Video production offers lots of fun effects to play with, but time-lapse is one of the most interesting. Today, you don’t even need to buy a camera with the right features. Your smartphone can take care of everything.

Take a look at our list of the best time-lapse camera apps for Android below. They all create the same effect, but some offer their own interesting features. Explore your options and decide which one is the right choice for you.

1. Lapse It

Lapse It is a strong and straightforward camera app for time-lapse projects. Your main options upon launching the app are your Settings, Gallery, and New Capture buttons, which contain several extra tools.

When you’re ready to grab new footage, you can quickly choose your time-lapse’s frame interval, resolution, color effects, white balance, mode, and more. After you capture what you want, you can edit it on the spot or from the gallery.

Apart from trimming, adding effects, and timestamping, you can give your time-lapse background music. If you create a profile, you can also share your creations and see what other users have done.

Keep in mind that some features require the Pro version, but even in its free form, Lapse It is a very useful time-lapse camera that can be tailored to your artistic preferences.

Download: Lapse It (Free, in-app purchases available)

2. Time Lapse Camera

Another great mobile app to consider is Time Lapse Camera. The first perk is that you can use the app in two ways:

• Photo lapse, where you take one picture a day, for example, and end up with a sequence.
• Video lapse, which compresses filmed frames into a fast-motion video.

While both modes have adjustable settings, the latter has more to speak of, including a timer, a max duration feature, filters, and night vision alongside your typical resolution and frame interval. Time Lapse Camera also offers you a profile and community to interact with, as well as extra tools and advantages if you upgrade to a premium membership.

When you don’t want the hassle of specialized equipment, even if it involves a low-budget time-lapse project, this is the kind of multi-functional app to turn to.

Download: Time Lapse Camera (Free, in-app purchases available)

3. PicPac

The best time-lapse apps around will give you more than a camera. PicPac is one such mobile platform that comes with a bunch of tools to support your projects. It doesn’t have the most attractive or user-friendly layout, but once you get the hang of what your options are and how to use them, PicPac is easy to love, especially if you invest in its Pro features.

For starters, you can grab videos from your device and break them into stills for your time-lapse. PicPac is quite straightforward when it comes to time-lapsing standard videos. Alternatively, you can combine pictures into a sequence.

If you want fresh footage, just turn on the app’s camera and adjust its settings. Among other features, you can record audio, focus manually or automatically, and enable dimming to save battery.

With the recording complete, PicPac takes you to the editor, so you can make changes and preview the result before sharing or saving it. Premium content to look forward to includes the ability to draw on images and generate videos with a resolution greater than 360p.

Download: PicPac (Free, in-app purchases available)

4. Superlapse – Time Lapse Camera

If you prefer simplicity and free tools, Superlapse is a good choice. The app immediately opens the camera and shifts to a landscape orientation. From there, you can just capture your time-lapse footage or adjust the settings, including the resolution, recording duration, and brightness.

As soon as you stop recording, Superlapse lets you share your time-lapse video on any popular platform, including your files, Google Drive, or email address. There are no editing options—you just film and go.

Download: Superlapse - Time Lapse Camera (Free)

5. Microsoft Hyperlapse Mobile

Here’s another very simple time-lapse camera app, this time courtesy of Microsoft. When you launch Hyperlapse, you get two options: to upload an existing video or record a new one. If you choose the latter, the camera activates and lets you reverse it and toggle the flash on or off before recording. After recording, you can adjust the frame intervals to speed up the video.

Once finalized, you can share your time-lapse footage, change its speed again, or start a new recording. That’s all Microsoft Hyperlapse Mobile offers; a quick, clear, and completely free time-lapse camera.

Download: Microsoft Hyperlapse Mobile (Free)

6. Framelapse

Framelapse is also worthwhile for its simple but efficient design. It’s best used in landscape orientation while toggling its settings—it gives you more freedom to tailor your experience. For example, you have a range of effects to choose from when adjusting the white balance and focus mode. You can use 2160p 4K resolution, add a grid, enable video optimization, and more.

This is another time-lapse camera app without editing features, however. What you record is what you get, unless you make alterations through another app. Even so, make sure you check out Framelapse and what it can do.

Download: Framelapse (Free, in-app purchases available)

7. Facelapse

There are many creative ways to use the time-lapse technique, like livestreaming your life with a wearable camera. Facelapse goes for something easier but still special. It makes free time-lapse videos of pictures that feature people, whether it’s yourself or others. While you can use it with different images, if the app doesn’t detect faces, some features won’t work.

Another issue to keep in mind is that the app doesn’t have a camera tool, so you need to take photos with your device and upload them to Facelapse. Then, the app turns the collection into a smooth time-lapse.

In terms of settings, you can adjust the video’s speed, face size, and image order. After saving the project, you have the same sharing and saving options are any other app on this list.

Download: Facelapse (Free)

8. Time Lapse Camera & Videos

Among the easiest mobile apps for time-lapse projects is Time Lapse Camera & Videos. It gives you the most basic functions to set up and record your footage. All you can adjust are the video duration, frame delay, and video quality. After recording, you’ll find your MP4 files in the gallery, from where you can share or delete them.

Ads are a downside, but it’s not the worst price to pay for a free and straightforward app like this.

Download: Time Lapse Camera & Videos (Free)

Create Amazing Time-Lapse Projects With These Apps

A powerful smartphone is more than capable of capturing and editing videos. For special productions, your app store is likely to have what you need, if this range of great time-lapse camera apps for Android is any indication.

But when you feel the need to optimize a project beyond what a phone can do, make sure you have some reliable websites or software at hand. They don’t even need to cost you anything, just time and effort.