Direct Shot
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Everything you need to write about Direct Shot.

What it does

Direct Shot is a camera for the photos you take for a reason rather than a memory. Pick a folder in iCloud Drive, Google Drive or Dropbox, take the photo or video, and it goes straight there. It never touches the Camera Roll.

A receipt for an expense report, a whiteboard before it's wiped, the serial number on a water heater, damage for an insurance claim: these usually land in the same stream as family photos, and filing them later is the step that never happens. Direct Shot files them at the moment they're taken.

Background

Direct Shot first shipped in 2015. It passed 40,000 downloads and reached #1 in Productivity on the App Store, all of it organic. In 2026, its designer, Jeremy Conn, rebuilt it from scratch on his own for current iPhones and iPads, and relaunched it on August 5, 2026.

Features

  • A full camera: photo and video, multiple zoom levels, aspect ratios, a rule-of-thirds grid, front and rear cameras, portrait and landscape, a timer and flash. Format and file size settings are tuned to each device's camera.
  • Folders across three services: save as many destinations as you like in iCloud Drive, Google Drive and Dropbox, and choose one before each shot.
  • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets show the current destination and open the camera in one tap.
  • Siri and Shortcuts: say "Open Direct Shot camera", or build a shortcut that opens the camera already pointed at a chosen folder. Saved folders appear in Spotlight.
  • Smart file names: on devices that support Apple Intelligence, running iOS 27 or iPadOS 27, Apple's on-device model names each photo by what's in it, so a receipt saves as receipt-best-buy-20260918-a1b2c3.heic instead of a date and time. Sensitive documents are named by type and business, never by what's printed on them. On other devices, files keep their date and time names.
  • Works offline with iCloud; uploads go out when the connection comes back.
  • Built for iPhone and iPad.

Who it's for

  • Designers and developers: sketches, sticky notes, whiteboards, magazines
  • Teachers and students: assignments, notes, whiteboards, project elements
  • Business travelers: receipts, expenses, rental car details, directions
  • Photographers and videographers: layouts, locations, lighting tests
  • Contractors and plumbers: receipts, wiring, replacement parts, specs
  • Insurance adjusters: accident photos, damage detail, claim information

Pricing

Free: the full camera, widgets, Siri and Shortcuts, smart file names, and unlimited sending to iCloud Drive. Cloud Services: a one-time $2.99 purchase that adds Google Drive and Dropbox. Family Sharing is on.

Privacy

Direct Shot has no servers and no accounts of its own. Photos and videos go straight from the device to the user's own iCloud Drive, Google Drive or Dropbox, and the app runs no analytics of its own. Smart naming happens on the device, and nothing is sent anywhere to do it. Connecting Google Drive or Dropbox adds those companies' own sign-in software to the app, which collects some data for Google and Dropbox under their own privacy policies. Full privacy policy.

Latest update: version 1.2

  • Smart file names, using Apple's on-device model, on devices with Apple Intelligence running iOS 27 or iPadOS 27.
  • Siri, Shortcuts and Spotlight support.

Press images

Free to use in coverage of Direct Shot. Select any image to download the full-size file, or get them all as one zip.

Icon

Direct Shot app icon1024 × 1024 PNG

In use

Direct Shot on iPhone, held in handiPhone · 3600 × 2400 Direct Shot on iPad at a deskiPad · 4128 × 3096 Direct Shot on iPhone, held by a construction workerOn the job · 4128 × 3096 Direct Shot on iPad on a workshop benchWorkshop · 3008 × 2008 Direct Shot on iPhone on architectural plansPlans · 4128 × 2752 Direct Shot capturing a sketch, cut out on a transparent backgroundCapture cut-out · 2950 × 2222 PNG

iPhone screens

iPhone: skip the Camera RollSkip the Camera Roll iPhone: choosing a destinationChoosing a folder iPhone: the cameraThe camera iPhone: smart-named files in a folderSmart file names iPhone: widgets, Siri and ShortcutsWidgets, Siri, Shortcuts iPhone: adding Google Drive and DropboxGoogle Drive & Dropbox iPhone: who Direct Shot is forWho it's for

iPhone screens are 1320 × 2868 PNG.

iPad screens

iPad: skip the Camera RollSkip the Camera Roll iPad: choosing a destinationChoosing a folder iPad: the cameraThe camera iPad: smart-named files in a folderSmart file names iPad: widgets, Siri and ShortcutsWidgets, Siri, Shortcuts iPad: adding Google Drive and DropboxGoogle Drive & Dropbox iPad: who Direct Shot is forWho it's for

iPad screens are 2064 × 2752 PNG.

About the maker

Portrait of Jeremy Conn920 × 1150

Jeremy Conn is a Principal Designer on Instagram Home at Meta, where he was previously Design Director for Monetization (2022–2026). Before Meta, he founded and led eBay's Focused Categories design team; his career also spans Nike and Intel. He designs and builds his own apps under Conn Creative Media. Direct Shot, first released in 2015, passed 40,000 downloads and reached #1 in Productivity, all of it organic; he rebuilt it from scratch in 2026. His second app, Sightline, is an AI design critic for iPhone, iPad and Mac.

One line: Jeremy Conn is a Principal Designer on Instagram Home at Meta, and the independent designer and developer of Direct Shot and Sightline.