Apptisan #38 - Talking with SnapCam’s Creator: Is iPhone’s Image Processing Ruining Your Photos? This Manual Camera App Brings Back Authentic Image Quality
With nearly 15 years in mobile development, this passionate photographer created SnapCam—an iPhone camera app offering full manual controls without excessive processing.
Name: SnapCam
Developer / Team: Moegi
Platforms: iOS
Read this newsletter issue in Chinese (中文) .
Please describe your product.
SnapCam is a camera app designed for photography enthusiasts. It specifically targets those individuals who, much like users of portable cameras such as the Ricoh GR3, enjoy carrying a dedicated device for capturing moments while traveling or simply going about their daily lives.
Built upon the capabilities of the iPhone’s hardware, SnapCam provides comprehensive manual controls essential for creative photography. This includes customizable exposure compensation, shutter speed, ISO settings, and manual focus – features commonly found on traditional cameras.
Beyond core controls, SnapCam also offers aesthetic enhancements like adding film grain, applying a high-light diffusion filter, and stamping the shooting date onto photos. These features aim to add a layer of enjoyment and character to the images without fundamentally altering the captured content itself.
Was there a pivotal moment that inspired your product’s creation?
Over my nearly fifteen-year career as a software engineer, I’ve developed a wide variety of mobile applications across different fields. However, I always felt a nagging sense of detachment; I never personally used the products I poured so much energy into outside of work hours. My interaction with them was purely professional duty, not genuine enthusiasm.
My passion for photography ignited in 2017 when I bought my first Fujifilm camera. Initially, like many, I was drawn to the large sensors and high image quality of high-end cameras.
But a turning point came when I saw a friend on Twitter sharing fantastic photos, all taken with a simple point-and-shoot camera, which he loved using. This made me realize that the true value of photography isn’t dictated by the equipment, but by the meaning you find in capturing reality as you perceive it. From that moment on, I shifted my focus, primarily using just a Ricoh GR3 and my smartphone for my photography.
As I started using my iPhone more extensively for photos, I grew increasingly aware of the limitations and inconveniences of the native camera app. This frustration fueled the idea to create a better, more empowering photography tool specifically for mobile – a tool I would genuinely want to use. SnapCam is the first product I’ve created driven purely by my own passion and desire to use it myself.
From concept to launch of SnapCam, how do you typically organize your time? Are there any special rituals or habits that help you maintain creative momentum?
I wrote the first line of code for SnapCam on December 3rd of last year and completed a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) around January 15th this year. I intentionally pushed to meet this deadline so I could use my own app during a planned trip to Hokkaido at the end of January.
As an indie developer working from home, my schedule is very flexible. However, this flexibility often blurs the lines between work and personal life. During the most intense development phases, I was essentially coding during every moment I wasn’t handling household chores or spending time with my children.
Regarding maintaining motivation, as someone with perfectionist tendencies, I sometimes get stuck and feel anxious if I can’t figure out an elegant solution to a particular problem. When this happens, I usually pivot. I’ll switch to working on simpler features or tasks. Engaging with these smaller, more manageable goals often helps me regain a positive state of flow and momentum.
What makes your product unique compared to others in the market?
I believe anyone who has experience using a dedicated camera can instantly tell the difference between a photo taken with the iPhone’s native camera and one from a full-frame or even an APS-C camera. iPhone photos often look overly processed – skies are unnaturally blue, everything seems too bright, and aggressive sharpening combined with noticeable smoothing artifacts can detract significantly from the viewing experience.
Therefore, a core philosophy behind SnapCam is to avoid any unnecessary processing. It simply aims to record the world as the image sensor perceives it, staying true to the raw capture.
SnapCam is fundamentally a tool built for serious photographers who desire complete control over their exposure settings and the final look of their images.
Could you share some of your favorite photos taken with SnapCam and tell us the stories behind these images and your shooting experience?
This photo was taken in Biei, Hokkaido, shortly after I finished the MVP version of SnapCam. For me, this image possesses a distinctly different texture and quality compared to what the native iPhone camera produces. It was a validating moment, making me feel that SnapCam truly offers practical value for photographers.
This is a picture of my daughter, taken after I added the date stamp feature to SnapCam. While it’s a simple function, adding the date to everyday life photos like this really evokes a feeling of documenting precious, fleeting moments.
How have you marketed your product, and what key lessons have you learned?
SnapCam just launched about two weeks ago. I’ve shared it a couple of times on Rednote and Twitter (X). I’ve also embedded links within the app to dedicated Reddit and Discord communities, hoping to build and nurture a space for users to connect and share their experiences.
In the near future, my plan is to focus promotional efforts primarily on Rednote and Reddit, specifically targeting photography communities. I’ll then assess the effectiveness of these campaigns to determine subsequent strategies.
What has been some memorable feedback since your product’s release?
On the second day after SnapCam went live, I received a one-star review on the App Store. The user reported that the app didn’t support limited photo library access permissions. Upon investigation, I confirmed it was indeed a bug in the code.
This incident immediately highlighted a crucial point for indie developers: without the resources of a full team, providing smooth and accessible channels for user feedback and communication is paramount. Moving forward, alongside developing new features, I’ll be putting significant effort into building and maintaining a core user community.
Are there any products out there that you feel deserve more recognition?
Firstly, I’d highly recommend Linear. Ever since I started developing my own products, I’ve used Linear as my project management tool. Its interface and interactions are incredibly elegant, yet beneath the clean design lies a surprisingly comprehensive set of features.
Another product I’d like to recommend is one of my previous apps: Solos - Retro Cassette Player. It’s a music player app with a nostalgic, retro cassette tape interface, allowing users to listen to their Apple Music library in a vintage style. I spent a lot of time polishing the interface details and animations, hoping to offer a small touch of nostalgic warmth to music lovers who subscribe to Apple Music.
Tell us a bit about yourself and what you envision for the future.
I’ve been working in mobile app development for nearly fifteen years. Apart from a brief period at Alibaba early on, I’ve mostly worked at various startups, and even co-founded one with friends as the technical partner. Transitioning to life as an indie developer about a year ago has been a profoundly different experience – my days are no longer filled with endless Lark messages and meeting notifications.
Developing SnapCam has rekindled a long-dormant passion for programming and the pure joy of crafting and refining a product. My hope is to sustain this way of life, continuing to pour my energy and passion into creating better product experiences for users.
With your extensive experience as a software engineer spanning over a decade, what’s your perspective on the current trend of using AI for programming and rapid product launches? Has this influenced your development process for SnapCam?
I personally keep a close eye on AI developments. To gain a deeper understanding of neural networks and deep learning principles, I previously completed the deeplearning.ai series on Coursera. Regarding AI-assisted programming, as a paid ChatGPT subscriber, I use it quite frequently. I feel that since models like gpt-o3-mini-high emerged, their capabilities in coding have become genuinely valuable.
In client-side application development, a significant portion of the workload often involves fine-tuning UI details. In this area, the efficiency difference between a human coding it versus using AI and making minor adjustments isn’t huge. However, for implementing specific, localized logical functions, I now use AI for the majority of the work. I typically provide context and constraints in my prompts, allowing AI to help me implement distinct logical units in a controlled manner. Previously, I heavily relied on resources like Stack Overflow and Google search results; AI has now largely replaced those for me. Additionally, AI is incredibly efficient at generating local scripts for non-project tasks, like processing images according to specific requirements.
At the same time, I personally believe that current AI is far from capable of managing the overall architecture of a reasonably complex engineering project. It can easily complete a specific function or an independent module, and even generate a simple complete project with a single prompt. But without an experienced engineer overseeing the bigger picture, it’s hard to imagine building a maintainable, complex project relying solely on today’s AI.
In my view, at this stage, the most effective and highest-quality approach involves a human developer acting as the architect, guiding AI to accomplish specific, well-defined tasks.
About Apptisan
Apptisan is a portmanteau of “application” and “artisan”, signifying “a weekly exploration into the world of apps and the passionate artisans who create them.” Each issue is a conversation with global creators, aiming to uncover and present intriguing products to a wider audience.
For those who prefer Chinese, you can subscribe via Quail. Creators interested in featuring their products are encouraged to submit them through our form, and we’ll be in touch promptly.
Supporter Status
If you enjoy Apptisan, consider showing your support in these ways: