Best RAW Camera Apps for Android in 2026

Your phone's stock camera is great for quick shots, but it makes most of the decisions for you: it sharpens, smooths, and tweaks the colors before you ever see the photo. Shooting RAW skips all of that. A RAW file (usually a DNG file on Android) is the raw data straight from the sensor — more detail in the shadows and highlights, cleaner white balance, and far more freedom when you edit later.

There is one catch you need to know before anything else: not every phone can shoot RAW. Your phone must support Android's Camera2 API at the LIMITED or FULL level. On phones where every camera reports only LEGACY, RAW capture simply does not appear. That is a hardware limit, not an app bug — so check your phone first, not the app.

Here are the best RAW camera apps for Android, compared honestly on price, features, and ratings.

Quick Comparison

1. Open Camera — Best Free RAW Camera App

Open Camera is the app most Android photographers should try first. It is completely free with nothing sold inside, open source, and has been downloaded over 100 million times. You get manual ISO, shutter speed, focus, and white balance, plus RAW DNG capture on phones whose cameras report LIMITED or FULL Camera2 support.

It also packs tools many paid apps skip: exposure bracketing, HDR, focus peaking, a histogram, and even sound-triggered remote shutter. The interface looks old-fashioned and some manual controls vanish entirely on LEGACY-only phones, but at $0 it is the ideal starting point for anyone exploring RAW for the first time.

One honest quirk: the Play Store listing carries a "Contains ads" label that the developer disputes on his own site — he says the app itself has no third-party ads. Worth knowing, not a dealbreaker.

Get Open Camera on Google Play

2. Adobe Lightroom — Best Shoot-and-Edit Combo

Lightroom is famous as an editor, but it also has a built-in camera that captures RAW DNG files with manual controls for shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and focus. The real win is the workflow: shoot RAW, then edit it immediately with desktop-grade tools — curves, color grading, AI masks — in the same app. Nothing else on Android connects capture and editing this smoothly.

The core app is free with no ads label, though in-app purchases run up to $499 for premium tools, and you need an Adobe account. One quirk worth knowing: the Play Store description never mentions a camera at all, so a reader browsing the store would not know it shoots photos — Adobe documents the camera only in its help center.

Get Adobe Lightroom on Google Play

3. Camera FV-5 — Best DSLR-Like Controls

Camera FV-5 is built for deliberate, technical shooting. The viewfinder mimics a DSLR: exposure scales, RGB histograms, EV bracketing, an intervalometer for time-lapses, and 16-bit DNG RAW capture where the phone allows it. It costs $4.99 once, with no ads and no in-app purchases.

Its standout feature is unique: a searchable database of over 29,000 devices showing exactly what each phone exposes to camera apps — so you can check your model before buying. Two caveats: that database was last updated in December 2024 and is going stale, and the RAW asterisk on the Play listing still names two phones from 2013-2014. There is also a free Lite version to test your phone's compatibility first (it caps resolution and leaves RAW to the paid version).

Get Camera FV-5 on Google Play

4. ProShot — Best Clean Pro Interface

ProShot is for people who want DSLR-style control without a cluttered screen. The interface uses dual dials for quick adjustments, supports RAW DNG capture on compatible phones, and adds pro tools: histogram, focus peaking, long exposures, adjustable bitrate for video, and saved custom shooting profiles for different projects.

It is paid, and RAW depends entirely on your phone's Camera2 support — check before buying. But for street photography and documentary work, where speed matters, ProShot remains one of the most dependable manual camera apps on Android.

Get ProShot on Google Play

5. Footej Camera 2 — Best Budget-Friendly Manual App

Footej Camera 2 sits between simple and serious: a curved mode dial, built-in gallery for reviewing bursts, manual ISO, shutter, focus, and exposure, plus RAW capture where the device allows. It is free to install with in-app purchases for the premium package, and holds a strong 4.49-star rating across 160,000 reviews.

Be aware of two things: the free version caps video clips at about 2 minutes (the premium package removes that), and the Play listing now shows a new publisher, ZipoApps, rather than the original developer — fine on its own, but worth knowing before granting camera and storage permissions.

Get Footej Camera 2 on Google Play

6. ProCam X — Best for Manual Photo + 4K Video

ProCam X is a clean step up from automatic mode: manual ISO, focus, and shutter speed, an intervalometer, burst shooting, and 4K video recording on supported devices, all for $4.99 once with no ads and nothing else sold inside. Its dual-dial interface makes exposure adjustments fast.

The honest con: the manual controls exist only where your phone vendor enabled the camera2 API — on a phone whose maker never did, you are left with exposure lock, white balance, and burst. The listing also names two different Android floors (5.0 in the description note, 6.0 in the requirements field), so read the current listing carefully before paying. Search for it on Google Play to confirm compatibility with your device.

For RAW Video: Two Specialist Picks

If video matters more than stills, two apps deserve a mention. MotionCam Pro (~$49) is the RAW powerhouse — it bypasses much of Android's standard image pipeline for remarkably clean RAW stills and true RAW video, plus scientific monitoring tools. It is expensive and technical, but respected by serious shooters.

MC Pro24fps (~$25) captures RAW (YUV) video at high bitrates with full manual video controls and LUT support — a favorite of mobile filmmakers. Both are niche, but for creators who need uncompressed footage, they are the real deal. A free alternative for serious video work is Blackmagic Camera, which brings cinema-style controls and Blackmagic Cloud workflow to Android for $0.

Will RAW Work on Your Phone?

Before you buy anything, answer these:

1. Check Camera2 support. Camera FV-5's free Lite app or its online device database can tell you what your phone exposes.
2. Stock camera first? On Samsung flagships, Samsung Expert RAW (from the Galaxy Store) may already give you pro capture without a third-party app. On Pixel, the stock camera is tuned for the hardware.
3. Storage. A single RAW file can be 20-30 MB. Plan for it.
4. Budget phones. Some cheap models limit RAW at the hardware level — no app can open what the vendor never exposed.

What to Do With Your RAW Files

Shooting RAW is only half the job. For editing, Lightroom (above) is the natural pair, and our best free photo editor apps for Android roundup covers more options. For a deeper look at manual-first cameras generally, see our best manual camera apps for Android guide.

FAQs

What is a RAW photo?

A RAW photo (usually a DNG file on Android) is the raw data straight from the camera sensor, before the phone applies sharpening, noise reduction, and color changes. It gives you much more room to adjust exposure, shadows, and colors during editing — but it also means every photo starts flat and dull, so expect to edit every keeper rather than sharing straight from the camera.

Can every Android phone shoot RAW?

No. Your phone must support Android's Camera2 API at the LIMITED or FULL level. Some budget phones report only LEGACY, which hides RAW capture entirely. Camera FV-5 publishes a searchable database of 29,000+ devices so you can check before buying an app.

Which is the best free RAW camera app?

Open Camera. It is completely free with no in-app purchases, supports RAW DNG capture on phones with Camera2 support, and includes manual ISO, shutter speed, focus, and white balance controls.

Is Adobe Lightroom's camera good for RAW?

Yes. Lightroom Mobile's in-app camera captures RAW DNG files with manual controls, and you can edit them right away with some of the best mobile editing tools available. The core app is free.

Why are RAW files so big?

A RAW file stores uncompressed sensor data with far more detail than a JPEG, so a single photo can be 20-30 MB. Keep an eye on storage, and transfer files to a computer or cloud for archiving.