For the person behind the camera
Your Sony camera's live view on your phone, with a coach that reads the frame and tells you why the shot isn't working.
iPhone and Android · free while in beta
Live view, tap to focus, the coach, hands-free with a headset, USB-C and Wi-Fi: the same on iPhone and Android. The Apple Watch remote is iPhone only.
From a press to a picture. From a question to a voice. Here is what we measured, and how.
Apple Watch · iPhone
0.9–1.5 s
From the wrist press to the picture on the watch.
Sony A7 V over Wi-Fi Direct, iPhone locked in a pocket, measured over three shots (1,526 / 1,444 / 941 ms).
The camera's autofocus is the largest fixed cost.
AirPods · Any headset
2.5 s
From the press to the first spoken word. Any earbuds with a next-track button do the same, on iPhone and Android.
Best measured run, Aperi coach over Wi-Fi Direct with the phone on 5G, ; typical runs 3.3–4.2 s. A7 V, phone locked, RAW-only card.
That includes the shot, the upload and the model. Nothing is pre-rendered.
From the app
4.2 s
Press to first spoken word over USB-C.
Measured , 251-character answer.
Numbers are from the engineering log on real hardware, phone locked where it says so. Your network and lens will move them.
Frame it. Ask about it. Keep shooting.
Real captures of the app. The three phone walkthrough screens were taken on an iPhone; the others use the app's demo camera fed with our own photographs, and the coaching shown is what the app actually said about them. You can try the demo camera before connecting your own.
The phone is the brain every time. What you hold, wear or plug in decides how you ask and where the answer comes out.
Aperi never touches your photograph. It doesn't generate images, retouch them, or edit anything. It reads the frame you're composing and the settings you're using, and tells you what it sees, the way an instructor looking over your shoulder would. The shot stays entirely yours.
You can, after the fact: export the photo, upload it, type in what you shot it at. Aperi is on the camera while you shoot. It reads shutter, aperture, ISO and focus mode straight from the body, so it never guesses the exposure from pixels. It answers in seconds about the frame in front of you, not the one from last week. And with earbuds in or the watch on, you never take your eye off the scene. A chatbot is a fair critic of a finished picture. This is a coach for the next one.
Not guessing from pixels. It reads shutter, aperture, ISO and focus mode straight from the camera.
Tell it which lenses you brought and it can suggest switching to one you actually have with you.
Ask out loud, hear the answer, keep your eye where it belongs.
Both of these happened. The coaching quoted is what the app actually replied to the first frame in each pair, written before the second photograph existed and checkable against the EXIF.
The coachThe main issue is your shutter speed of 1/50. It is in a no-mans-land for moving water, making the falls look messy rather than intentional.
To get that classic, silky water, switch to Manual mode, keep ISO 100, and close down to f/16 to force a longer shutter speed, aiming for 1/2 or slower. You will need a tripod.
You either freeze water completely at 1/1000 or paint with it at 1 second. Let us slow it down.
The advice named 1/2 of a second; the next frame was shot at exactly that. Both on the same 18mm prime and ISO 100, so three stops of aperture bought the slower shutter. The framing changed too: APS-C crop mode was switched on and the tripod moved a step closer, so the water is not the only difference you are looking at.
The coachYour brightest highlights, like those blue and white neon signs, are completely blown out.
In night street photography, colour lives in the highlights. Because you are in A mode at exposure compensation 0, the camera is trying to make the dark asphalt neutral, which overexposes the signs.
Dial your exposure compensation down to -1.3 EV. This will protect those rich neon colours and clean up your shadows.
Let the darkness frame your light.
The advice asked for about a stop and a third less exposure; the frames measure 0.99 EV darker. The camera also moved to Manual, which stopped auto-ISO wandering between 800 and 3200 from one frame to the next, and stopping down to f/2.8 put more of the street in focus. It is meant to be darker. That is where the neon gets its colour back.
Real names, real bodies, one outcome each.
Quote
Name · camera body
Quote
Name · camera body
Quote
Name · camera body
The honest list, because nothing is more annoying than installing an app that turns out not to see your camera.
Tested on real hardware before every release. USB-C and Wi-Fi.
Same Sony protocol generation as the A7 V. We have not had one in hand; beta testers with these bodies are how this row moves up.
Canon uses its own PTP extensions, so this is real work in progress, not a switch to flip. No date yet.
On the list after Canon. No date yet.
The beta is free. This is the plan for after it, so nobody joins without knowing what comes next.
Free forever
A small banner sits on the settings and chat sheets, never over the picture. $4.99 once removes it.
Most popular
$39.99 / year
Save 33% against monthly
During the beta: 10 replies every 24 hours, free.
$4.99 / month
Works out to $59.88 a year.
Free and unlimited
These are the prices we intend to charge when the beta ends. They are not live in either store yet, and nobody is charged today. Prices in US dollars; store taxes may apply.
The short answers. The long ones are in the sections above.
The A7 V is tested on real hardware before every release, over USB-C and Wi-Fi. The A7 IV, A7R V, A7C II, A1 II, A9 III, A6700 and ZV-E1 share the same protocol generation and should work, but we have not had one in hand. If you own one of those, you are exactly the tester we want.
Measured, not estimated: 0.9–1.5 seconds from a wrist press to the picture on the watch; 2.5 seconds on the best run from an earbud double-press to the first spoken word, 3.3–4.2 seconds typically; 4.2 seconds from a tap in the app over USB-C. Your network and lens move those numbers.
No. The coach works the moment you open the app on Aperi's own key. If you would rather use your own key from Google, Anthropic or OpenAI, you can, and it stays on your phone.
Every camera feature is free forever: live view, tap to focus, the remote shutter, exposure, the histogram and grids, the card browser. During the beta the coach is free too: 10 replies every 24 hours on our key, or unlimited on your own key.
Camera control stays free. The coach becomes a subscription, $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year for 300 replies a month, and a $4.99 one-time purchase removes the banner. Your own key stays free and unlimited. Testers move to the store version when it ships; nothing is lost.
The camera side does: USB-C and the camera's own Wi-Fi Direct need no internet at all. The coach does need a connection, because the frame goes to the AI provider either way.
Coming, no date yet. Canon uses its own PTP extensions, so it is real work rather than a switch to flip; Nikon follows Canon.
Yes. The app opens on a built-in demo camera, marked with a green DEMO badge, and everything except the physical link works exactly as it does with real hardware, coach included.
08 / Come shoot with us
The coach works the moment you open the app — no API key, no account. 10 free coach replies every 24 hours, on us. If you would rather use your own key from Google, Anthropic or OpenAI, you can: it stays on your phone, your photos go straight to the provider you chose, and it is free and unlimited. Everything else — live view, focus, exposure, the card browser — never needed either. What each provider does with your photographs →
Every camera feature — live view, focus, exposure, the card browser — is free forever, no account, no key. Only the coach has a paid tier, and the prices are on this page.
TestFlight and Google Play · free while in beta
Joined so far: 20 iPhone testers, counted 21 September 2026. The Android count follows once the Play track is serving installs.
Testers with a Sony body other than the A7 V are especially welcome.
APERI