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I am looking for a gratis Android photo app. I am happy enough with the built-in and would accept a clone; I just don’t want Google involved in my photos.

Must have

  • Ability to store images on SD card
  • Does not sync with the cloud in any way
  • Switch between front & rear camera
  • flash on/off/auto
  • zoom

Nice to have

  • A Windows companion app, to let me easily transfer my photo to my PC, preferably also delete them.
  • Panorama mode
  • video mode
  • redeye protection
  • face detection
  • sound off (mute)
  • integrated QR app
  • exposure length/aperture control
  • long exposure timer
  • timer before taking photo
  • image stabilization

Basically, nothing too fancy (although I won’t complain about extra features). I don’t use FaceTweet, etc, and can edit on PC, rather than on the phone.

Just not Google.

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    Well, you could (and should) disable any auto cloud upload in the default camera and picture viewer apps. Google makes Android anyway, on which your camera app would run; if they wanted to access your pics there's nothing you could do to prevent them.
    – dr_
    Oct 4, 2018 at 11:20
  • When I disabled the Google camera app upload/synch, it told me that it doesn't have permission to delete photos on my SD card. I may never escape them completely, but I don't want to actively abet them
    – Mawg says reinstate Monica
    Oct 4, 2018 at 11:47
  • As long as you (any app you use) use Android and the camera API, Google will always be involved. Also probably only Google or the camera/phone vendor knows all the details of the hardware to make full use of it.
    – U. Windl
    Sep 23, 2022 at 6:17

1 Answer 1

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I'd strongly recommend Open Camera – which is available at F-Droid and meets all your must-have requirements. Your nice-to-haves are covered partly: there is a video mode, and you can adjust a lot of parameters. It has image stabilzation, face detection, timer, and more – but AFAIK no QR integration (at least I didn't see that).

The app is easy to use and has a pretty good quality. Using it myself for years, and am very satisfied with it.

Open Camera
Open Camera (source: Google Play)

Some of your required features can be seen in this screenshot: using front/back camera, taking photos/videos (right "column"). The "lock" symbol lets you lock exposure while changing the motive/perspective, which I use e.g. if I later want to stitch panoramas from multiple shots.

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  • Excellent! For my uses, this seems to be superior to the standard Google app. I love the grid and angle overlays.
    – Mawg says reinstate Monica
    Oct 4, 2018 at 14:40
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    Definitely! The fact it's available at F-Droid is an added plus for the privacy aware. I haven't played with all its features yet, it has quite a few :) Whenever asked for a camera app, this is what I recommend. Only waiting for the panorama feature. And I wish it had 16:9 in a reasonable resolution (not just 2MPx). The camera shipping with my BQ supports it for all its 4 resolutions (2,4,8,12MPx – miss 6MPx here) and has panorama – but it doesn't run on all devices. After flashing LOS I had to get an older version as the newest didn't work even there …
    – Izzy ♦
    Oct 4, 2018 at 20:06
  • Issues I had with Open Camera in the past were: "View finder" was much too dark outside. Some settings are a bit complicated to change.
    – U. Windl
    Sep 23, 2022 at 6:19

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