Everything
mono+
can do.

Quick Start

Five steps from first launch to your first signature shot.

1. 01Swipe the filter strip at the bottom of the camera screen. Tap any thumbnail to apply a look. Start with Tri-X for classic black and white, or Portra for warm color.
2. 02Drag INTENSITY right for full effect, left to blend back toward natural. Both ends snap to exactly 0% and 100% so you can always reach them cleanly. B&W filters start at full. Film and Vintage start at 50 percent.
3. 03Tap PRO to open the glass panel — a full creative studio floating over your live camera. Six tiles. Tap any to dive in. Start with LOOK for tone and grain.
4. 04Tap PRO again to collapse the panel. This locks the look and enters Shoot Mode — a clean, full-screen viewfinder ready to fire.
5. 05Shoot. Every filter, grain, border, and overlay bakes permanently into the file. The look is the image.

Capture Modes

• PhotoSingle frame. Every filter, effect, border, and overlay bakes into the file at full resolution. mono+ requests the highest quality output the sensor can deliver on every capture. On deliberate, well-composed frames, AVFoundation activates its multi-frame computational pipeline and delivers up to 24MP. The shutter dims and breathes while the pipeline works — this is the natural pace of a considered exposure. When it returns to full brightness, the camera is ready for the next frame. Fast-moving subjects or variable conditions deliver 12MP native ISP output instead.
• VideoTap to start, tap to stop. Every filter, every grain setting, every effect renders live as you record.
• BoothSequential multi-frame capture. Four frames composited into a single 2×2 strip, or saved individually as a burst. Custom booth frames from the Companion apply to the composite.
• FunHouseCutout board mode. A custom frame with a transparent hole — an on-screen guide directs your subject to align with the opening.
• PromptWrite or import your script, hit record and deliver eye-to-eye. Your audience sees you. You see your words. Nothing is baked into the recording — just your performance.

Shoot Mode

Shoot Mode is the deliberate separation between building your look and using it. When you collapse the PRO panel, mono+ enters Shoot Mode automatically.

What changes in Shoot Mode

• Filter stripCollapses to a slim amber bar showing the active filter name. Tap the bar at any time to return to Look Mode.
• PRO buttonReplaced by an amber lock icon. Tap it to exit Shoot Mode.
• ViewfinderFull screen, unobstructed. Tap anywhere to focus — the entire frame is a focus target.
• Render rateReduced between captures to conserve battery. The live camera feed and your active look remain fully visible at all times.

What does not change

Every capture control works identically in Shoot Mode: shutter, volume button, countdown, zoom, torch. Capture quality is identical to Look Mode. The look bakes at full fidelity on every shot.

Photo Booth

Sequential multi-frame capture in a single session. Select BOOTH from the mode pill. Configure in PRO → SETTINGS → PHOTO BOOTH before shooting.

Output formats

• StripFour frames captured in sequence and composited into a single 2×2 image — the classic photo booth strip. The active filter and border apply to the composite.
• BurstEach frame saves individually to your camera roll. Same look on every frame, sequential timing.

Configuration

• ShotsNumber of frames per session: 2, 3, 4, or 6.
• DelayGap between frames after the first: 1s, 2s, or 3s.
• CountdownInitial countdown before the first frame: 3s, 5s, or 10s.
• FrameCustom booth frames received from the Companion appear here. Select one to composite over each capture in the strip.

FunHouse

A classic boardwalk cutout board on your iPhone. Hold up a custom frame with a transparent hole — an on-screen guide directs the subject to align with the opening. When aligned, shoot.

How it works

1. 01Design a FunHouse frame in the Companion — a PNG with a transparent cutout, hole position defined on the preview. Send to iPhone.
2. 02Select FUNHOUSE from the mode pill. Your frame appears over the live viewfinder on the rear camera.
3. 03Hold the phone up or hand it to your subject. An amber guide ring appears around the detected face with directional arrows: move left, move right, move up, move down.
4. 04When the face aligns with the hole, the ring turns green and HOLD STILL appears. Tap the shutter.
5. 05The frame composites permanently over the capture with your active filter applied.

Guide overlay

• Amber ringTracks the detected face in real time. Directional arrows show which way to move.
• Green ringFace is aligned with the hole. Ready to shoot.
• FIND THE HOLENo face detected in the frame. Move until the guide ring appears.

Teleprompter

Select PROMPT from the mode pill. The front camera activates. Your script scrolls over a live preview of yourself — your audience sees your face, you read your lines.

Setup

Tap the script area to open the setup sheet. Paste or type your full script — any length. Set scroll speed and font size. Tap Done.

Controls during recording

• SpeedAdjust scroll rate with the speed slider while recording. Fine-tune to your natural speaking pace.
• Font sizeSet before recording. Larger for distance viewing, smaller for more words on screen.
• PauseTap the screen to pause and resume scrolling without stopping the recording.

Resume sheet

When you stop recording mid-script, a resume sheet appears. Choose Continue from here to resume from your current position, or Start from Beginning to reset the scroll to the top.

Camera Controls

Focus and exposure

An amber square is visible at all times during live camera operation, showing the current focus point. Tap anywhere on the viewfinder to move the square and lock focus at that point. The square stays visible between taps, always indicating where focus is set.

For sustained bursts, long-press to lock both focus and exposure at a point — shown as AE/AF LOCK with a haptic. The lock holds until your next tap and clears on camera flip or mode change. When tilt-shift is active, the sharp band follows your tap point.

Focus lock (F)

The F button in the right column locks focus at the current lens position. The square freezes in place and the button goes gold. Tap the viewfinder while F is active to move the square and release the lock, returning to continuous autofocus. Tap F again to release the lock and recenter the square. Focus lock is independent of the exposure controls.

Exposure compensation

After a tap-to-focus a vertical slider appears on the right edge. Drag up to brighten, down to darken. It auto-hides after three seconds. The slider biases the auto system toward a brighter or darker target but does not lock the shutter or ISO to specific values.

Zoom

Tap any zoom level in the left column: 0.5× / 1× / 2× / 3× (availability depends on device hardware). The full optical and digital zoom range is available via pinch-to-zoom. Active level highlighted amber. Tap the chevron to collapse the column. The 0.5× ultrawide is unavailable while manual exposure (S or Fixed ISO) is active and reappears when both return to AUTO.

Torch

The bolt icon activates continuous torch light. Rear camera only — hidden when the front camera is active. Disables automatically on camera flip and when recording stops.

Volume buttons

Either volume button triggers the shutter in Photo mode. Identical to the on-screen shutter — haptic and sound included.

Countdown timer

Tap the timer button in the shutter row to cycle: off → 3s → 5s → 10s → off. Tap the shutter to start the countdown. Tap anywhere to cancel before it fires.

Last capture

A thumbnail of your most recent capture appears in the shutter row. Tap it to jump directly to the Photos app.

Manual Exposure

Three controls in the right column give direct access to shutter speed, ISO, and focus lock. They are independent — any combination is valid.

S — Shutter speed

Tap to open a strip: AUTO, 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15. Selecting a value locks the shutter to that duration regardless of scene brightness. The camera freely adjusts ISO to compensate. AUTO returns to continuous auto exposure. Shutter lock is the only way to guarantee motion is frozen or blurred at a specific duration — the exposure compensation slider cannot do this.

Fixed ISO

Tap to open a strip: AUTO, 400, 800, 1600, 3200. Selecting a value fixes ISO at that number and lets the shutter compensate for scene brightness. AUTO returns to continuous auto exposure. At 1600 in a dark venue the shutter will lengthen; at 400 in bright light it will shorten.

Single-lens mode

Activating either S or Fixed ISO switches the session to the physical wide-angle lens. The full multi-lens system (ultrawide, main, telephoto) is not available while either control is active. The 0.5× button disappears from the zoom strip. When both S and Fixed ISO return to AUTO, the full lens range restores automatically. Zoom is not restricted during focus lock alone.

Film Simulations

31 simulations across three categories, accessible from the strip at the bottom of your camera screen. Swipe to browse, tap to apply. INTENSITY controls how strongly the simulation is blended — at 1.0 the full effect, at 0.5 blended 50/50 with the natural image. B&W filters default to 1.0 on selection.

B&W — 10 filters

Each applies a distinct tonal signature — simulating the character of colored optical filters over a classic film camera lens.

Film Stocks — 10 simulations

Each emulates the contrast curve, color response, grain character, and vignette of a specific photographic film emulsion.

Vintage — 11 processes

Process-driven simulations of analog and lo-fi formats.

Precision Controls

Tap PRO to open the glass panel — a floating overlay with six categories of controls. Tap any tile to enter it. The back arrow returns to the tile grid. ALL ↕ expands or collapses every section at once. Tap PRO again to close everything.

Drag the handle at the top to position the panel anywhere on screen — out of the way of your subject. Every slider updates in real time. What you see is what you capture.

Tone and Texture

Shape the tonal character of your image on top of whatever film simulation is active. Shadows, highlights, grain, clarity — dial in your look here.

Tone — all sliders bipolar, -1 to +1

• ShadowsLifts or crushes the shadow range. Positive values open shadows; negative values crush them toward black.
• MidtonesShifts midrange luminosity. Positive brightens; negative darkens without clipping highlights.
• HighlightsLifts or pulls highlight values. Negative values recover blown highlights; positive extends them.
• ClarityMidtone-targeted local contrast enhancement. Adds bite and texture without affecting highlights or shadows. 0 to 1.

Texture — 0 to 1

• GrainAdditive per-pixel noise matching analog silver halide grain character. Layered on top of any grain the active filter already applies.
• VignetteCorner darkening using a multiply-mode falloff. Subtle at low values, dramatic at high values.

Tilt-Shift

• EnableToggles selective focus simulation on and off.
• CenterVertical position of the in-focus band. 0 = bottom, 1 = top, 0.5 = center.
• WidthHeight of the sharp zone. Lower values produce a narrower band of focus.
• BlurBlur strength in the out-of-focus regions. Higher values produce more extreme miniature effect.

Tonal Color

Add a color signature to your shadows and highlights independently — from a subtle selenium tone to a full blue-cyan wash. Works in both color and B&W modes.

Shadow Tone

• HueColor direction applied to shadow regions. -1 to +1 covering the full spectrum.
• StrengthHow strongly the shadow hue is applied. 0 = no color, 1 = full toning. 0 to 1.

Highlight Tone

• HueColor direction applied to highlight regions. -1 to +1.
• StrengthAdditive highlight tint intensity. 0 to 1.

Print Tone Presets

One-tap configurations that set shadow and highlight hue and strength simultaneously — emulating classic darkroom chemical toning processes.

Film Degradation

The imperfections that make film feel real. Light leaks, halation, dust, scratches, gate weave. Get creative. Shape your capture. All default to zero.

Light — 0 to 1

• LeakWarm or cool soft light bleeding from a random frame edge — simulating light entering the camera body through a seal failure.
• HalationRed-channel bloom spreading from specular highlights — emulating the glow of light reflecting off the film base. Characteristic of CineStill and fast film stocks.
• BurnIntense orange-white edge flare — simulating film overexposure at the edge of the frame.

Texture — 0 to 1

• DustAnimated particle drift — small dark and bright specks moving across the frame. More visible on light tones.
• ScratchAnimated vertical scratch lines, six independent channels with opacity flicker — simulating damage to the film emulsion or projector gate.
• GateWhole-frame horizontal jitter — simulating film transport instability through a projector or camera gate.

Color Effects — 0 to 1 (hidden in B&W mode)

• BleedChromatic aberration — red channel shifts right, blue channel shifts left. Simulates lens fringing or color misregistration in print processes.
• FadePrint fade — red push, cyan loss, shadow lift toward brown. Simulates aged or improperly stored prints.

Borders and Framing

Aspect Ratio

• FullNative camera sensor — no crop.
• 1:1Square — classic medium format.
• 16:9Widescreen — standard video ratio.
• 2.39Anamorphic cinematic — ultra-widescreen.

Borders

• NoneNo border — clean full-bleed image.
• BlackSolid black frame.
• WhiteSolid white frame.
• InstantWhite frame with thick bottom — classic instant print proportions. Forces 1:1 square framing; restores your previous ratio when deselected.
• Instant BlackBlack instant-style frame with thick bottom. Forces 1:1 square framing; restores your previous ratio when deselected.
• AgedInstant border with warm cream tint — aged instant print character. Forces 1:1 square framing; restores your previous ratio when deselected.
• CustomPNG borders installed from the Mac Companion. Transparency preserved. Any design, any proportion. See Custom Borders below.

HUD

Mutually exclusive with standard borders. Renders a filming-style heads-up display with REC indicator, timecode, battery level, date, GPS coordinates, and ISO/shutter readout. HUD data bakes into video. On photo captures, HUD is suppressed and the image is clean. When HUD is active in video mode, a notice appears in the Border section — "HUD active. Border suppressed."

Film Imprint

When active, renders a data strip at the frame edge showing the film stock name, your Film ID, and capture metadata. The imprint frame counter increments with each capture and persists per filter between sessions. Watermark is suppressed when imprint is active.

Watermark

Renders a user-defined text string into the frame. Up to 20 characters. Set in PRO → SETTINGS → CAPTURE.

Camera Assist

Shooting aids that live over your iPhone screen — not visible in your captures. Grid, level, histogram, focus peaking, zebra — the tools you need.

• GridComposition guide. Styles: Thirds, Square, Golden ratio, Center cross, Diagonal.
• LevelElectronic horizon indicator. A line appears when the camera is tilted; it turns green when level.
• HistogramLive luminance histogram in the corner of your screen. Shows tonal distribution in real time.
• Focus PeakingEdge-detection highlight of in-focus areas. Sensitivity slider controls the detection threshold — lower values highlight only the sharpest edges.
• ZebraOverexposure warning stripes on areas exceeding the set threshold. Threshold slider sets the luminance level that triggers zebra.

Look Library

Your look library and the entry point to System Settings. The gear icon in the panel header opens System Settings — a separate surface covering text imprints, output, photo booth configuration, and permissions.

System Presets

Four factory looks, ready to tap. Long-press to remove one from view; removed presets return if you reset all settings.

Saved Looks

Your library, with thumbnail, active state, and select, share, or delete per look. Actions: Save Current Look, Share Looks, Reset All Settings, Import Look from Photo.

System Settings

Tap the gear icon in the PRO panel header. This opens a separate accordion view replacing the six tiles — the PRO panel and System Settings never show at the same time.

Appearance

• Text SizeLabel size throughout the PRO panel — S, M, or L.

Text on Frame

• WatermarkToggle; when on, a text field with a favorites strip appears. Type any text, tap the bookmark icon to save it as a chip, tap any chip to paste it back, tap the X on a chip to delete it. Favorites persist across sessions. Disabled only when Video mode and HUD are both active simultaneously. Mutually exclusive with Text Overlay when an Instant or Aged border is active.
• Text OverlayToggle; when on, a text field, favorites strip, and a color picker (black, white, grey) appear. Disabled only when Exposure ID, HUD, and Video mode are all three active simultaneously. Mutually exclusive with Watermark on an Instant or Aged border.
• Date StampToggle only — no text field. Prints the capture date at the lower right in amber. Stills only; disabled in Video mode.

Text in both fields is always literal. iOS autocorrect, smart quotes, smart dashes, and the double-space-inserts-a-period shortcut are all suppressed. What you type is exactly what appears on the photo.

Film Data on Frame

• Exposure IDToggle; when on, a text field for your label or username. The toggle alone activates the imprint — no text is required. When the label field is empty, each capture renders the frame number followed by an arrow (e.g. 24 ▸). When a label is set, it renders after the arrow (e.g. 24 ▸ YOURFILM). The frame counter advances on every capture regardless of whether a label is set, and wraps back to 1 after frame 36. Disabled when the active border is Instant or Aged (Instant Black does not disable it), or in Video mode. Mutually exclusive with Film Stock — enabling one turns the other off.
• Film StockToggle. Prints the active film stock name as a rebate on the left edge, matching the active filter. Only appears when: not in Video mode, a border is selected, the border is not Instant or Aged, and a film-category filter is active. Mutually exclusive with Exposure ID.

Imprint availability by border

Which frame data features are available depends on the active border. Date Stamp is available in photo mode on all borders.

* On Instant and Aged borders, Text Overlay and Watermark are mutually exclusive — enabling one turns the other off.

Location

• GPSEmbeds coordinates into the EXIF metadata of saved files. Off by default.

Photo Booth

• OutputStrip or Burst.
• Shots2, 3, 4, or 6 — Burst only.
• Between frames0s, 1s, 2s, or 3s — Strip only.
• Countdown3s, 5s, or 10s.

Output

• V.FormatH.264 or HEVC — sets the codec for video recording. Photo output is fixed HEIC with no user choice.

Permissions

The app requests camera access, photo library read and write access (required for the last-capture thumbnail and for saving), local network access (WiFi delivery from Companion), and optional location access (GPS overlay).

Building Your Library

A Look is your signature — every creative decision saved in one tap. Filter, grain, tone, color, borders, everything. Apply it to any shot, any time.

Saving a Look

1. 01Dial in your complete look — filter, intensity, all PRO adjustments.
2. 02Open PRO → SETTINGS.
3. 03Tap the + NEW card in SAVED LOOKS. Or tap SAVE ALL SETTINGS to save the current configuration.
4. 04Name your look. Up to 30 characters.
5. 05Tap Save. The look appears in your library immediately.

The recipe travels with the photograph.

Every photo you capture in mono+ carries its complete look invisibly embedded in the file. Filter, grain, color tone, decay, tilt shift, borders — the full creative specification encoded in the image itself using the industry-standard EXIF UserComment field.

Share a photo and you share the look. The data travels wherever the file goes.

Import a look from a photo

Found a mono+ image you want to shoot with? Open PRO on your iPhone, go to SETTINGS, tap Import Look from Photo. Choose any mono+ image from your camera roll. Every parameter is extracted and applied to your current session instantly.

1. 01Open PRO and tap the SETTINGS tile.
2. 02Tap Import Look from Photo.
3. 03Choose any mono+ image from your camera roll.
4. 04The complete look is extracted and applied instantly — filter, grain, tone, decay, tilt shift, all of it.
5. 05Optionally save it as a named look in your library.

Share a look by sharing a photo

Send someone a mono+ image via AirDrop, Messages, or anywhere. They open it in mono+, tap Import Look, and shoot with your exact creative signature. No separate file. No extra steps. The image is the look.

Gallery auto-detection

When you submit a photo to the mono+ gallery, the look DNA is read automatically from the file. No need to select which filter you used — the image already knows.

Import in the Companion

Drag any mono+ photo onto the Desktop Companion window. The look is extracted and appears as a new preset in your library — ready to edit, name, and send back to your iPhone.

What gets embedded

• FilterFilm simulation ID, display name, and intensity
• ToneShadows, midtones, highlights, clarity
• TextureGrain and vignette
• ColorShadow and highlight hue, strength, print tone
• DecayAll eight decay parameters
• Tilt-ShiftEnabled state, center, width, and blur
• FrameAspect ratio and border selection

RAW Capture

RAW records a full-resolution file alongside the finished photo, so you can finish a master at full size on the Mac.

In Photo mode on the rear camera, tap the gold RAW chip below the mode bar. It lights and the camera switches to the wide lens at its full resolution. While RAW is on, the wide lens is the only lens — switching to the front camera or to Video, Prompt, Booth, or FunHouse turns RAW off. Tap the chip again to leave RAW.

Set your look as normal, then shoot. Each press writes two files: a full-resolution ProRAW DNG carrying your look as LookDNA and your location as data, flat by design, and a finished file at everyday resolution with your look, border, and imprints ready to share. The raw stays flat on purpose — keeping the look as data is what lets the Companion rebuild it at full resolution and lets you move exposure and white balance later without the loss a finished image would give.

In-flight gate

A number badge on the shutter shows when a ProRAW capture is currently being saved. Only one capture can be in flight at a time. The badge turns red while saving is in progress and the shutter is gated until it clears. If you tap the shutter and nothing happens, this is why — wait for the badge to disappear before shooting again.

Hardware requirement

RAW capture requires ProRAW, which Apple gates to iPhone 12 Pro or later. If the device does not support it, the RAW chip is not shown. On 48-megapixel hardware the DNG is 48MP and the paired companion JPEG is 12MP — a constraint of Apple's ISP, not a product choice.

Sharing Looks

mono+ uses the .monopluspack file format to share presets between devices and with the Mac Companion. A pack file contains all your saved looks and any attached custom borders. Packs can be shared freely — receiving a pack merges its presets into your local library.

Exporting from iPhone

1. 01Open PRO → SETTINGS → SHARE LOOKS.
2. 02The iOS share sheet appears with your .monopluspack file ready to send.
3. 03Choose AirDrop to send to another iPhone or your Mac, or choose any other share target — Messages, Mail, Files, or a cloud service.

Receiving on iPhone

A .monopluspack file received via AirDrop, Messages, or any other path opens directly in mono+. Received presets are merged into your Saved Looks library. Custom borders embedded in the pack are installed automatically and appear in PRO → FRAME → BORDERS.

Desktop Creative Studio

The mono+ Desktop Companion is a free Mac app that brings your entire preset library to a full-size screen — precision sliders, live preview on your own photos, custom borders, FunHouse frame design, teleprompter scripting, and ProRAW grading. One-click wireless delivery to any nearby iPhone running mono+.

Getting Started

1. 01Download MonoPlusCompanion.dmg from monoplus.pro and drag it to your Applications folder.
2. 02On your iPhone, open mono+ → PRO → SETTINGS → SHARE LOOKS.
3. 03AirDrop the .monopluspack file to your Mac. The Companion opens automatically with all your looks loaded.
4. 04Edit any preset. When you're done, click Send to iPhone in the toolbar. Your looks arrive on the phone within seconds.

Preset Editor

Build and refine your complete look library on a large screen with the full slider set. Every control matches the iOS PRO panel exactly — filter, intensity, all six PRO tiles. A live preview renders the look on a sample image as you adjust. Switch the sample to any photo from your Mac to preview on your own content before sending.

Header

• Name fieldEditable inline. Click the name to rename. Up to 30 characters. Press Return or click Save to confirm.
• Filter IDThe base film simulation — shown below the name. Read-only in the editor; change the filter in mono+ on iPhone and re-export.
• Save buttonAppears when there are unsaved changes. Saves to the current pack file. Keyboard shortcut: Cmd+S.
• ExportSaves this single preset as its own standalone .monopluspack file — useful for sharing individual looks.

Editor Sections

All collapsible accordion panels — INTENSITY, TONE, TEXTURE, DECAY, COLOR, TILT SHIFT, FRAME. Every parameter matches exactly what is available in the mono+ PRO panel on iPhone. Values edited in the Companion apply identically when received on the phone.

File Menu

• New (Cmd+N)Creates a new empty preset library with a single blank preset.
• Open (Cmd+O)Opens any .monopluspack file.
• Save (Cmd+S)Saves to the current file. The last opened file is restored automatically at next launch.
• Save AsSaves to a new location. Keyboard shortcut: Cmd+Shift+S.

Custom Borders

Design your own border on your Mac and send it straight to your iPhone. A film rebate, a print edge, a signature frame — any PNG, any design. Three border formats are supported.

• Single FrameA standard portrait border. The PNG overlays directly over every capture. Full transparency support — any shape, any aesthetic. Keep the center transparent to reveal the photo through the frame.
• Photo Booth StripA composite frame for Booth mode. Designed for the 2×2 composite output — design the outer frame, the gutters, and any background.
• FunHouse FrameA cutout board frame with a defined hole position. See FunHouse Frames below.

Adding a Custom Border

1. 01Open a preset in the editor and scroll to the FRAME section.
2. 02Click Add Custom Border and choose a PNG from your Mac.
3. 03The border appears in the live preview. The filename and pixel dimensions are shown.
4. 04If the border's aspect ratio doesn't match the preset's frame setting, a mismatch warning appears with a one-tap Fix button.
5. 05Save the preset. The border is embedded and will transfer with the preset to iPhone.

FunHouse Frame Design

Design the cutout board frame as a PNG, then use the Companion to define exactly where the hole is. The hole position is embedded in the frame data and tells mono+ where to direct the subject.

1. 01Design your frame PNG. The transparent area is the hole where the subject's face will appear. Make it distinctive — a character, a scene, an oval portrait cutout.
2. 02In the Companion Borders tab, select FunHouse Frame from the format buttons.
3. 03Upload your PNG. It appears in the preview panel.
4. 04Drag the orange circle on the preview to the center of the hole opening. Use the Hole Size slider to match the circle to the opening.
5. 05Click Send to iPhone. The frame arrives on your device wirelessly and appears in FunHouse mode immediately.

Preparing Your Border Pack

A guide for authoring borders, frames, and looks for mono+ — for brands, venues, and anyone building a pack. It covers the file formats, dimensions, and limits that make a pack install cleanly and look right, and it is honest about where each choice holds up and where it does not. A downloadable version is available at Preparing Your Border Pack (PDF).

The essentials

Every border and frame is a PNG with transparency. The transparent areas are where the photo shows through — the center of a border, the opening of a cutout. This is why frames are PNG and not JPEG: JPEG has no transparency, so the photo could never show through. Author in any image editor, keep the see-through areas fully transparent, and export as PNG.

There are two delivery paths, and they have different size targets. Author to the one you are using. Borders sent from the Mac Companion for ProRAW capture are authored large, to stay sharp against the full-resolution master. Borders delivered as a scan-to-install pack are authored to match standard capture and to keep the download quick. The two are covered separately below.

The three frame types

mono+ recognises three kinds of frame. Choose the one that matches what you are making.

• Single FrameA standard border that overlays every capture. Any shape, any aesthetic. Keep the center transparent to reveal the photo through the frame. This is the type for most borders, and the type to use for a border with a see-through cutout that you simply want to shoot through in normal mode.
• Photo Booth StripA composite frame for Booth mode — the outer frame, the gutters, and any background for the multi-shot strip. Booth mode forces 1:1 square framing automatically and restores your previous ratio when you switch out of Booth mode.
• FunHouse FrameA boardwalk cutout board with a defined hole, where an on-screen guide directs the subject to align with the opening before the shot. A true FunHouse Frame needs its hole position set in the Companion — drag the orange circle to the opening, size it with the slider. If you only want a border with a see-through hole to shoot through in normal mode, make it a Single Frame. Reserve FunHouse for when you want the alignment guide.

Dimensions — two targets

Dimensions are not only about sharpness. For scan-to-install packs, mono+ reads the frame's dimensions and sets the capture aspect ratio automatically — so authoring to the right size does two jobs: it keeps the frame sharp, and it makes the frame select the correct ratio on its own.

Scan-to-install packs

Author to match a 12-megapixel capture. These sizes keep files small and installs quick.

• Square (1:1)2048 × 2048
• Portrait / Full3024 × 4032
• 16:91920 × 1080 (or same ratio)
• 2.392390 × 1000 (or same ratio)

A frame authored at a given ratio forces that ratio on selection: a 1:1 frame forces 1:1 square framing, a 16:9 frame forces 16:9, a 2.39 frame forces 2.39 — and each restores your previous ratio when deselected, the same behaviour as the built-in instant borders. Author square frames as exact squares. Author portrait frames at 3:4 or clearly taller; anything meaningfully taller than square is treated as Full and does not force a ratio. Do not author a near-square frame and expect Full — keep squares square and portraits clearly portrait.

Mac Companion (ProRAW)

Borders sent from the Companion are scaled onto the full-resolution ProRAW master, so undersized files render soft. Author large: 6048 × 8064 (4:3 full), 6048 × 6048 (1:1), 6048 × 3402 (16:9), or 6048 × 2531 (2.39:1). Use these sizes only when authoring for Companion ProRAW delivery. Do not use them for scan-to-install packs — a 6048-pixel full-coverage frame becomes a very large file and a slow install.

File size

A pack installs by downloading each frame in turn. Aim to keep a whole pack under about 15 MB total — that is a budget across all frames in the pack, not a per-frame limit. Borders with a transparent center stay small naturally: the empty area compresses to almost nothing. Full-coverage art with no transparency is inherently heavier because a full-colour image cannot compress the way an empty center can. Size these consciously.

The hard ceiling is 50 MB per file, but that is a guard rail, not a target. If a single frame is approaching even a quarter of that, it is too large — reduce its dimensions or reconsider whether it needs to be full-coverage.

Print expectations

Borders with a transparent center print well at any reasonable size. The photo carries the resolution, and the frame is a thin overlay, so a full-resolution capture with a border prints as large as the photo would on its own.

Full-coverage frames — carnival cutouts, booth-style art, anything where the frame itself is the image — are social-first and print-friendly to about 4 × 6. Author them for the screen and the small keepsake print, and say so where you sell them. Stating the limitation up front turns it into a spec: a customer who knows a carnival frame is a 4 × 6 souvenir is a happy customer; one who prints it at gallery size and finds it soft is not.

Adding a look

A pack can carry a look as well as, or instead of, frames. There are two ways to include one.

• Built-in filterChoose one of the built-in looks by name. The pack carries the filter's identity, and mono+ applies its factory character. Nothing else to prepare.
• Saved presetExport your own tuned look from mono+ through the PRO panel share sheet, then add that preset file to the pack. This carries the full character you dialled in — tone, grain, decay, print colour — not just the base filter. This is how a signature look travels intact.

Pre-publish checklist

• Every frame is a PNG, with transparency where the photo should show through.
• Square frames are exact squares (2048 × 2048); portrait frames are 3:4 or taller (3024 × 4032).
• You used the scan-to-install sizes for packs, or the Companion ProRAW sizes for Companion delivery — not the other way round.
• The whole pack is under about 15 MB; no single frame is anywhere near the 50 MB ceiling.
• Full-coverage frames are sized for social and prints to 4 × 6, and described that way.
• A true FunHouse Frame's hole was placed in the Companion; a plain cutout is a Single Frame.
• Any look is either a named built-in or a full preset exported from the PRO panel.

Teleprompter Script

Write or paste your teleprompter script in the Companion and send it to iPhone in one click. Longer scripts are easier to edit on a full keyboard. The complete script transfers wirelessly and is immediately available in Prompt mode.

Script Editor

• Script areaFull-height text editor — paste or type any length of script. Save named scripts to the library with the Save button.
• Font SizeSet the teleprompter font size from the slider — range 14pt to 60pt. This is the display size on iPhone during recording.
• Send to iPhoneSends the current script wirelessly to nearby iPhone. Available immediately in Prompt mode — no pairing required.

ProRAW Grading

When mono+ captures in ProRAW mode, each shot produces a full-resolution 48MP DNG alongside the standard 12MP JPEG. The Companion DNG tab opens these raw files and grades them through the same Metal pipeline as the phone — grain, tone, decay, and borders apply identically to what you see in mono+.

Opening a DNG

Drag any mono+ ProRAW DNG onto the Companion window, or use File → Open DNG. The file decodes at full 48MP resolution. Grading controls appear immediately.

RAW Adjustments

• TemperatureColor temperature of the RAW decode — 3000K to 9000K. Defaults to 5500K (daylight).
• TintGreen-magenta tint correction — −150 to +150. Use to neutralize casts from mixed light sources.
• ExposureRAW exposure compensation — −3 to +3 stops. Applied during decode before the look pipeline runs.

Border in Export

• Include border in masterOn — border and all margin imprints are composited into the export. Off — border, exposure ID, text overlay, film imprint, and film stock are suppressed. Watermark and date stamp remain in the export.

Export

• Export TIFF16-bit Display P3 with embedded ICC profile. Full 48MP resolution. The archival master.
• Export JPEG8-bit Display P3, 100% quality. Full 48MP resolution. GPS coordinates and LookDNA carried from the source DNG.

Send to iPhone

Every item in the Companion — looks, borders, FunHouse frames, scripts — delivers to your iPhone wirelessly with a single click. No USB connection, no pairing, no account matching required. The item arrives and installs automatically within seconds.

How it works

The Companion discovers nearby iPhones running mono+ over your local WiFi network and delivers directly. Open mono+ on your iPhone, click Send to iPhone in the Companion toolbar, and the pack is received and installed without any action on the phone. The button confirms delivery: it reads "Sent to [device name]" briefly, showing exactly which iPhone received the pack.

If more than one iPhone with mono+ is nearby, a device picker appears in the Companion — tap the one you want to send to.

If no nearby iPhone is detected, the Companion falls back to AirDrop so you can deliver manually.

Delivery path

The Companion selects a delivery method automatically. If your Mac and iPhone share the same Apple ID with iCloud Drive enabled, delivery goes silently via iCloud — no proximity required, no status shown. If the accounts differ or iCloud is unavailable, the Companion switches to WiFi Direct and finds any nearby iPhone running mono+ on the same network. AirDrop is the last resort when no nearby device is detected. You never choose the method — the Companion picks the fastest available path.

Requirements

• iOS appiPhone on iOS 17.0 or later. Portrait orientation. There is no hard model floor; RAW capture requires ProRAW, which Apple gates to iPhone 12 Pro or later, confirmed at runtime.
• Mac CompanionmacOS 14 Sonoma or later.
• Companion deliveryWiFi delivery requires both devices on the same network, with mono+ granted local network access when first prompted. iCloud delivery is used automatically when both devices share an Apple ID with iCloud Drive enabled — no proximity required. No USB, no pairing.
• PermissionsCamera access is required. Photo library access is requested the first time a capture is saved and when the thumbnail feature loads your last photo. Location access is optional — only used for GPS geotag.

Behaviour Notes

• Real-time renderEvery filter and adjustment processes live. What you see on screen is what gets captured — no post-processing step.
• Preset applyWhen a look or preset is applied, the render pipeline updates immediately. No need to close the panel.
• Frame countersThe film imprint frame counter tracks shots per filter and persists between sessions. Changing filters resets the counter for the new filter. The counter wraps back to 1 after frame 36.
• Watermark and Text OverlayMutually exclusive when an Instant or Aged border is active — enabling one turns the other off. Both are available simultaneously on all other borders.
• HUD on photoWhen HUD is active, it is suppressed on photo captures. HUD data bakes into video only.
• Deleted presetsSystem preset deletions persist across launches. There is no in-app restore — reinstalling the app resets all system presets.
• Decay in videoAll decay parameters (dust, scratch, gate, leak) are temporally animated during video recording — each frame varies slightly, producing organic film-like movement.
• Pack format.monopluspack files are JSON and can be opened in any text editor. Custom border images are embedded as base64-encoded PNG data within the JSON.
• ProRAW gateOnly one ProRAW capture can be in flight at a time. The shutter is gated while saving — wait for the badge to clear before shooting again.

Release notes — 1.6

• Focus tapFirst-touch tap now focuses immediately — a gesture timing issue that delayed the first tap after launch is resolved.
• RAW breathThe ProRAW shutter breath animation now tracks correctly when a capture completes mid-session.