Let’s rank all the Android phone camera apps from worst to best

There’s more to a great camera phone than hardware. Sure, camera sensors, focal lengths, and the chipset all have a major role to play. However, a phone’s camera app can make or break the experience. So with this in mind, we decided to rank every major Android phone maker’s pre-installed camera app from worst to best!

We took several factors into account, namely image quality, the quantity and quality of features (not including gallery features), and the camera app’s design. I relied on some colleagues to rank the camera apps, but also used my own discretion in a few places. Either way, this is just for fun, but you can give us your own list in the comments!

We thought TECNO’s HiOS was the worst Android skin out of all the major manufacturers, and the camera app isn’t much better. The good news is that the app has a solid, if generic, UI. That’s where the positives generally end.

My time with 2023’s Phantom V Flip and Phantom V Fold devices showed that TECNO’s camera app didn’t threaten rivals for image quality. Daytime snaps are handled well enough, but low-light performance is inconsistent to outright poor. You’d better enable the Super Night mode in these scenarios. The camera app also tends to suffer from poor zoom quality, even when the phone has a telephoto camera.

TECNO’s camera app doesn’t have many standout features, although basic options like an ultra-steady video mode, night mode, and full-resolution capture are available. There are also plenty of beautification features if that’s your thing, including a plump butt filter (seriously). Just don’t expect features like Samsung’s Single Take or Google’s Add Me. At least the brand beat Google to the punch by a few years in offering better support for darker skin tones.

HONOR routinely offers some fantastic camera hardware, as seen on its Magic 7 Pro and foldable phones. However, the company could do a better job with the camera app. For starters, the camera UI isn’t bad, but it lags well behind big-name rivals. There’s nothing here that truly screams “HONOR.”

The camera app generally delivers solid image quality. Colleague C Scott Brown praised the consistency across all three rear cameras on the Magic V3 foldable, while Rob Triggs praised the HDR performance in our Magic 7 Pro review. However, Rob sharply criticized the phone’s AI-assisted zoom, which added obvious AI-generated imagery at 30x or higher, as well as the AI-enhanced portrait mode. Scott also took issue with the oversaturated colors in general.

The camera app also has plenty of modes and features. These include three color profiles, LUT support, a variety of filters, a stage mode, a night video mode, and a “Falcon Capture” option for fast-moving subjects. It clearly keeps up with other brands in this regard but doesn’t pull ahead.

I relied on our US writers to give me their opinions on Motorola’s camera app owing to the brand’s ready availability there. Meanwhile, my last experience with a Motorola phone was probably 2016’s Moto Z Play. Oof. In any event, the camera app UI is a little generic at first glance, but it evokes the Pixel camera app due to that familiar camera mode carousel. At least you can’t accuse Motorola of copying the iPhone camera app.

Motorola’s image quality hasn’t historically been great. Our reviewer complaints over the years include over-sharpened and/or over-saturated images during the day and dark, blurry snaps at night. The camera situation has improved in recent times, but good low-light images aren’t a guarantee on its budget phones or the Razr series.

The Moto camera app doesn’t have the most tricks, either. We’ve got expected features like portrait mode and night mode, as well as cool additions like horizon-locked stabilization and the ever-fun color pop feature. Fortunately, the latest flagships also offer nifty options like Action Shot, Group Shot, and a Signature Style feature that learns your desired image style. Pretty cool.

Sony is arguably the king of camera software for photography enthusiasts. The company has historically offered plenty of pro-level features in its camera app, including eye-tracking autofocus, several video profiles (e.g., S-Cinetone), and a smorgasbord of manual photo/video controls. The Sony app even lets you pair your phone with a Sony Alpha camera — how cool is that? Sony’s app doesn’t have a lot of traditional smartphone tools, though, but you still have robust livestream support, portrait mode, a variety of color profiles, full-resolution photo capture, and bokeh video.

Sony previously had several camera apps on its phones, making for a messy experience. Thankfully, the company has since integrated all these apps into one camera app. The actual UI design isn’t anything to write home about, but it’s not bad.

We also thought that recent Sony flagship phones, like the Xperia 1 VI, took great images that didn’t look over-processed. However, colleague Rob Triggs previously opined that the Xperia 1 V wasn’t as consistent as rival handsets, and consistency is key for a great camera app. We haven’t reviewed a mid-range Xperia phone in a couple of years, but colleague Adam Birney previously described the Xperia 10 IV’s cameras as “below average.” In other words, there’s no guarantee that basic image quality holds up across various price points.

Nothing’s camera app would be ranked lower on the list, but our US reviewers all ranked it in their top five. I can see why, based on the camera app UI, which offers a distinctive design. You really aren’t going to mistake this for a Pixel or iPhone.

The company is starting from scratch, so it can’t lean on legacy features, but there are a few cool capabilities worth knowing. For one, the Nothing Phone 3a series offers custom camera filters that can be shared with other Nothing Phone owners. These phones also offer a decent variety of neat filters, along with Log video support and the ability to upload custom LUTs for images. In fact, colleague Ryan Haines praised the latter feature last month. You also have the expected portrait and night modes, but that’s about it. So you’ll have to look elsewhere if you want loads of camera modes and tools.

We thought Nothing devices took some solid photos over the past few years using this camera app, although we lamented issues like shutter lag and poor low-light quality on previous phones. But the Nothing Phone 3a series shows the brand has a good handle on hybrid zoom.

Xiaomi has delivered some excellent camera phones in recent years, such as the Xiaomi 15 Ultra and Xiaomi 14 Ultra. These phones have impressive hardware, but the Xiaomi camera app also delivers good image quality. Even the company’s cheap Android phones generally offer solid to good 1x shots, although they do tend to lag behind the Pixel A series.

The Xiaomi camera app is packed full of features. Options found on flagships include adjustable color profiles on Leica-branded handsets, an AI Zoom toggle for long-range zoom, Log video, a motion capture mode for fast-moving subjects, and more. Cheaper Xiaomi phones lag far behind in terms of modes, but you still have options like a long-exposure suite of modes, a motion capture feature for fast-moving subjects, and a teleprompter mode.

I’d argue that Xiaomi’s app still doesn’t have its own visual identity after all this time. I can take a split-second glance at Samsung or Google’s camera app and know what I’m looking at, but the same can’t be said for the Xiaomi app.

The vivo camera app just misses out on a podium spot, but this is still a good showing. Vivo phones generally offer good photo quality, although over-processing can be an issue in some scenarios (e.g., low light). So, those who prefer more natural-looking images might be a little disappointed at times.

Easily the best thing about the vivo camera app is the number of features and modes. The company offers a variety of portrait options (e.g. plenty of bokeh styles), some color profiles, LOG video, SuperRaw photos, a cinematic video mode on recent mid-rangers and flagships, handheld astrophotography, a teleprompter mode, perspective correction for buildings, and a street photography mode. The latter mode can be activated with an upward swipe and gives you a camera-like UI and custom shooting profiles.

The app isn’t going to win any awards as far as looks are concerned. The black, yellow, and white color scheme reminds me of Apple, and there’s also the usual overflow menu at the top of the screen. I really like how vivo handles zoom controls, though. It lets you tap the preset zoom buttons a few more times to cycle through more zoom levels (e.g. tapping 1x will give you 1.2x and 1.4x options). So while it’s not the best-looking app here, it makes up for this downside in other areas.

The Samsung camera app has just undergone a major overhaul as part of the company’s One UI 7 update. This redesigned camera app certainly looks and feels fresh compared to rival camera apps while being optimized for one-handed usage.

Samsung’s app also has a good number of features, including cool options like Single Take, Director’s View, and custom filters. Samsung also offers the Expert Raw app to expand the functionality of the stock camera app, but several rival brands offer some of these features without needing an extra camera app.

Samsung’s app has also long had a reputation for delivering arguably the best video quality on Android, but photo quality isn’t as clear-cut. Photos generally look great, but problems like shutter lag on the Ultra and A series phones have made for a frustrating experience. Samsung’s cheaper phones also sometimes capture extremely over-saturated snaps, as I found out on the Galaxy A55 5G last year.

Are you surprised to see the OnePlus/OPPO camera app in the number-two spot? OnePlus flagships, in particular, used to lag behind the competition in terms of image processing, but the company has made major improvements over the past couple of years. In fact, we said the OnePlus 13 makes our shortlist for the best Android camera phone. You can also capture good-quality 1x shots on recently released mid-tier devices. That doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it’s noteworthy as the firm’s cheaper phones used to offer a disappointing shooting experience.

Perhaps the camera app’s biggest strength is the breadth of features, at least on high-end phones. Flagship devices enjoy Hasselblad color profiles, a neat XPAN shooting mode, a Master Mode, and a variety of smart scenes (e.g. stage, fireworks). Cheaper OnePlus and OPPO phones definitely get the very short end of the stick, but you still have notable features like high-resolution shooting, long-exposure functionality, portrait photo/video capture, and tilt-shift.

Is this the greatest Android OEM camera app ever made? It’s hard to argue from a historical perspective, as the Pixel camera app was the gold standard for almost a decade. It says a lot about your camera app when enthusiasts continue to unofficially port it to other smartphones in 2025. Google’s camera app certainly looks the business, offering a simple, distinctive UI. I’m still not a fan of the pro settings icon in the bottom right corner, though, as I often confuse it for the main settings menu.

Nevertheless, the Pixel camera app’s popularity stems from its image quality. Google’s HDR+ imaging algorithms were a cut above almost every other brand’s image-processing software in the 2010s, as unofficial ports of the app delivered fantastic photos on even $200 phones. A few manufacturers have caught and arguably surpassed Google in 2025, but Pixel phones still generally take fantastic, natural-looking images. Google’s app continues to deliver class-leading hybrid zoom, too, thanks to its Super Res Zoom tech. That means phones like the Pixel 9 Pro can take great 10x shots while mid-range Pixels without a telephoto camera still do a decent job out to 3x or 4x.

Google’s camera app offers standout features like Add Me, Video Boost, a shadow slider, and an astrophotography mode. However, the app is missing features seen on rival devices like user-selectable color profiles, Log video mode, native 8K capture, 4K/120fps video, and multi-camera capture. In spite of the feature gap, the Pixel camera app is still our pick for the top camera app among Android brands.