Now there’s an ‘anti-AI’ camera app for Android, too

If you’ve been looking to replace your Android phone’s camera app with one that doesn’t overprocess photos to alter lighting and detail in sometimes extreme ways, now there’s an option. Zerocam is a barebones app that promises to “shoot in RAW and process your photos to remove all artificial effects, delivering soft, pleasant-to-eye images.”

We’ve been talking about the definition of a photo for years, and we’re not the only ones complaining about HDR processing that sometimes makes images seem flat because they lack contrast between light and dark.

This app’s approach is similar to the Process Zero feature Halide offers within its iPhone camera app, but Zerocam goes a few steps further. This app doesn’t even have much of an interface: it’s just a viewfinder with a camera button, leaving no option to fiddle with any settings.

Zerocam launched on the iPhone earlier this year — largely in response to all the AI-powered editing tools that have taken over photo apps.

You can download Zerocam for free on the Google Play Store, but you can only take five photos per day without paying for a subscription, which costs $0.99 / month or $10.99 USD / year. It’s compatible with phones running Android 12 or later.

Update, November 13th: Noted that the app now supports Android 12 or later.