P: Introducing the Project Indigo camera app

Report · May 23, 2025

This post applies to the Project Indigo iOS camera app.

Adobe Labs is excited to share an early look at Project Indigo, an iPhone camera app we've started to develop, to get feedback from the photography community. The app offers full manual controls, a more natural ("SLR-like") look, and high image quality in both JPEG and raw formats. It also introduces some new photographic experiences not available in other camera apps. For more information on the underlying technology, please refer to this Project Indigo blog post.

Before you start with Project Indigo

We recommend using Project Indigo on iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max or newer devices.
(Also supported are 12 Pro/Pro Max, 13 Pro/Pro Max, and all 14-series devices.)

You should have at least 1GB of storage space left for the app, the downloadable AI Models inside the app, and for captured photos.

Download the app from the App Store.
Check out the Project Indigo FAQ, which is updated regularly with new explanations.

Recipes for success when using Project Indigo

To get the maximum out of your images captured with the app, follow these guidelines:

When reviewing the results, focus on Project Indigo's more natural look (in both SDR and HDR). If you haven’t done this before, try viewing the images on your laptop or desktop device, preferably on an HDR screen.

Capture with both JPEG and raw DNGs with file saving enabled. Project Indigo produces computational photography DNG files, which have the same natural look as JPEG images, but much more latitude for editing after capture.

Take control of the camera with the built-in Pro Controls, including controls that are exclusive to a computational camera: Frames to Merge and Merge Method. These may be intimidating for beginners, but with Project Indigo, you can try them for free, and nothing will break—you can always reset the settings to ‘Auto’ and let the camera take back control.

Go to the Indigo Labs page and play with the latest innovations our team can offer. These are only available on mobile via Indigo!

Be patient! Project Indigo is doing a lot of heavy lifting under the hood, and it will reward you with great photos. In return, it may ask you for a bit of time to set up captures when needed, and to wait a few seconds for the image processing to finish.

Sending feedback

Please try the app and share feedback in this community forum thread. If you report a problem you encountered, it would help to include details like which device you are running Project Indigo on, what kind of scene you were trying to capture, what you were trying to achieve with the camera, and as much information as possible about what you like or do not like about the resulting photo quality. Our team will continually monitor this thread to track issues and improve future experiences.

To improve the performance and results of Project Indigo, it is important that examples of images that do not meet your expectations are forwarded to the team via your report. A large variety of file formats are allowed as attachments in these forum posts. The best option is to attach your image's raw file directly to your feedback post. Note that there is a 50 MB limit on an attachment's file size. If your raw file is too large to attach, the best option is to share the file via a file-sharing service (Dropbox or similar) and then share the link in your feedback post. Thank you for continuing to provide feedback on the Project Indigo camera!

Boris Ajdin: Product Manager, NextCam

Posted by:

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org

Report · Jul 20, 2025

I took it for a spin in the high heat of the UAE this past week at 45c and got to say, it did get warm but did not overheat. Overall the dynamic range is impressive. The picture I took of the restaurant, when looking through I myself couldn't make out the other side as it was too bright out. It came out perferctly.

Report · Jul 20, 2025

It would be great if you could move the area that the screen magnifier highlights when focusing manually. When working with a tripod (e.g. for macros), it is very annoying that the area is fixed.

In another post, I already suggested being able to define two separate zones for exposure and focus. That could be combined nicely.

This can be seen clearly in the ProCamera app...

Report · Jul 20, 2025

Problem with cropping and colour changes

I'm loving the image/colour quality from this app, but I have an issue with cropping. When I crop using iPhone 15 Pro and Apple Photos, the cropped image has weird colour shifts when viewed full-screen. The thumbnail in Apple Photos is fine. If I put it in the "shared library" it appears fine on my wife's phone and iPad. On my MacBook Pro the colour shifts remain UNLESS I switch the display to "Photography P3-D65" -- if I leave it on the default "Apple XDR display p3 1600 nits" the colour shifts are still there.

The colour shift is usually quite dramatic but can be towards green, magenta or yellow. Sometimes it's more subtle. But it's always very noticeable (to anyone, not just a photographer).

If I crop photos taken with the default camera app, or those uploaded from my Fuji camera, there is no colour shift.

Project Indigo is set to save as JPG (no DNG) but otherwise I don't think there's any relevant configuration I can change?

Report · Jul 21, 2025

Problem with cropping and colour changes

I'm loving the image/colour quality from this app, but I have an issue with cropping. When I crop using iPhone 15 Pro and Apple Photos, the cropped image has weird colour shifts when viewed full-screen.

By @Flamboyant_individual2154

Hello - thank you for trying Indigo and providing feedback. We are in contact with Apple around this issue and are hoping to have this resolved soon. We'll experiment with display settings as you have suggested to see if that helps narrow down the problem area.

Report · Jul 21, 2025

On my MacBook Pro the colour shifts remain UNLESS I switch the display to "Photography P3-D65" -- if I leave it on the default "Apple XDR display p3 1600 nits" the colour shifts are still there.

By @Flamboyant_individual2154

Just following up on this: when you switch to the Photography P3-D65 display profile, you effectively turn HDR off. The viewer then ignores the embedded HDR gain map and everything looks OK as it is rendering in SDR. But with the default Apple XDR display p3 1600 nits profile the HDR gain map is used and the color shift is present. There is nothing the user can do to fix this for the time being - as soon as we have updates from our discussion with Apple we will update users.

Report · Jul 31, 2025

Problem with cropping and colour changes

I'm loving the image/colour quality from this app, but I have an issue with cropping. When I crop using iPhone 15 Pro and Apple Photos, the cropped image has weird colour shifts when viewed full-screen. The thumbnail in Apple Photos is fine. If I put it in the "shared library" it appears fine on my wife's phone and iPad. On my MacBook Pro the colour shifts remain UNLESS I switch the display to "Photography P3-D65" -- if I leave it on the default "Apple XDR display p3 1600 nits" the colour shifts are still there.

The colour shift is usually quite dramatic but can be towards green, magenta or yellow. Sometimes it's more subtle. But it's always very noticeable (to anyone, not just a photographer).

If I crop photos taken with the default camera app, or those uploaded from my Fuji camera, there is no colour shift.

Project Indigo is set to save as JPG (no DNG) but otherwise I don't think there's any relevant configuration I can change?

By @Flamboyant_individual2154

Just following up on the issue of editing Indigo photos in Apple Photos. We've heard from Apple and this problem seems to have been resolved in iOS 26 Beta 4. Normally we wouldn't recommend using Beta software, but this version seems to be working fine, at least with Indigo. If you give it a try, please let us know your findings. Thank you for helping triage Indigo issues and making the app better!

Report · Jul 21, 2025

Hey there,

Thanks so much for this App 🙂

I really miss the style of the Google Pixel Photos.

So I tried the App on my 13 Pro.

I can shoot Photos in day and night mode.

But without burst. That's okay 👍

Photos looks really better than stock camera. The colors are way more accurate.

Question or wish.:

How can I shoot in 16:9 aspect Ratio?

I really need that because I want to shoot pictures for my TV screen and Notebook and not for Instagram anymore. 🙂

Thank you so much.

Report · Jul 21, 2025

Question or wish.:

How can I shoot in 16:9 aspect Ratio?

By @Gehlich_Patrick4796

Hello Patrick - thank you for trying Indigo and providing us feedback. Different aspect ratio captures are not yet available. It is on our roadmap for one of the upcoming releases.

Report · Jul 21, 2025

Thank you very much for the fast feedback. This is very good to hear 🙂

I'm really looking forward to try out.

Until now I can say that I'm very happy and thankful for the app. 😌

Report · Jul 21, 2025

How can I download to my laptop the raw/dng files. I have it set to capture jpegand rea but when I air drop them it only sends the jpeg files.

Thx, Steve Schneider

Seattle, WA

Report · Jul 21, 2025

Hello Steve - thank you for trying Indigo camera. This question has been discussed many times on the forum. The best is to follow advice given by Greg Benz in his review of the app (towards the end of the article): https://gregbenzphotography.com/photography-reviews/project-indigo-the-best-camera-app-for-smart-pho...

Report · Jul 21, 2025

thanks

Report · Jul 25, 2025

thanks

Report · Jul 23, 2025

Hi, been enjoying the app, hoping you guys would add support for the 48mp back cam for 16 pro and also for flash support, thank you so much!

Report · Jul 25, 2025

I think it'd be cool if there was a specific "Indigo" finals' image gallery. Post the final image shot with Indigo and then state the workflow you used to produce the final. While reading the posts in this thread, it seems like there are quite a few shooters that use different "means to an end". Educationally beneficial for everyone IMO! Fantastic app btw.

Report · Jul 25, 2025

Do I recall that portrait mode is on the road map for PI? Certainly it's possible to go into Lightroom Mobile, apply blur, and export as JPEG but a built in portrait mode would be great.

Report · Jul 29, 2025

Portrait mode is indeed being considered for a future version of Indigo. In the meantime, we will have many smaller and larger improvements and additions to the app - stay tuned!

Report · Jul 29, 2025

The app hasn't been updated for a month, is there any information on when an update will be released?

Report · Jul 29, 2025

Hello - thank you for your inquiry. We are working on app updates and will be releasing a new version in the coming weeks.

Report · Jul 30, 2025

I use a iphone 14 Pro and have used PI for a while now. I have re-enabled SR and just watch out not to overheat my phone. I feel the 1X and 2X can't compete with Halide when using 48mp Raw but I find the 3X and 6X SR quite amazing and my go to for added reach. Close ups with the wide lens also look great with PI. With the 17 Pro (my next phone) having all 48mp lenses PI needs to support the higher resolution.

Report · Jul 30, 2025

I use a iphone 14 Pro and have used PI for a while now. I have re-enabled SR and just watch out not to overheat my phone. I feel the 1X and 2X can't compete with Halide when using 48mp Raw but I find the 3X and 6X SR quite amazing and my go to for added reach. Close ups with the wide lens also look great with PI. With the 17 Pro (my next phone) having all 48mp lenses PI needs to support the higher resolution.

By @Hans N 25

Hello Hans - thank you for using Project Indigo and for sharing your experience with the app. We are working on many improvements and optimizations, including for performance of SR captures, and those will be coming out in the upcoming releases. On 48MP captures, that is a limitation of iOS as we are not able to get 48MP raw files from the system (we can only get ProRaw). We are all hoping Apple will introduce 48MP raw captures in the future.

Report · Jul 30, 2025

How does Halide capture 48bit ProRAW?

Report · Jul 31, 2025

How does Halide capture 48bit ProRAW?

By @jrsforums

ProRaw capture is managed by Apple - any 3rd party app can request a ProRaw capture (and specify some parameters which control how the capture works) and the system will deliver back a ProRaw. However, ProRaw bakes in Apple's computational photography to compute the pixels, plus it takes some time to capture, so it is not suitable for Indigo's needs.

Report · Jul 30, 2025

I could never upload dng from PI so I took a similar scene using DCG from google camera as reference to show how I would like raw files to look like. As discussed before of course this is just reference sample and to my preference of how raw should be, nothing to say that PI raws are no way bad so please don't think that way :). @BorisTheBlade

Edit: I still cant upload any dng! So I have put to my google drive:

This is PI raw dng https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LBJPHRtIVAmdCK55e1glaDrzPFvEEdcU/view?usp=drivesdk

This is the google camera DCG dng: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sCroHFbLybscW4GWUC9yOTjv29cunlP3/view?usp=drivesdk

Report · Jul 30, 2025

I could never upload dng from PI so I took a similar scene using DCG from google camera as reference to show how I would like raw files to look like. As discussed before of course this is just reference sample and to my preference of how raw should be, nothing to say that PI raws are no way bad so please don't think that way :). @BorisTheBlade

Edit: I still cant upload any dng! So I have put to my google drive:

This is PI raw dng https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LBJPHRtIVAmdCK55e1glaDrzPFvEEdcU/view?usp=drivesdk

This is the google camera DCG dng: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sCroHFbLybscW4GWUC9yOTjv29cunlP3/view?usp=drivesdk

By @nhan_8084

Hello - thank you for sharing the DNGs. Unfortunately, the forum platform still doesn't support direct DNG sharing: it is being worked on, but is taking longer than anticipated. In the meantime, can you enable access to the Google Drive shared folders to anyone with the link? Otherwise I won't be able to download them. Thank you for helping improve Indigo!