Moment drops support for Pro Camera app on Android because of fragmentation

Ben Schoon | Feb 28 2020 - 11:08 am PT

The cameras in our smartphones have gotten incredibly good, but most of them are designed to just press a button and capture without any manual controls. Alongside its physical lenses, Moment has been working on its Pro Camera app for over two years now, but the company has just announced it will be shutting down the app on Android.

The Moment Pro Camera app for Android and iOS enables much more in-depth control over your camera. Beyond just point and shoot, the app can adjust little details such as shutter speed, ISO, and more. The app also improves the experience with Moment’s lenses, especially its anamorphic video lens.

Why is Moment shutting down this app on Android? Put simply, every Android maker is completely different, and that makes things difficult.

In an email sent to some Moment users (h/t Justin Duino), Moment CEO Marc Barros explains that each Android maker has different takes on Android and those changes often affect Moment’s access to camera features. At this point, the Moment Pro Camera app is different on every phone with a “random compatibility list” with different features on every model.

Trying to deliver and maintain this app for Android is just beyond the company’s “engineering bandwidth” especially as updates break things. So, Moment is dropping support for the app entirely as a result. It sounds like this takes effect immediately, but Moment doesn’t mention if the app will continue to function for those using it. We’ve reached out for clarification on the matter.

Update: Moment clarified to us that the app won’t just disappear from Google Play. It will remain in the store for the foreseeable future, it just won’t be developed anymore.

The Moment Pro Camera app for Android may be dead, but it will live on for iOS users. For those who still want a pro camera app on Android, Moment recommends Filmic Pro.

Hey Everyone,

I’m one of the founders of Moment and I have some bad news about Pro Camera for Android. We love Android, but unfortunately, we don’t have the engineering bandwidth to continue developing this app.

It breaks our heart to say this, but we’ve spent the last two years, yes two full years, trying to deliver a pro-level manual camera app for android. It should be simple, but unfortunately, it’s not.

The short story is that phone makers like to create their own flavor of Android, each with different amounts of access to select camera features. The result has been a random compatibility list where each phone has different features in the app by phone model. The problem only gets worse every time a new version of Android comes out because it breaks the custom modifications these phone makers have made with their phones.

Despite years of messaging phone makers to share their changes and make camera features available to us, we haven’t been able to change this culture. I wish we had dozens of engineers to continue developing this app, but we don’t.

The app is still live in the Play store and we plan to leave it here for any customers who want to shoot with it. Going forward, if you are looking for a pro-level app for android we do recommend Filmic Pro. It is more expensive, but they’re the best example of a pro-level camera app for android.

If you don’t have or want Filmic Pro, we recommend Davinci Resolve (Free) or Handbrake (Free) both as great options to desqueeze anamorphic footage in post.

The team worked really hard on this product and it’s sad not to be able to continue our work on it. We still love android, and we’ll continue to make great gear for all of you.

Thank you for your support.

Marc Barros
Co-founder
Moment