FUJIFILM Camera Remote 4+

I fail to see how anyone can rate this app as anything above one star - and that’s in spite of there being no lower option as that’s what this app deserves. In reality it deserves a negative rating. XT-3 and iPhone 13 both with latest firmware have difficulty in connecting. When, after much fiddling, I finally get them to connect I can take just one out of focus shot, (as the camera will not focus via the app), and no more. When I try to transfer that shot to my iPhone the camera starts blinking and sits there blinking for over an hour until I get fed up of waiting and turn the camera off. But wait, the camera keeps on blinking as if it’s still trying to transfer the picture! The only way to get out of this mode is to take the battery out of the camera!

Fujifilm make superb cameras and I have three of them, but they really haven’t a clue when it comes to an app such as this. All I want it to be able to do is to take photographs remotely and transfer photographs, however taken, immediately to my phone with a minimum of user interaction - a simple request Fujifilm, a simple request that other camera manufacturers seem to be able to do with ease…. Seriously, it can’t be that hard!

The app does work. I managed to connect to an x-t1 and an x-t3 using an iphone 7. It is possible to adjust shutter speed, iso, film sim, wb etc so the basic functions. I managed to take photos and video. Photos can be transferred to phone. Video is too large. Now the but. The user experience is bumpy. Trying to connect is some what convoluted. Once connected the interfacing between camera an device is not smooth. It is but then there is screen jitter and in video the screen freezes. I guess the connection is up and down. When I tried to shoot video, after going into the laptop to check the video it didnt work. There was no picture but there was sound. The picture came up the froze and disappeared. So it seems there are inconsistencies in the connection which affects the video capture on the camera. All round it makes shooting really unpleasant. The only thing I could it being usable for is shooting stills if you want to be able to operate the shutter button without touching the camera for long exposures or selfies. The other thing it is good for is photo transfer from camera to phone which works fine. I do hope Fuji revisit the app and improve the user experience but ultimately there are better tools for the jobs mentioned above that work seamlessly. Just leave your phone in your bag or at home and shoot without it. Frankly I don’t want my phone anywhere near the camera when I’m shooting, I want it out of sight and mind.

This app has only gotten worse over the years. Today it’s completely useless with my X-Pro3, as in it simply will not connect. I had it working for a little while a couple of weeks ago, but today when I really need it to work it doesn’t, and no amount of re-pairing and configuring and turning on and off again will fix it on my iPhone 13 Pro running the latest iOS.

I love Fuji cameras but I am so sick and tired of their disregard for this app and, by extension, their customers. This is a multi-billion dollar company (making a lot more besides cameras) and yet their app was done on the cheap and horribly outdated the day it launched years ago, and seems to have been maintained on a part time hobby basis ever since. The horrible interface could be excused if the basics actually worked but they simply do not. Fuji have no right to list “wifi” as a feature in their cameras, since this app ensures that no Fuji can actually connect to anything.