Better photos of the people you love.
Ars Imaginis is an iPhone camera that coaches you while you shoot. It reads the scene and tells you what to do, like "tilt down" or "pan left", so anyone can take a flattering photo of someone else.
It captures with Apple's full-quality photo pipeline and saves every original untouched.
Public beta for iPhone with iOS 26 or later. Phone screens on this page are illustrations.
Why I built it
Have you ever looked forward to having your picture taken? Maybe it was a night out, a celebration, or just a day you felt great and wanted to remember it.
You hand your phone to a friend, they take the picture, and you barely recognize the person on the screen. The angle is off, the light is harsh, the lens stretches your face, and your hands are cut off at the edge. The moment you wanted to keep isn't the one you got.
It happens to almost everyone, and it isn't your friend's fault. Taking a good photo of someone is a skill, and most of us were never taught it.
That's why I built Ars Imaginis. It sits with whoever is holding the camera and does what a good photographer would: it notices what's off, says how to fix it in plain words, and lets them know when the shot is right. So the next time you feel great, your photos can show it.
What it does
Point the camera at someone and Ars Imaginis watches the framing with you. It finds faces and bodies, checks where the eyes sit, notices when a hand or knee is cut off at the edge, and reads the light on the face. Then it gives one clear instruction at a time, and tells you when it all looks great.
Underneath the coaching is a serious camera: the full-quality Apple photo pipeline, every lens, RAW and 48 MP capture, manual controls, a Portrait mode with adjustable blur, and color looks with guidance for different skin undertones. The original photo is always saved exactly as the camera captured it.
The name is Latin for "the art of the image."
At a glance
| Platform | iPhone, iOS 26 or later |
|---|---|
| Status | Public beta on TestFlight |
| Built | October 2026 |
| Language and interface | Swift and SwiftUI, with Liquid Glass |
| Camera | AVFoundation, full-quality capture, LiDAR depth |
| On-device intelligence | Apple Vision for faces, bodies, and animals; Core Motion for level and steadiness |
| Imaging | Core Image for looks and depth blur, always on a separate copy |
| Privacy | Collects nothing; no network connection |
Look around the app
Choose a screen, then try any of the six themes in light or dark. These are illustrations of the real layout on an iPhone 17 Pro.
Screen
Theme
Appearance
Features
Everything is designed around one goal: helping someone who isn't a confident photographer take a great photo of another person.
App icons
The default icon is a glass lens in teal, peach, and cream. It has a dark version for dark home screens and a tinted version that iOS colors itself. A picker in Settings lets anyone switch to any of the alternates below.
How it works
A tour of the technical design, for the curious. The source code is private.
Ars Imaginis Privacy Policy
Effective October 19, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how Ars Imaginis (“the app”) handles information. The app is made and offered by Alyssa I. Agard, an individual developer in New Jersey, United States (“the developer”).
In short: the app does not collect, store, sell, or share your personal information. It has no accounts, analytics, advertising, or tracking, and it does not connect to the internet. Everything it does with your camera, photos, and sensors happens on your iPhone.
Who is responsible
The developer is responsible for this policy and, under European and United Kingdom law, is the controller of the limited information described in “Information the developer may receive.” You can reach the developer at appstore@alyssaagard.dev.
Information the app does not collect
The app does not collect or send your name, contact details, location, device identifiers, usage data, diagnostics, photos, camera images, face data, or any other personal information. It contains no third-party code for analytics, advertising, or crash reporting, and it never connects to the internet.
Camera and on-device analysis
The app uses the camera to show the viewfinder and to take photos.
To give framing and lighting guidance, the app analyzes the live camera image on your iPhone with Apple’s Vision framework. Depending on the subject you choose, it looks for the positions of faces and bodies, or of animals, and for the brightness of the scene. Each analysis happens in memory, is discarded within a fraction of a second, and is never saved or sent anywhere.
Biometric information
The app locates faces and features such as the eyes in the live image only to give framing advice. It does not create a face template, faceprint, or any measurement used to identify or recognize a person, and it does not store any face data. Nothing leaves your device, and the developer never receives or has access to any face data.
Because the app does not collect biometric identifiers as defined by laws such as the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, the Texas Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act, Washington’s biometric privacy law, and the Colorado Privacy Act, it keeps no biometric data and no retention schedule for it. If that ever changes, this policy will be updated and your consent will be asked first.
Motion sensors
The app reads your iPhone’s motion sensors to show the level indicator and to tell when the camera is steady. These readings are used only on your device and are not saved.
Photo library
The app asks for permission to add photos to your photo library. This permission only lets the app add new photos. The app cannot see, read, or change anything already in your library.
Photos are saved exactly as your iPhone’s camera system produces them. Each photo includes the standard camera information that iOS stores in it, such as the device model, lens, exposure settings, and the date and time. If you use Portrait or turn on Save depth, depth information is stored inside the photo so it can be used for portrait editing. If you use Portrait or turn on Save a styled copy, a second photo with the background blurred or your chosen look is saved as well. The app does not add location information to photos.
Temporary in-app gallery
So you can review your shots, the app keeps copies of the photos you take during the current session in its private temporary storage on your iPhone. Only the app can reach this storage. The copies are deleted when the app closes or the next time you open it, and iOS may also clear them at any time.
If you have not allowed photo library access, your photos exist only in this temporary storage and are lost when the app closes. If you allow access while the app is still open, the photos still in the gallery are saved to your library automatically.
Preferences stored on your device
The app remembers your preferences on your iPhone, such as your color theme, appearance, lens choices, look settings, camera settings when Remember Settings is on, whether you have seen the welcome screens, and which version of the Terms of Use and this policy you agreed to. These stay on your device and are removed when you delete the app.
Information the developer may receive
Email. If you write to the developer, the developer receives your email address and whatever you include in your message. It is used only to reply to you and is kept only as long as needed for that, and no longer than two years after the conversation ends unless the law requires otherwise.
TestFlight. If you test the app through Apple’s TestFlight, Apple may share with the developer the name and email address you were invited with, your device model and iOS version, crash reports, and any feedback or screenshots you choose to send. This is used only to test and improve the app and is handled under Apple’s terms.
App Store. If you choose in your iPhone’s settings to share analytics with app developers, Apple may share aggregated, de-identified usage and crash statistics. The developer cannot identify you from them.
Selling, sharing, and advertising
The developer does not sell personal information, does not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, does not use it for targeted advertising or profiling, and does not make automated decisions about you. Information is disclosed only if the law requires it.
Tracking, Do Not Track, and Global Privacy Control
The app does not track you across apps or websites, so it never shows Apple’s App Tracking Transparency prompt. Because there is no tracking, there is nothing for Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signals to turn off, and you are treated as having opted out of any sale or sharing.
Children
The app is not directed to children under 13, or under 16 where local law sets a higher age, and the developer does not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent the developer personal information, write to appstore@alyssaagard.dev and it will be deleted.
Security
Because the app keeps everything on your iPhone, your information is protected by iOS security, including your device passcode and encryption. The developer uses reasonable measures to protect the few emails and TestFlight records described above.
Your privacy rights
Wherever you live, you can ask the developer what personal information it holds about you, ask for a copy, ask for it to be corrected or deleted, and ask how it is used. Write to appstore@alyssaagard.dev. The developer may ask you to confirm your request from the same email address, will answer within 30 days or sooner when the law requires, and will never treat you differently for using your rights.
California residents
Whether or not the California Consumer Privacy Act applies to the developer, California residents have the right to know, delete, and correct personal information, to opt out of its sale or sharing, to limit the use of sensitive personal information, and not to be discriminated against for using these rights.
In the past 12 months the developer has collected only identifiers (an email address, and for TestFlight testers a name), the contents of messages, and diagnostic data from Apple, and only from people who wrote to the developer or tested the app. None of it was sold or shared, and no sensitive personal information was collected. You may use an authorized agent to make a request.
Under California’s “Shine the Light” law, the developer does not disclose personal information to third parties for their direct marketing. This policy is also provided under the California Online Privacy Protection Act.
Colorado, Virginia, Connecticut, and other U.S. states
Residents of Colorado, Virginia, Connecticut, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Montana, and other states with consumer privacy laws have the rights to access, correct, delete, and get a portable copy of their personal data, and to opt out of targeted advertising, sale, and profiling. The developer does none of those last three.
If the developer declines your request, you may appeal by replying to the decision with the word “Appeal.” The developer will answer within 45 days. If you are not satisfied, you may contact your state’s Attorney General.
European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and Switzerland
The developer handles the limited information described above on these legal bases: legitimate interests in answering your messages and improving the app, and your consent when you choose to send feedback. You may withdraw consent at any time.
You have the rights to access, rectify, erase, restrict, and port your personal data, to object to its use, and to complain to your data protection authority, such as your national authority in the European Union, the Information Commissioner’s Office in the United Kingdom, or the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner in Switzerland.
The developer is in the United States, so messages you send are handled there. They are used only to answer you.
Other countries
If you live in Canada, Brazil, Australia, or another country with privacy laws, you have the rights those laws give you. Write to appstore@alyssaagard.dev to use them.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted with a new effective date. If a change matters to how your information is handled, the app will ask you to review and agree again before you continue.
Contact
Questions or requests about privacy can be sent to appstore@alyssaagard.dev.
© 2026 Alyssa I. Agard. All rights reserved.
Ars Imaginis Terms of Use
Effective October 19, 2026
These Terms of Use are an agreement between you and Alyssa I. Agard (“the developer”), an individual developer in New Jersey, United States, about your use of Ars Imaginis (“the app”). By tapping Agree and Continue, or by installing or using the app, you agree to these terms and to the Privacy Policy, which is part of them. If you do not agree, do not use the app.
Who may use the app
You must be at least 13 years old, or the age of digital consent where you live if that is higher. If you are under 18, you may use the app only with the permission of a parent or guardian, who agrees to these terms for you.
Pre-release software
The app is a personal project in pre-release testing. It may contain errors, change without notice, or stop working, and features may be added or removed at any time.
License
The developer grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the app on Apple devices that you own or control, for personal and non-commercial purposes, as permitted by Apple’s usage rules. You may not copy, modify, reverse engineer, redistribute, sell, or rent the app, except where the law allows it despite this restriction.
Acceptable use
You are responsible for how you use the app and for the photos you take with it. You agree to respect the privacy and rights of the people you photograph and to obtain any consent the law requires.
You agree not to use the app to photograph anyone in a place where they reasonably expect privacy, such as a bathroom or changing room, without their consent; to photograph minors without the consent of a parent or guardian where the law requires it; to harass, stalk, or intimidate anyone; to use auto-capture to photograph people secretly; or to break any law or rule that applies where you take photos.
Your photos
Your photos belong to you, and the developer never receives them. Saving depends on iOS and on the photo library permission you choose. Keep your own backups. The developer is not responsible for photos that are lost, not saved, or damaged.
Guidance, looks, and portrait effects
The app’s framing, lighting, and steadiness guidance, and its advice about looks for different skin undertones and light, are suggestions only. Styled copies and background blur are artistic approximations. The original photo is always saved separately, and you decide when and what to photograph.
Intellectual property
The app, its name Ars Imaginis, its design, its text, and its code belong to the developer and are protected by copyright and other laws. These terms do not give you any rights to them beyond the license above. Apple, iPhone, and other Apple marks belong to Apple Inc.
Feedback
If you send ideas or feedback, the developer may use them freely, without paying you or owing you anything.
Apple and other services
Your use of iOS, the Photos app, the App Store, and TestFlight is governed by Apple’s own terms. The developer is not responsible for those services. You must also follow the terms of any other service you use with the app, such as your wireless carrier’s.
No warranty
THE APP IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE,” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, OR UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE OPERATION. YOU USE THE APP AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Limitation of liability
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE DEVELOPER WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, PHOTOS, PROFITS, OR GOODWILL, OR FOR DAMAGE TO ANY DEVICE, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE APP OR THESE TERMS, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IF THE DEVELOPER IS FOUND LIABLE DESPITE THIS SECTION, THE DEVELOPER’S TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS WILL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID FOR THE APP.
Indemnity
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the developer from any claims, losses, damages, and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, that arise from your use of the app, the photos you take, or your violation of these terms or of anyone’s rights.
New Jersey residents
If you are a consumer who lives in New Jersey, the following parts of these terms do not apply to you, and do not limit any rights you may have, to the extent New Jersey law does not allow them: the disclaimer of warranties; the exclusion of indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, and punitive damages; the limitation of liability for loss of data or photos; the limitation of liability for negligence; the limit on the total amount of liability; and the indemnity.
Consumers in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and other countries
If you are a consumer who lives in the European Union, the United Kingdom, or another country with mandatory consumer protection laws, nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for gross negligence or intentional misconduct, or any other liability that the law of the country where you live does not allow to be limited or excluded. You keep the protection of the mandatory laws of that country, and you may bring a claim in its courts.
California residents
Under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, California users are entitled to the following notice: the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs may be contacted in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, California 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210.
Resolving disputes
If you have a problem with the app, please write to appstore@alyssaagard.dev first. You and the developer agree to try in good faith to resolve any dispute informally for 60 days before starting a court case. Either of you may still bring an individual claim in small claims court.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New Jersey and applicable United States federal law, without regard to conflict of law rules. Subject to the section for consumers in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and other countries, any dispute about the app or these terms will be decided in the state or federal courts located in New Jersey, and you and the developer agree to the jurisdiction of those courts.
Apple
These terms are between you and the developer only, not Apple. The developer, not Apple, is solely responsible for the app and its content.
Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the app. If the app fails to conform to any warranty that applies despite these terms, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price, if any. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation for the app.
The developer, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claims by you or a third party relating to the app, including product liability claims, claims that the app fails to meet a legal or regulatory requirement, claims under consumer protection, privacy, or similar laws, and claims that the app or your use of it infringes someone’s intellectual property rights.
You confirm that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. government embargo or designated as supporting terrorism, and that you are not on any U.S. government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms, and once you accept them, Apple may enforce them against you.
Ending these terms
You may stop using the app at any time by deleting it. The developer may end your license if you break these terms. The sections on your photos, intellectual property, feedback, no warranty, limitation of liability, indemnity, resolving disputes, governing law, and Apple continue to apply after your use ends.
Changes to these terms
The developer may update these terms. The updated version will be posted with a new effective date, and the app will ask you to agree again before you continue using it.
General
These terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and the developer about the app. If any part cannot be enforced, the rest stays in effect. If the developer does not enforce a part of these terms, that is not a waiver. You may not transfer these terms to anyone else; the developer may transfer them, for example to a business the developer forms to publish the app.
Contact
Questions, complaints, or claims about the app can be sent to Alyssa I. Agard at appstore@alyssaagard.dev.
© 2026 Alyssa I. Agard. All rights reserved.