, with its own grain.
Color over grain.
Grain sits in the emulsion, and the film's color forms over it.
Grain in the density.
It follows the film's speed and stays in the whites, like a scanned negative.
Glow where film glows.
Halation rises from the film base; bloom comes from the lens.
Learn
How to.
Short videos for every part of FilmTexture, and a line on how it works.
How to shoot with a film
Tap the color panel button.
Tap a film in the strip.
How it works · Each film carries its own color and texture; the viewfinder shows exactly what you keep.
How to see the scene without the film
Tap Before & After, left of the shutter.
Tap it again to bring the film back.
How it works · Tap Before & After and the film steps aside; tap again and it is back.
How to try every film
Tap Look.
Tap a film in the strip.
How it works · Every film and every camera tool is free to try; Pro removes the limit.
How to put your tools on top
Touch and hold a tool in the top row.
Tap Effects to add it.
Tap Done.
How it works · Choose the tools in the top row; Look and PRO keep their places at the ends.
How to add texture, glow and soft light
Tap Effects in the top row.
Tap Grain, Halation or Bloom to change its level.
How it works · Effects sets grain, halation and bloom; texture forms before the film's color.
How to take control with PRO
Tap PRO, then ISO.
Tap M and slide the ruler.
How it works · Shutter, ISO, white balance and more by hand; a double tap returns to auto.
How to shape color with the color panel
Tap the color panel button.
Drag the point on a pad.
How it works · The density pad deepens color like a print, without darkening the image.
How to choose your frame
Tap 4:3 in the top row.
Tap again for 1:1, then 16:9.
How it works · Photo and video each have their own frames; video frames are vertical or square.
How to set exposure
Tap Exposure in the top row.
Slide the ruler.
How it works · Exposure moves the camera's brightness before the film is applied.
How to develop a photo
Tap EDIT and choose a photo.
Tap a film in the strip.
How it works · The editor uses the same film as the camera.
How to balance color
Tap a film.
Open Adjust and drag a row.
Open Effects and choose a grain.
How it works · Temperature and Tint move the white point, as if the light had changed.
How to adjust light
Tap a film.
Open Adjust and drag a row.
Open Effects and choose a grain.
How it works · Light works after the film, like adjusting a print.
How to grade color
Tap a film.
Open Adjust and drag a row.
Open Effects and choose a grain.
How it works · Bleach Bypass leaves silver in: quieter color, more contrast.
How to soften or sharpen
Tap Adjust, then Detail.
Drag Sharpness or Soft Focus.
How it works · Sharpness and Soft Focus act before the film, like a lens.
How to add grain, halation and bloom
Tap Effects.
Choose a grain.
Tap Halation or Bloom and choose a size.
How it works · Grain lives in the density and stays in the whites, like a scanned negative.
How to crop and straighten
Tap Crop.
Choose a frame such as 3:2.
Drag the dial to straighten.
How it works · 3:2 is the classic 35mm frame.
How every edit becomes a new copy
Tap EDIT and choose a photo.
Tap a film.
Tap Export.
How it works · Each save is a new photo dated today; the original stays as it was.
How to record in film
Tap VIDEO.
Tap the shutter to record, and again to stop.
How it works · The film is part of every frame you record.
How to keep video steady
Tap VIDEO.
Tap Stabilization in the top row to turn it off or on.
How it works · Stabilization turns the camera's own steadying on or off.
What is halation? The red glow around bright lights
October 18, 2026 · FilmTexture
Halation is the soft red glow that forms around strong light on film. It appears when bright light passes through the film, reflects off the back of it and exposes the image a second time, from behind.
You have seen it around street lamps at night, at the edge of a window in a dark room, around the sun behind a face. It is one of the quiet signs that a picture was made on film.
Where it comes from
Color film holds its picture in a thin emulsion, made of three layers. Each layer answers to one part of the light: blue at the top, then green, then red, nearest the clear base the emulsion sits on.
Most light stops in the emulsion. Very bright light does not. Some of it passes all the way through, reaches the back of the film and bounces back. On its way back it meets the red layer first, so the glow it leaves is red, warming toward orange where it is strongest.
The three layers of color film over a clear base. Bright light passes through, bounces back and exposes the red layer from behind.
Film makers worked against this for a century. Most films carry an anti-halation layer that absorbs the light before it can return. Where that layer is thin, or missing, halation grows. Black-and-white film shows it too, as a pale glow without color.
What it looks like
A thin warm ring around a point of light, tight at the edge and fading outward.
Strongest where something very bright meets something dark: a lamp against the night, a window against a shadowed wall.
It follows the shape of the light. A neon sign gets a red outline; a bright window gets a red edge.
The rest of the picture stays sharp. Halation lives only around the brightest light.
Halation and bloom are not the same
They often appear together, and they are easy to confuse.
Halation forms inside the film. It is red, and it stays close to the light.
Bloom forms in the lens. It is a soft, pale glow that spreads the brightest parts of a frame into their surroundings.
A night street can have both: a red ring hugging each lamp, and a softer haze around it.
When you will see it
Halation needs contrast: a light much brighter than what surrounds it.
Night streets. Lamps, headlights, shop signs.
Backlight. The sun behind a person, a tree, a fence.
Window light. A bright window in a dark room.
Reflections. Sun on water, on chrome, on wet asphalt.
Flat, overcast light shows little halation, because nothing in the frame is bright enough to pass through the film.
Halation in FilmTexture
In the camera, halation is part of Effects. Add Effects to the top row, or open the color panel, and turn Halation on. Choose 35mm or 16mm; each spreads the glow differently. It starts off, and you turn it on when the scene calls for it.
It is live. You see the glow in the viewfinder as you frame, in photos and in video.
In the editor, Halation works on any photo you have already taken, with its own spread.
It forms the way film does. The glow comes from the brightest parts of the frame, red strongest, and it forms before the film's color, as it does in the emulsion.
Questions
Is halation a flaw?
It began as one, and film makers spent decades reducing it. Today many photographers look for it, because it marks a picture as film.
Why is halation red?
Because the red-sensitive layer sits deepest in color film, nearest the base. Light that bounces back from the base reaches it first.
Does a digital camera have halation?
Not in the same way. A digital sensor has no film base for light to bounce back through, so the glow does not form on its own. It can be made the way film makes it.
Does every film show halation?
Every film can. How much depends on the film's anti-halation layer and on how bright the light is. In black and white it appears as a pale glow without color.
How do I get halation on iPhone?
Open FilmTexture, add Effects to the top row and turn on Halation. Then point the camera at a bright light against a dark background.
A film camera for iPhone. You choose a film before the shot and see it live in the viewfinder, in photos and video. The same films work in the editor, for photos you have already taken.
How do I choose a film?
In the camera, tap Look at the top left and the shutter row becomes a strip of films. Swipe to a film; the viewfinder shows it live.
Is FilmTexture free?
It is free to download, and every camera tool is open to everyone. You can shoot three photos or videos a day for free, with any film; Pro removes the limit.
What does Pro add?
Pro gives unlimited shots with every film, and lets you save and share your edits and keep looks. Lifetime is everything in Pro, paid once, with no renewal.
Where are my photos saved?
In the FilmTexture album in Photos. Every edit you save becomes a new copy, dated today; the original stays as it was.
Can I shoot video?
Yes. Switch to Video and the film is part of every frame you record.
Does FilmTexture send my photos anywhere?
No. The camera and the editor work entirely on your iPhone. Only what you choose to post to the community leaves your device. If you allow it, a short daily performance report leaves too, with no photos, videos or personal details.
What are grain, halation and bloom?
Grain is the texture that forms in the film itself. Halation is the red glow around strong light, from light returning through the film base. Bloom is the soft glow a lens gives the brightest parts of a frame.
How do I manage my subscription?
Subscriptions are handled by Apple: on your iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions. In FilmTexture, Settings › Plan shows your plan and restores purchases.
FilmTexture is a film camera app for iPhone: you choose a film before the shot and see it live in the viewfinder, in photos and video.
FilmTexture turns iPhone into a film camera. Ten films, each its own color model with its own texture, run live in the viewfinder for photo and video, and the same films develop any photo in the editor. Made by a working cinematographer and colorist, built natively for iPhone, and available in English, Turkish, German, Spanish and Japanese.
Fact sheet
Platform
iPhone, iOS 26 or later
Price
Free to download, with in-app purchases (Pro, Lifetime)
Films
Ten, from daylight and tungsten cinema films to black and white
