Grainer icon

Grainer

The A20 Pro-powered iPhones have new Texture controls built into each HEIC taken by the Camera app: Soft Skin, Glow, and Film with a natural grain rendering engine. Any iPhone running iOS 27 is capable of rendering them, but Apple gates the feature to the new devices. Grainer modifies the metadata of a photo taken on a previous device and makes it compatible with the Textures feature.

Version 1.0 · iPhone and Mac

How it works

Two passes on a copy of the photo. The original is not touched. The image data is not changed; Photos renders the Textures with Apple's own engine.

1

Metadata grafting

The Texture style record and the twelve matte slots the new camera writes are added to the file. Photos then offers the Texture controls in the Styles editor.

2

Facial matte reconstruction

If faces are in frame, the face, skin and feature mattes and the per-face record are rebuilt on device, so Soft Skin and Glow work as well as Film. The reconstructed mattes measure at about 95% of the precision of the 18 Pro's own; Soft Skin and Glow results are close to the real thing, not identical.

iPhone

Convert from the app, or directly from the Photos share sheet: Share, then Grainer. Copies go to a Grainer album. Open one, tap Edit, then Styles, and the Texture controls are there.

Request TestFlight

Mac

Same conversion against the Photos library, plus HEIC files on disk. Notarized. Updates itself.

Download for Mac

Compatibility

Questions

Does Grainer apply the grain?

No. It enables the controls. You set Film, Soft Skin or Glow and the intensity in Photos.

Does it alter the photo?

No. Metadata only, on a copy. The camera model in the file stays what it was.

Why is a Texture already selected on some photos?

Photos picks a default from the Photographic Style the photo was shot with. The 18 Pro does the same.