NightCapvs
Star Walk 2
Star Walk 2: If you want to identify what is in the night sky rather than photograph it
NightCap
Long-exposure camera app for iOS aimed at night sky, star trail and light trail photography
As of 1 September 2026, NightCap's pricing is not published; the vendor quotes on request. A one-time-purchase camera app that manually controls iPhone exposure settings for long-exposure photography, including night sky, star trail, light trail and light painting modes. Softwr lists it under Photography. NightCap is available on iOS.
Overview
What NightCap does
NightCap gives manual control over shutter speed, ISO and focus on iPhone cameras that support it, with dedicated modes for star trails, light trails, meteor showers, the northern lights and general low-light photography. It stacks and processes exposures on-device to produce results a stock camera app cannot achieve without third-party software. What distinguishes it in a catalogue that otherwise skews toward subscriptions is the pricing model: NightCap remains a one-time App Store purchase rather than a subscription, and continues to receive updates, including a more recent rebuild offered free to existing customers. That makes it unusual among modern photography apps, most of which have moved to recurring billing. Buyers are iPhone photographers interested specifically in night and long-exposure work, such as astrophotography hobbyists or people wanting star trail shots without a dedicated camera. The trade-off is platform and scope: it is iOS-only, works within the limits of an iPhone sensor rather than a full camera, and its niche focus means a general-purpose editing or camera app will not be replaced by it.
What people use it for
- An iPhone owner wanting star trail or Milky Way photos without buying a dedicated camera
- A hobbyist photographing the northern lights who needs exposure control the stock camera app lacks
- Someone capturing light trail shots of traffic or fireworks at night
- A photographer who prefers a one-time purchase app over yet another photography subscription
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The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about NightCap.
- It is iOS-only, so Android photographers cannot use it at all.
- Results are still limited by the physical sensor size and aperture of an iPhone, so it cannot match a dedicated mirrorless camera for astrophotography.
- It requires a tripod or other stabilisation for most of its long-exposure modes, which is an extra cost and inconvenience beyond the app itself.
- Its manual controls have a learning curve for someone used to a fully automatic point-and-shoot camera app.
- As a niche app from a small developer, update cadence and long-term support are less predictable than a major platform vendor camera app.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of NightCap
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
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Pricing
What NightCap costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
NightCap
$2.99 /one-time
- Full manual exposure control
- All shooting modes included
- No subscription
Capabilities
Features
Manual exposure control
Direct control of shutter speed, ISO and focus on supported iPhones
Star trail mode
Stacks long exposures into a single star trail image
Light trail mode
Captures car light trails and similar moving light sources
Northern lights mode
Exposure settings tuned for aurora photography
Meteor shower mode
Automated capture tuned for catching meteors
Astro mode with stacking
Combines multiple frames on-device to reduce noise in night sky shots
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Is NightCap still maintained?
Yes, it remains listed and updated on the App Store, including a rebuilt version offered free to existing customers.
Is it a subscription?
No, it is sold as a one-time purchase.
Does it work on Android?
No, NightCap is iOS-only.
Keep looking
Where to go from NightCap
- NightCap alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- NightCap pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- NightCap badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Photography softwareThe full category
- Best Photography softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for NightCap, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
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