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Filmglass needs an iPhone running iOS 26 or later. A few features depend on your iPhone’s cameras: simulated aperture is available only with some cameras and capture modes, and launching with Camera Control needs an iPhone that has Camera Control.

Open Settings in Filmglass and tap Quick Guide. It walks through recipes, prime lenses, focus and exposure, the mode and control dials, and sharing your looks.

Filmglass needs camera access to show the viewfinder and take photos. Open the Settings app on your iPhone, tap Apps → Filmglass, and turn on Camera. If another app is using the camera, close it and open Filmglass again.

Tap your subject to focus. Swipe up or down on the viewfinder to make the photo brighter or darker, and double-tap to reset the exposure.

A film simulation and your adjustments to colour, tone, grain and more, saved as a look you can shoot with and share.

Open Settings → Film Recipes. Tap New Recipe to create a look, or tap a recipe to edit it. You can also hold the recipe button beside the shutter to open the editor for the current recipe. When you’re done, save your changes or save a copy.

In Film Recipes, tap (…) beside a recipe and choose Share Recipe. It’s sent as a small .filmglassrecipe file, so you can pass it on through Messages, AirDrop, Mail or Files.

Open the .filmglassrecipe file on your iPhone and choose Filmglass, or go to Settings → Film Recipes and tap Import Recipe. If it matches a recipe you already have, you can keep both. Recipes shared from earlier versions, as .filmcurverecipe files, open too.

Check that Live Recipe Preview is on in Settings → General. Grain preview has its own setting, so the viewfinder may show colour and tone without grain.

Open Settings → Prime Lenses, or hold the selected focal length on the lens dial. Tap a focal length or swipe the lens dial to switch between the ones you’ve chosen.

Set the mode dial at the top to aperture, then swipe the control dial; lower f-numbers add more background blur. Simulated aperture isn’t available with the front camera, and depending on your iPhone it may be unavailable for some focal lengths or resolutions.

Colour filters are for black-and-white recipes. Choose a black-and-white recipe, then set the mode dial to colour filter to choose yellow, orange, red, green or blue.

Set the mode dial to diffusion, then choose black, white or gold diffusion and a strength on the control dial. Choose OFF to turn it off.

Yes, on iPhones that have Camera Control. Open the Settings app on your iPhone, then choose Camera → Camera Control → Filmglass.

Open Settings → Capture. HEIF saves 10-bit Display P3 photos; JPEG saves 8-bit sRGB photos, which work with almost any app or website. Location tagging is off unless you turn on Location Tag Photos.

In your Photos library, in an album called Filmglass. The pile in the app shows the photos you’ve taken so you can flick through, share and develop them.

Filmglass reads your library to show the pile. Open the Settings app, tap Apps → Filmglass → Photos, and check that Filmglass has access to your photos.

Yes. Open a photo from the pile to develop it again with a different recipe, adjust its diffusion and aperture, or crop and straighten it. For the best results, develop a photo in Filmglass before editing it in another app.

Nothing. Filmglass has no account, analytics, advertising or tracking, and it doesn’t send your photos or recipes anywhere. They stay on your iPhone and in your Photos library unless you choose to share them. Read the full privacy policy.

Camera to show the viewfinder and take photos. Photos to save your photos and show them in the pile. Location, only if you turn on Location Tag Photos, to add where a photo was taken. Motion to show a level horizon guide in the viewfinder.