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#ios
#swiftui
#beauty
#appdevelopment
#creativetools
#camera
#socialmedia
#indie

Glowy - Camera Ring Light

Glowy turns the iPhone display into a customizable front-camera light, allowing users to control brightness, color temperature, and color effects while taking photos and recording videos. It brings the functionality of a ring light into a device already in their pocket.

November 2025

Timeline

Creator

Role

November 2025

Timeline

Creator

Role

Summary

The front-facing camera makes it easy to capture yourself, but one limitation remains: unlike the rear camera, it does not have a dedicated flash.

Glowy explores a simple software-based alternative: use the display itself as a controllable light source positioned around the camera preview.

The app transforms the screen into a virtual ring light that can be adjusted in real time, from warm and cool illumination to full-color lighting effects. Users can control the overall brightness as well as individual sections of the light, creating both conventional and more creative lighting setups.

The front-facing camera makes it easy to capture yourself, but one limitation remains: unlike the rear camera, it does not have a dedicated flash.

Glowy explores a simple software-based alternative: use the display itself as a controllable light source positioned around the camera preview.

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Goals

Replace additional lightning equipment

Create a portable lighting solution that uses hardware users already carry instead of requiring a physical ring light.

Replace additional lightning equipment

Create a portable lighting solution that uses hardware users already carry instead of requiring a physical ring light.

Control light in real time

Give users immediate control over brightness, temperature, and color while composing their shot.

Control light in real time

Give users immediate control over brightness, temperature, and color while composing their shot.

Make lightning creative

Go beyond simple white illumination by introducing colored and directional lighting effects.

Make lightning creative

Go beyond simple white illumination by introducing colored and directional lighting effects.

Keep the camera experience focused

Combine lighting controls and camera capture into a single interface without adding unnecessary complexity.

Keep the camera experience focused

Combine lighting controls and camera capture into a single interface without adding unnecessary complexity.

Solutions

Turning the display into a light source

Glowy uses the iPhone's display as the lighting hardware. Instead of relying on the camera flash, the application generates a bright, controlled visual ring around the front-camera preview, positioning the light source as close as possible to the lens and subject.

Turning the display into a light source

Real-time lighting controls

The lighting system was designed to respond immediately to user input. Brightness and color temperature can be adjusted while composing the shot, allowing users to see the effect before capturing the image or video.

Real-time lighting controls

Four independently controlled segments

The ring is divided into four controllable segments. Each section can be enabled or disabled independently, allowing the user to create directional lighting rather than being limited to uniform illumination. This also opens the door to more creative configurations, such as asymmetrical lighting and colored accents.

Four independently controlled segments

From warm and cool to full-color lighting

Glowy extends beyond the traditional warm/cool controls found in basic lighting tools. Color can be introduced directly into the lighting system, turning the display into a creative light source for portraits, videos, beauty content, and social media.This also opens the door to more creative configurations, such as asymmetrical lighting and colored accents.

From warm and cool to full-color lighting

Camera and lighting in one workflow

The application combines the lighting system with photo and video capture, allowing users to adjust their lighting and immediately capture the result without switching between applications.

Camera and lighting in one workflow

The application combines the lighting system with photo and video capture, allowing users to adjust their lighting and immediately capture the result without switching between applications.

Minimal interface

Because the application is designed for a very focused task, the interface prioritizes the camera preview and the lighting controls. The goal is not to create another full-featured camera application, but a specialized tool that solves one problem quickly.

Minimal interface

Responsabilities

Product Concept

Product Design

UI/UX Design

iOS Development

Camera Integration

Real-Time Lightning System

Color and Temperature Control

UI Animation

Photo and Video Capture

Product Localization

Tools

Xcode

Swift

Insights by Juan Luis

Glowy started with a physical limitation: the iPhone's front-facing camera does not have a dedicated flash. Instead of treating that as a hardware limitation, the project approached the problem from a software perspective. The display is already a large, bright, controllable surface located immediately around the camera. The challenge was therefore not creating new hardware, but turning an existing component into something it was never originally designed to be. That shift in perspective transformed a simple camera utility into a small lighting system.

Juan Luis

Creator of Glowy

Conclusion

Glowy is an example of how software can extend the capabilities of existing hardware without adding another device to the user's workflow.

By turning the iPhone display into a controllable light source, the app provides portable illumination for photos and videos while adding creative control through color, temperature, brightness, and directional lighting.

The project reinforces a simple product principle: before adding hardware, look at what the device can already do.

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