SNOW, owned by Naver, built a camera app that fakes old iPhones. Creator seeding pushed it to #4 in the Korean Photo chart. Worth studying, hard to copy.
What it is An iPhone camera app. You pick a virtual old camera or old iPhone to shoot with, and each photo carries that device's color, grain and date stamp. Most of it is free; a subscription unlocks the rest.
Why it took off Young people are into shooting on old compact cameras and old iPhones. SNOW paid creators to post on the same day in the US, Brazil and Korea (top video 5.36M views). Korea also got Instagram ads. The free tier is generous, and the rating sits around 4.8.
CHow you could follow Don't go head-to-head in a crowded category. Copy the playbook: give each filter a named camera model, run one tagline per country with mid-tier creators on the same day, localize store titles, and add the video mode and live preview it lacks. Move into markets it hasn't reached before it ships an Android version.
- Data (updated daily) · Launched 2026-07-10 · US store rating 538 · 11-08 best Top Free overall rank #87 (Korea) · 11-08 charted in 31 stores
iOS · Overall Top Free rank · by store South KoreaBrazilMOData 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that dayiOS · Best category rank · US store Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Best rank across each day's category chartsiOS · Number of stores charted (top 200 on any chart) Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations)
101cam is a retro camera app from July by the Korean company behind SNOW (and B612, EPIK). It mimics old CCD compacts, film cameras and the iPhone 4s. It didn't take off because the product is new; Dazz Cam has long led this category. It took off because of big-company money. Since September, creators in the US, Brazil and Korea have posted videos on the same day with the same copy, and Korea added Instagram ads. The part worth copying: filters are built as named cameras, which gives creators something new to talk about in every video.
Same day, two countries, same hashtags
2026 year Sep 3: a US TikTok creator with 31K followers, @dannayradiiaz, posted a video captioned "Found this gem recently 💎!!! Free vintage app @101cam", tagged #101cam #digicam #vintagecamera #autox #power. By Nov 6, the video had 5.36M views and 38K likes.
Same day, Brazilian creator @nwttyoliveira posted "to viciada nesse app! só testam 💗" (I'm hooked on this app, go try it), with the same tags and a "*publi" ad disclosure at the end. It got 3.67M views. Another Brazilian creator, @life.w.bibi, got 1.26M, and US creator @xoluvvmae got 890k, all on the same day with the same tags.
By Oct 26, right before Halloween, another wave of creators posted the same line: "My Halloween pics finally look like this." The Korean side started in late August, and one Sep 10 video hit 1.01M views, with several posts opening with "(공유)". The official accounts @101cam.kr and @101cam.us only got a few hundred views on their own videos. The volume all came from creators.
What it is
A camera app that only exists on iPhone. You open it and pick a "camera" first: film cameras, old digital compacts, and old iPhones like the 4s, SE, and the Nov 5 1.3.1 edition that added the 6s. Each one has its own name (KDE, Auto X, Power, GX2...) and its own color tone, grain, and date stamp. You can adjust color temperature, exposure, and focal length yourself.
One design choice runs opposite to SNOW's own beauty camera: you can't see the filter in the viewfinder. You only see the result after you press the shutter, mimicking the wait for film prints back then (이데일리, 08-05).
Most cameras are free. The subscription "101 PRO" unlocks the rest: US $4.99/month or $13.99/year, and 5,900 won/month in Korea.
Why it's blowing up now
The demand is already there. Over the past two years, young people in Korea and North America have been buying old CCD compacts and old iPhones to get the coarse-grained, grayish look Koreans call "느좋" (good vibe). A 이데일리 report cited Japan's camera industry association: global standalone camera shipments hit $2025B in 5.5, more than doubling in five years. Search "101cam" on TikTok and the top results are real compact camera videos: a resale clip of the Canon G7X with 10.9M views, and "5 compacts I recommend" with 9.76M views. 101cam didn't have to educate anyone. It only had to tell these people "you don't need to buy a camera."
Big-company money distributed it. The creator videos above are the evidence. Posts across three countries on the same day produced one 5M-level hit and two million-level hits, adding up to more than ten million views (estimated). Korea also stacked Instagram ads. A five-star review from Nov 3 put it bluntly: "There are so many ads on Instagram, so I just tried it, and there are loads of nice cameras here even without paying!"
The downloads and ratings line up. The top three countries by ratings are exactly the top three for developer coverage: Brazil 925, South Korea 705, US 528 (App Store, 11-06). The Brazil store title is literally "101cam - Câmera filme digital", targeting local search terms. Global ratings: 28 in Oct 2,138, 6 in Nov 2,427, and in the last 7 days it added 16–56 a day. In Nov 6 it ranked #99 on the South Korea Top Free overall chart, #4 in Photo & Video Top Free, #15 in Brazil Photo & Video, and #130 in the US Photo & Video chart.
It sticks. Average rating is 4.75 in Korea and 4.81 in the US. Two lines keep showing up in reviews. One: it's enough without paying ("I use it without paying for anything and I'm really, really satisfied"). The other: it saves money on a camera ("I was going to buy a real compact or an old iPhone, and this app saved me the money" / "I regret carrying an old iPhone everywhere and spending a fortune"). One Brazilian user wrote: "My boyfriend and I have a real camera, and the photos look exactly like it!"
Where the money comes from
Not yet. It's not on any country's overall Top Grossing chart. In Photo Top Grossing it appeared once, only in Uganda (#122).
SNOW isn't in a hurry either. 이데일리 says this is SNOW's first standalone photo app in about 8 years, since it launched SODA in 2018. It's also a test of whether subscriptions can improve profitability. SNOW had 2025 revenue of ₩96.6B and a loss of ₩19.2B. For now it looks more like spending money to buy users and brand. Whether the spend pays off can't be seen from outside.
What users are complaining about
Complaints and suggestions are concentrated, and these are the gaps outsiders can see:
- People want video. "It's a real waste not to have video, please build it" (Korea, 10-10). A US user also gave a one-star rating for the lack of video.
- People want to see filters live. "When you shoot, it's the iPhone's original colors, and you only see the effect after going to the photo library... If you could change this, I'd use it forever" (Korea, 10-04). The "wait for the result" the official side presents as a feature doesn't land with some users.
- People want filter strength control, a timer, saved favorite cameras, and sync between the app's album and the system album when deleting photos.
- Thought it was free, got charged anyway. "Thought it was free, installed it and got charged about 16k won" (Korea, 10-14), and in Oct 3 another user asked for a refund.
Who it's competing with
| Product | Scale | How it compares to 101cam |
|---|---|---|
| Dazz Cam | US 117k and Brazil 132k ratings (App Store). Third-party estimates: about 2M downloads/month and $900k–1M revenue/month (unverified). | The category leader, on both iOS and Android, with many camera models. Leans toward paid unlocks. |
| ism: Retro Camera(MWM) | US 12k ratings, +172 in the last 7 days | Products from a tool company that buys user acquisition, with a similar playbook. |
| Huji Cam, 1998 Cam | About 12k–13.5k ratings each | Older generation, growth has mostly stopped. |
| ProCCD, OldRoll, Kapi Cam and others | hundreds to thousands of ratings | Mostly CCD emulators made by Chinese teams. |
| Korea's filmhwa, Berryfilm, 디카 99, iY2K, ROLLIE'S | Near the top of Korea's paid chart, with ratings from tens to 11k. | Mostly one-time paid viral filters. After July, a batch of "all-in-one retro cameras" appeared. |
| iPhone photography styles, Lightroom presets | — | No camera personas, date stamps or grain as part of the "vibe". |
(Ratings from the App Store, 11-06)
This is a red ocean. 101cam wasn't the first; it's the one a big company entered late and pushed up with resources. Creators most often point to a different angle: "an old iPhone is also a camera." Dazz and similar apps focus on film and CCD, and the "iPhone 4s feel" is the claim 101cam has staked out for itself.
If it were you
The verdict: don't go head-to-head. The category is already packed, the leader Dazz has hundreds of thousands of ratings, and 101cam's volume was bought by SNOW with money, with revenue still unseen. What you can take is the playbook, not the position.
Who it suits: small teams that already have a camera, filter or photo-editing app, some budget, and want to repackage and rebuild traffic. Or people who understand a market nobody has covered yet (Southeast Asia, Spanish-speaking Latin America, the Middle East).
Who it doesn't suit: anyone starting from zero with "yet another retro camera" hoping to grow through SEO or organic traffic. Or anyone hoping subscriptions will pay back fast. Users in this category expect free, and "enough without paying" is the most praised point in 101cam's reviews.
How to do it: copy three moves. ① Build each filter as a named, backstoried "camera" and treat each one as its own content asset. Each new release gives you another reason to post videos. ② Pick one line per country, use uniform copy and tags, and seed mid-tier creators with 30k–200k followers on the same day. Run another round with holiday themes. ③ Change store titles by country to target local search terms. In the product, go after its complaints directly: video mode, a live-preview toggle, filter strength control.
How to acquire users: TikTok and Instagram already have plenty of "compact camera recommendation" and "Dazz settings share" videos that routinely hit millions of views. These are the users. Find mid-tier creators who post about compact cameras, outfits and campus life, and pitch the message "you don't need to buy a camera."
When to move before it: before 101cam ships an Android version. Reports say Android is "planned", and it's currently iPhone-only. Once it arrives on Android with SNOW's resources, the open space for Android users in Korea and Brazil will be gone. This is an inference; no date has been announced.
What would show you read it wrong: ① 101cam enters the top 50 of Korea's or the US's Photo Top Grossing chart, showing subscriptions in this category can make money, and the opportunity is bigger than it looks. ② After creator seeding stops, its rating growth drops to single digits a day, showing the volume was bought and users aren't that attached. ③ The compact camera craze fades, and "digicam" video views on TikTok drop noticeably. Then the whole category cools with it.
Research notes: competitor table, acquisition evidence, full research report
- Competitors
Name Where Launched Scale How it differs from this one Dazz Cam iOS 2018-08 US 117k and Brazil 132k ratings (this database). Third-party estimates: about 2M downloads/month and $900k–1M revenue/month (unverified). Dazz is the category leader, mainly film and CCD cameras, leaning toward paid unlocks. 101cam adds old iPhone models, has a more generous free tier, and has big-company money and creator distribution behind it. 1998 Cam iOS 2019-02 Japan 13.5k ratings, growth has stalled. An older generation of the same kind of product, no longer seeded with creators. Huji Cam iOS 2017-09 About 12k US ratings. Only one disposable film effect. 101cam has many cameras and adjustable parameters. ism: Retro Camera (MWM) iOS 2021-11 US 12k ratings, +7 in 172 days. Products from a tool company that buys user acquisition. 101cam leads with Korean aesthetics and old iPhone models. ProCCD / OldRoll / Kapi Cam (SenseTime) iOS 2021–2025 hundreds to thousands of ratings Chinese-team CCD simulators with no large-scale creator distribution filmhwa / Berryfilm / 디카 99 / iY2K / ROLLIE'S iOS 2022–2026 Near the top of Korea's paid chart, with ratings from tens to 11k. Mostly one-time-paid viral filters; 101cam is free and backed by a big brand SNOW's own Foodie / B612 / LINE Camera film filters iOS 2012–2016 tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of ratings Filters bundled into all-in-one cameras; 101cam is a standalone 'retro camera' with no effect shown in the viewfinder iPhone photo styles / Lightroom presets Big-company features — — No device personas, date stamps, or grain — none of the 'flavor' - Where users come from
- Verified TikTok paid creators (US, Brazil, Australia, Korea): 2026-09-03 creators posted the same copy and hashtags (#101cam #digicam #vintagecamera #autox #power) on the same day: @dannayradiiaz 5.36M views, @life.w.bibi (Brazil) 1.26M, @xoluvvmae 890K; 2026-10-260K Halloween posts with the identical caption 'My Halloween pics finally look like this'; a Korean user 8882841111066 with one 1.01M-view post, plus promo posts tagged '(공유)' (TikHub, 2026-11-06)
- Confirmed Instagram ads + creators: a Korean-store 2026-11-03 five-star review: 'I keep seeing so many ads for it on Instagram… so I installed it'; several recommendation posts on Instagram (DdnmV9wkRGn, etc.); Meta's ad library does not track this advertiser
- Confirmed Media PR: an exclusive from Edaily 2026-08-05 (syndicated on Daum), followed by Naver blog posts
- Confirmed Store localization / ASO: the Brazil store title is 'Câmera filme digital', localized into 7 languages; Brazil is its most-rated country (925 ratings)
- Inferred Cross-promotion from SNOW's own apps: SNOW / B612 have a user base in the hundreds of millions, but no direct evidence of cross-promotion was found
Why 101cam - Film & Digital Camera (SNOW Corporation) took off
iOS id 6781998623 · Launched on 2026-07-10 (media reported the official release as 7-13) · Photo & Video · Free + subscription "101 PRO" (US store $4.99/month, $13.99/year; Korean store 5,900 won/month, 19,000 won/year) · iPhone only for now · Current version 1.3.1 (2026-11-05, adds a "6s" camera) Researched 2026-11-06
Bottom line
This is another 'single-purpose camera' app from Naver's SNOW (which made SNOW, B612, Foodie, SODA and EPIK), following its usual playbook and targeting the Gen Z trend of 'old CCD compact / old iPhone 4s look'. It took off mainly not because the product is new, but because a big company is paying creators to flood the market: TikTok and Instagram creators in Korea, the US and Brazil posted in sync, plus Instagram ads. The product's distinctive move is treating 'old iPhone models' as a camera category (4s / SE / 6s), and the generous free tier drives high ratings, good word of mouth, and retention. But it barely shows up on grossing charts.
1. Data snapshot (our appstore database, 2026-10-28 to 11-06)
- Global rating count 2,138 → 2,427,10 over 289 days; +7 in the last 239 days, 16–56 per day (data card daily_all_countries).
- By country (app_day, as of 11-06): Brazil 925 ratings (+95 in 7 days; Top Free overall #208, category #15), Korea 705 ratings (+60; Top Free overall #99, Photo category #4), US 528 ratings (+50; category #130), Japan 222 ratings (+29; category #43). Average rating: Korea 4.75, US 4.81 (iTunes lookup).
- Revenue: not charted on any country's Top Grossing overall chart; only reached #122 on Uganda's Photo & Video Top Grossing chart (data card). Monetization looks weak right now.
- Charted in 16–26 countries (data card).
2. Competitors
| Product | Where | Launched | Scale | How 101cam differs from the rest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dazz Cam(DAZZ PTE.) | iOS / Android | 2018-08 | Leader: 117k ratings in the US store, 132k in Brazil (our database); third-party estimates of about 2M downloads/month and about $900k–1M revenue/month (adapty, screensdesign, unverified) | Dazz has many devices and leans toward 'pay to unlock'; 101cam's free tier is more generous, adds old iPhone models, and has a cleaner, more Korean-style UI |
| 1998 Cam(AAAI Studio) | iOS / Android | 2019 | 13.5k ratings in the Japan store (our database) | A similar older product whose growth has stalled (Japan store: +7 in 7 days) |
| Huji Cam(Manhole) | iOS / Android | 2017 | About 12k ratings in the US store (our database) | Only one one-time film effect; 101cam has many cameras |
| ism: Retro Camera(MWM) | iOS | 2021-11 | US store: 12k ratings, +172 in 7 days (our database) | A paid-acquisition-driven tool from MWM; similar approach |
| ProCCD, OldRoll, Kapi Cam (SenseTime TETRAS.AI), and others | iOS / Android | 2021–2025 | Hundreds to thousands of ratings (our database) | All are CCD / film simulators, mostly from Chinese teams |
| Small paid Korean apps: filmhwa, Berryfilm, 네거티브, 디카 99, iY2K, 롤리즈 (ROLLIE'S) | iOS | 2022–2026 | Near the top of Korea's paid chart, with ratings from tens to 11k. | Mostly one-time-paid 'viral filters'; 101cam is free and backed by a big company |
| SNOW's own Foodie ('필름 카메라 & 필터 레시피'), LINE Camera, B612 | iOS / Android | 2012–2016 | All in the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of ratings | SNOW's older apps already had film filters, but inside all-in-one beauty cameras; 101cam is a standalone 'retro camera' |
| iPhone's built-in 'Photographic Styles', Lightroom presets | Big-company features | — | — | The system has no 'device persona', and no date stamps or grain — none of the 'flavor' |
Verdict: This is a red ocean. Dazz is the clear leader, there are many Chinese teams, and plenty of solo Korean developers. 101cam was not first; it is the one a big company entered late and pushed to scale with resources.
3. Growth tactics (evidence)
- Paid creator flood (TikTok, confirmed): searching '101cam' on TikHub shows multiple batches of creator videos with identical copy and tags, posted at the same time. It looks like a centrally issued brief:
- 2026-09-03 batch, same copy 'obsessed with this app', same tags
@101cam #101cam #digicam #vintagecamera #autox #power: @dannayradiiaz (US, 31k followers) 5.36M views / 38k likes; @life.w.bibi (Brazil) 1.26M views; @xoluvvmae (US, 118k followers) 890k; @zoelizgordon 270k; @joannbitar (Lebanon) 190k; @corinaromannn and others. - 2026-09-12 batch (Australia, tag #gx2): @ashachloe 117k views, @hhollyshaw.
- 2026-10-260k Halloween batch: same copy 'My Halloween pics finally look like this', same tags #halloween #digicam, posted by @rachel.barbarosh (187k followers), @devonchristenson, @arianainchima (Canada), @zoelizgordon, @dannayradiiaz.
- Korea: @_meenzoo (166k followers, 08-26), @easy_yun__ (116k followers, 09-22), user 8882841111066 (09-10 post with 1.01M views, followed by October and November posts), @jsuinm8 200k, plus several promo posts starting with the '(공유)' tag; the copy uses the memes '카메라 유목민', 'KDE / Auto X / 4s'.
- Official accounts @101cam.kr and @101cam.us have very low views (hundreds); the volume is all from creators.
- 2026-09-03 batch, same copy 'obsessed with this app', same tags
- Instagram ads (confirmed via user reviews): A 5-star review in the Korean store, 11-03, says "인스타에 광고 겁나게 많이 떠서" ("Instagram is flooded with ads, so I came to check it out"). There are also several influencer recommendation posts on Instagram (DdnmV9wkRGn, Ddn-4mDCTbv) and a post by @nicemechew.mag on Threads. Our Meta Ad Library isn't tracking this advertiser, so we can't see the ad volume.
- Media / PR (confirmed): 2026-08-05 Edaily ran an exclusive, '옛날 디카·아이폰 왜 사요?…스노우, 새로운 '비밀병기'' (Why are people buying old digicams and iPhones? SNOW's new 'secret weapon'), syndicated on Daum, covering positioning and pricing, and saying an Android version is coming. Naver blogs and info sites followed with usage reviews and tutorials.
- Big-company resources: SNOW's B612 and SNOW together have hundreds of millions of downloads, ready-made filters / AI tech, and user bases in Southeast Asia, Japan and Brazil; 101cam launched in 7 languages right away (English, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese). Whether it cross-promotes inside SNOW's own apps is unverified.
- Localized store titles: the Brazil store title is 'Câmera filme digital', directly targeting local search terms; Brazil is also its most-rated country, which matches the 1.26M-view Brazilian creator video.
- Holiday and seasonal hooks: Halloween, autumn, and a Christmas countdown ('D-100 to Christmas' on Instagram) rotated through, paired with version updates that added new devices (1.3.1 added 6s).
4. Why it took off
- Timing: Korean and North American Gen Z are buying old CCD compacts and old iPhones to shoot '느좋' (feels good) photos. The coverage cites CIPA data: global standalone camera shipments were $2025B in 5.5, more than doubling over five years. The demand already exists, so there's no need to educate users.
- Distribution: creators were recruited in three countries at once, with one 5M-level hit and two million-level posts. Brazil, Korea and the US are its top three rating countries. Korea also layered on Instagram ads.
- Retention: reviews repeatedly mention '유료 결제 안 해도' (you don't need to pay to use it) and the appealing '4s' and 'KDE' devices. Average ratings of 4.75–4.81 help word of mouth carry the volume.
- Where the money comes from: the 101 PRO subscription. But it doesn't show on any country's grossing chart, which suggests SNOW is still spending to buy volume and brand (SNOW's 2025 annual revenue was ₩96.6B, with a ₩19.2B loss, and it is working on monetization — see the Edaily report). Whether the spend pays off can't be seen from the outside.
5. Differentiation
- Puts 'old iPhone models' (4s, SE, 6s) on the same camera list as old digicams and film cameras. Apps like Dazz focus on film and CCD, and the 'old iPhone look' is the selling point creators mention most for 101cam.
- No filter preview in the viewfinder; you see the result only after pressing the shutter, recreating the suspense of waiting for film to develop. This is the opposite of SNOW's own real-time beauty filters (both Edaily and Naver blogs mention this).
- Generous free tier, affordable subscription, and a clean, Korean-style UI.
- Is it those (the hooks) that made it take off? Only partly. They give creators something to talk about (every video is about one camera's look), and they keep users around. But there are many lookalike products, and what actually pushed volume up was big-company money and creators being paid to flood the feed.
6. How many people have seen it
- Revenue: not public. SensorTower and Similarweb have pages, but no specific estimate has been cited.
- Press: 1 exclusive reports in Korea, plus blogs. On X (x-radar, last 90 days), no discussion.
- Bottom line: it's circulating in a small circle on TikTok in Korea. Creator videos have roughly tens of millions of views in total, but nobody in the startup or going-global crowd is talking about it.
- Copycats: since July of 2026, a batch of small "retro, all-in-one camera" apps has appeared in Korea, such as iY2K "올인원 카메라 어플" (2026-08-21), ROLLIE'S 롤리즈 (2026-09-10, high on Top Paid), 이슬필름 (2026-10-02) and STILLCUT (2026-07-31), and in Japan KOMA Film Camera (2026-10-22). These look more like riding the same wave, with no evidence they were specifically copying 101cam.
7. Takeaways
- "The camera model is the persona": every virtual camera has a name and personality (KDE, Auto X, 4s, GX2, Power). Creators only cover one or two per video, so the content can be split endlessly. Each update adds a new camera model, which is another round of promotion for free.
- Creator posts with a unified brief went out across several countries on the same day, and mid-tier creators (30k–200k followers) produced the hits. Holiday-themed rounds followed.
- Generous free tier. Treat "looks good" itself as the acquisition asset, and paywall only the premium camera models.
8. Still unclear
- Real downloads and subscription revenue are unknown. It hardly shows up on the grossing chart, so ROI is unknown.
- How much Instagram / Meta spend there was is unknown (our ad library does not track this advertiser).
- Whether it cross-promotes inside SNOW / B612, and whether Apple has ever featured it.
- When the Android version ships (reports say "planned"). Once it does, volume in Korea and Brazil could jump.
Sources
- This library's appstore: app_profile, app_day (2026-10-28 to 11-06); data card /home/ljr/fanout/why/cards/ios_6781998623.json
- iTunes lookup (kr / us, 2026-11-06): version, languages, rating, release notes
- 이데일리 / Daum:v.daum.net/v/20260805152249388
- Naver blog: blog.naver.com/irony_june/224372983222; 101cam tutorial on it100.dasfl.com
- TikHub TikTok search for "101cam" and "101 cam" (2026-11-06): the videos listed above, accounts @101cam.kr and @101cam.us
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/p/DdnmV9wkRGn/, www.instagram.com/p/DdV5dOulNzN/
- Pricing: the Korean page on apps.apple.com, appstoreprice.org/en/apps/6781998623
- Dazz scale: adapty.io/paywall-library/dazz-cam-vintage-camera, screensdesign.com (third-party estimates, unverified)
- x-radar search for "101cam", last 90 days: 0 posts