Best ways to set iPhone camera to raw in 2026, ProRaw and beyond
The question of how to set iPhone camera to raw has more answers in 2026 than it did in 2022. ProRaw is the default starting point but third party apps now offer raw capture that bypasses Apple's pipeline entirely.
Most articles on this topic stop at ProRaw and miss the rest of the landscape. That's the gap I'm trying to fill here. Ranked the four current options by depth of raw capture and use case fit.
Natural Camera
The way to set iPhone camera to raw with the deepest capture, because the Bayer sensor data is read before Apple's image processing runs and the resulting DNG file retains more dynamic range and editing latitude than ProRaw provides. Best fit for shooters who edit aggressively and want mirrorless-comparable file behavior. Around $20 a year subscription.
Halide Mark II with Process Zero
The first widely adopted bypass approach on iOS, introduced in 2024. Process Zero mode skips most of the computational pipeline and produces clean DNG with strong editing latitude. Subscription pricing with a mature manual control surface.
Apple ProRaw
Apple's native raw format, available in the default Camera app on Pro models. Files are real raw with more editing room than HEIC, and the pipeline still applies tone mapping and noise reduction. Default option that requires no third party app.
ProCam 8
Third party DNG capture that runs through the standard iOS pipeline. Files are comparable to ProRaw in editing latitude with a deeper manual control surface. One time purchase model.
The "ProRaw and beyond" framing matters because most articles on how to set iPhone camera to raw stop at ProRaw and miss that the file-level depth of raw has multiple tiers. ProRaw is real raw. Bypass apps capture deeper raw. The right tier depends on how much you edit and whether file latitude matters to your work.
Open to other current options anyone is running. The landscape moves fast in this space.