The iPhone's camera goes from good to great with the just-released VSCO Capture app

Taking good photos is easier nowadays, but taking great photos is even more accessible – especially if you happen to rock an iPhone.

The Visual Supply Company – or VSCO – has just released the VSCO Capture app for the iPhone, and you can download it for free on the App Store.



There are five things that make the VSCO a must-try for anyone who takes mobile photography seriously:

• Live camera filters
• Intuitive controls
• Real-time effects
• Seamless editing
• It's free!

Let's dive deeper and check those out!

More than 50 filters

Instead of capturing a photo and then editing it, why not snap it with a dedicated filter instead? The VSCO Capture app offers more than 50 distinct preset filters that vary from retro and contemporary to vintage or high-contrast film looks.

Personally, I'm all about shooting RAW and then spending time editing it all picture by picture, but every once in a while, I just enable a high-contrast B&W (black and white) filter on my phone's camera app. It's fun.

Controls are important

What I want from an app is to allow me to act fast. Moments, save for landscapes or naturemorts, pass by just like that, and often the difference between a good and a great picture is a fraction of a second. The Capture app allows you to toggle flash modes, adjust exposure or change your shutter speed with a UI that's made for in-the-moment manual shooting.

One can capture long exposures (photos with blur) pretty easily. Of course, there's a full auto mode as well.

Effects on the go

There are customizable live film effects available as well. You can soften highlights with "Bloom" or slap a cinematic warm glow with "Halation".

• Bloom adds a soft, glowing haze to your images, creating a dreamy, atmospheric effect. It’s ideal for enhancing sunlit windows, golden hour portraits, or moody night scenes. You can fine-tune the look using Strength, Size, and Range sliders to control how much the light spreads across your frame.
• Halation recreates the delicate red glow that appears around highlights in analog film, bringing a nostalgic, emotionally rich quality to your edits. This effect adds texture and warmth, with customizable sliders that let you precisely shape the halo’s intensity and appearance.

Editing and posting

VSCO doesn't offer just an app – there's the VSCO Feed as well. That's a public stream of photo and video posts shared by users on the VSCO app. It functions as a curated, minimalist social feed where creators showcase their visual work, often with a focus on aesthetic quality and artistic expression rather than likes or comments.

Also, the VSCO Capture app automatically syncs with the VSCO photo and video editor, where you can further fine tune your shots with the full 200+ VSCO presets and tools.

It's free!

This is the best part – 50 film presets is plenty, and it's a great opportunity to further explore your passion for mobile photography. Nobody knows where the next Ansel Adams is hiding…

Grab a Moto razr 2024 for free!

Switch to Total Wireless and buy 2 months of a 5G Unlimited plan to score the phone free!

We may earn a commission if you make a purchase

Check Out The Offer