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Check that INTENSITY is above zero — the slider in the filter strip controls how strongly the simulation is applied. At zero, no effect is visible. Drag it to the right for full effect. Also confirm a filter is selected — the active filter has a highlighted thumbnail in the strip.

Permanently. mono+ bakes the look into every capture at the moment of shooting — it is part of the image, not a layer applied on top. This is by design. Your look is your image, not a filter you can peel off. If you want an unprocessed version, shoot with INTENSITY at zero.

Yes. mono+ needs camera access to function. When prompted by iOS, tap Allow. If you previously denied access, go to Settings → Privacy → Camera → mono+ and enable it.

Tap the PRO button in the bottom right of the viewfinder. The glass panel opens over the viewfinder with six control categories — LOOK, COLOR, DECAY, FRAME, OVERLAYS, and SETTINGS. Tap any tile to enter that category. Tap PRO again to close everything.

The filter strip selects the base film simulation — the overall character of the look (Tri-X grain, Portra warmth, VHS color shift). The PRO panel lets you fine-tune every individual parameter within that simulation — shadow tone, grain strength, halation, fade, border, and more. Use the strip to choose a starting point, use PRO to make it yours.

Bleed and Fade are hidden when a B&W filter is active — they are color effects and have no visible impact in monochrome mode. Switch to a color film stock or vintage filter to access them.

No — this is intentional. All decay parameters (dust, scratch, gate, leak) are temporally animated during video recording. Each frame varies slightly, producing organic film-like movement. It is the same behavior you see on actual film grain and analog artifacts.

One film simulation is active at a time — selected from the filter strip. Within that simulation, you have full control over every parameter in the PRO panel. The combination of a film stock simulation plus your PRO adjustments is your look. Save it as a preset to recall it instantly.

Yes. Grab the handle at the top of the glass panel and drag it anywhere on screen — clear of your subject, to the side, wherever it doesn't interrupt your composition. It stays where you put it for the session.

Yes. Tap the chevron at the top of the filter strip to collapse it independently. The glass panel stays open. Tap PRO to reopen the strip and panel together.

In the glass panel (PRO button), OVERLAYS is its own top-level tile. In the ProSheet (swipe up from the bottom of the screen), OVERLAYS is a collapsible section within LOOK — alongside TONE, TEXTURE, and TILT-SHIFT.

No. Grid, level, histogram, focus peaking, and zebra overlays are shooting aids — they render over the viewfinder only and are never burned into captures.

Open PRO → SETTINGS. In the SAVED LOOKS section, tap + NEW or tap SAVE ALL SETTINGS. Name your look and tap Save. The look captures everything — filter, intensity, all tone, color, decay, tilt-shift, border, and aspect ratio parameters.

System preset deletions persist across launches. The only way to restore all system presets is to reinstall mono+. Your saved looks are stored separately and will not be affected by reinstalling.

Yes. Open PRO → SETTINGS → SHARE LOOKS. mono+ bundles all your saved looks into a .monopluspack file and presents the iOS share sheet. Use AirDrop, Messages, Mail, or any other share target. The recipient opens the file in mono+ and the looks merge into their library.

Yes. The entire render pipeline — film simulation, PRO adjustments, borders, all decay effects — processes every video frame in real time on the GPU. There is no post-processing step. What you see in the viewfinder is what gets recorded.

You can change any PRO parameter while recording. Changes apply from that point forward in the video — the section before the change uses the previous setting. Switching the base filter from the strip while recording works the same way.

Yes. Go to PRO → SETTINGS → OUTPUT and set Video Quality to Maximum. All Metal rendering processes at full capture resolution.

The Companion is a free Mac app for editing your preset library on a larger screen. You get a live preview of every parameter change, full slider control over every effect, custom border tools, and a one-click Send to iPhone. It is a creative tool — not just a manager.

On your iPhone, open PRO → SETTINGS → SHARE LOOKS. AirDrop the .monopluspack file to your Mac. The Companion opens automatically with all your looks loaded.

Click Send to iPhone in the Companion toolbar. Your looks transfer via iCloud Drive and mono+ imports them automatically — no action required on the phone. Both devices must be signed into the same iCloud account with iCloud Drive enabled.

The Companion preview uses CPU-based Core Image approximations. mono+ on iPhone uses a GPU Metal pipeline. The results are close but not pixel-identical. Use the Companion preview for creative direction and verify final results in mono+ on device.

Yes. In the Companion, open a preset and scroll to the FRAME section. Click Add Custom Border and choose any PNG with transparency. The border is embedded in the preset file and installs on your iPhone when the preset is received. It appears in PRO → FRAME → BORDERS.

macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later.

Location is optional. If you enable it in PRO → SETTINGS → CAPTURE → LOCATION, GPS coordinates are embedded in the EXIF metadata of your captures — the same way the iPhone's built-in camera works. This data stays in the file and only goes anywhere if you share the file. Location is off by default and can be disabled at any time.

No. mono+ does not upload, transmit, or access your photos. All captures save directly to your camera roll. We have no access to your images.

Only your email address, if you choose to provide it during the optional onboarding opt-in. We do not use analytics SDKs, advertising identifiers, or third-party tracking. See our Privacy Policy for the complete picture.