Edit Fuji RAF and Sony ARW files on iPhone, with film looks

26 September 2026

You can edit Fuji RAF and Sony ARW files on an iPhone with no computer at all. Copy them over with a card reader or your camera's app, then open them in an editor that reads camera RAW: Lightroom, Photomator, Darkroom or Chobial. Whether a file opens depends on one thing, which is Apple's list of supported cameras.

Most of what ranks for this question is forum threads from 2017 to 2022, back when the answer was "mostly no". Apple's RAW support has grown a lot since, and so has what the camera makers' apps will transfer. Here's how it works in 2026.

Step one: getting the files onto the iPhone

There are two routes: through a cable, or through the camera maker's app.

With a card reader

This is the fastest route, and the one that always gets you the full RAW. Apple sells the Apple USB-C to SD Card Reader for USB-C iPhones and the Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader for older ones. Most third-party USB-C card readers work too.

Plug it in and you have two options:

• Photos app. Open Photos and find the card under Devices. It imports the RAW files, and it also imports any JPEGs if you shot RAW+JPEG. Photos has no setting to import only the RAWs.
• Files app. The card appears under Locations. Open DCIM, select the RAF or ARW files and copy them to a folder on the iPhone. This gives you more control, and the files stay files instead of joining your photo library.

For a RAW workflow, Files is usually the better choice. Most RAW editors, Chobial included, can import straight from a folder.

With the camera maker's app

Fujifilm. FUJIFILM XApp transfers images over Wi-Fi. RAW transfer came in an April 2024 update, and at launch it worked only with the X-H2S and GFX100 II, with other models promised later (Fuji Rumors, 23 April 2024). Whether your body can send RAWs depends on the model and its firmware, so check Fujifilm's XApp compatibility page. Older bodies send JPEGs only.

Sony. Sony Creators' App can import RAW from supported bodies, but there's a catch. By default, "Image Size for Importing" resizes transfers to about 2 megapixels. If you don't change it to Original, you aren't getting RAW files even when RAW is selected (DPReview, 17 April 2026). Sony's help guide confirms the 2 MP default.

Wireless transfer of a 40-megapixel RAW is slow. For a handful of frames it's fine. For a whole card, use a reader.

Which RAW files iOS can read

iPhone apps that develop camera RAW mostly lean on Apple's own RAW engine. That makes Apple's support list the thing to check: Digital camera RAW formats supported by iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 and visionOS 27 (the iOS 26 list is here). It covers Fujifilm bodies up to the X-E5 and GFX100RF, and Sony bodies up to the α7 V and α1 II, alongside Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Olympus/OM System, Leica, Pentax, Hasselblad and others. DNG from almost anything opens too.

Three things to know:

• Compression modes matter. Some bodies are listed with footnotes like "lossless compressed format only". If your camera saves in a mode Apple doesn't support, switch modes for files you plan to edit on the phone.
• New bodies lag. Apple adds cameras in software updates. A camera released last month may not open until a later iOS update. Until then, some editors, such as Lightroom, use their own RAW engines and may support it sooner.
• If a file won't open, check that list first before blaming the app.

Why your RAF doesn't look like the simulation you shot

This one catches most Fujifilm owners. You shot Classic Chrome, you open the RAF on your phone, and it looks flat and neutral. Nothing is broken.

A RAF holds the sensor data before any processing. The film simulation you chose is stored as a setting, and the camera uses it to render the full-size JPEG preview embedded in the file, which is what you saw on the camera's screen. The raw data itself has no simulation in it. Fujifilm's own route to a simulation from RAW is X RAW Studio, which needs a Mac or PC with the camera attached, because the camera's processor does the conversion. Third-party raw editors can't use it (DPReview discussion).

So on an iPhone you develop the RAF with a look of your own. That's less of a loss than it sounds. The raw data holds more than the camera's JPEG, and you can try five different looks on the same frame.

The apps that develop camera RAW on iPhone

If you want a general-purpose raw editor with a catalogue, Lightroom and Photomator are the honest answers. Chobial is for a narrower job: developing your camera's RAWs with the same film looks you shoot with on the iPhone.

Doing it in Chobial

Chobial is an iPhone camera that keeps every photo as a RAW negative and develops it with a film. Import RAW puts your other cameras' files through the same darkroom (guide: Develop other cameras' RAW).

1. Copy the RAF or ARW files to Files, from a card reader or your camera's app.
2. In Chobial, open the Library and tap Import RAW. Pick the files. They join the library alongside your iPhone shots.
3. Open a photo, open the editor and choose the Film tool. Tap any film and the photo develops from the RAW with it. Chobial Chrome is our take on a Classic Chrome-type look, and Chobial Negative is our take on Classic Negative. Or use a film you made yourself (guide: Make your own film).
4. Use Strength to pull the film back toward a clean develop, and add Grain, Bloom or Fade for this photo. The Light tool's Exposure works on the raw data, which on a large-sensor file gives you plenty of room.
5. Use Masks for local work: Sky, Subject, Background, People, or a single face, each with its own exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, colour, clarity and dehaze (guide: Masks).
6. Export a full-resolution JPEG or HEIC. The menu shows the exact pixel dimensions before you save (guide: Export).

Nothing is baked in. Change the film next week and the photo re-develops from the RAW. That also works with films you make long after the shoot (more on that here).

Chobial is free to shoot, develop and make films. You pay only to export (save to Photos, or export DNG).

An honest note on storage

Camera RAW files are big, and an iPhone is not a card you can swap. A modern high-resolution body writes files many times the size of an iPhone HEIC, and uncompressed modes are larger still. Some quick arithmetic: at 50 MB a frame, 200 frames is 10 GB.

A few habits help:

• Import the keepers, not the card. Cull on the camera first, or copy a folder to Files and import only the frames you want to develop.
• Use lossless compressed RAW if your camera and Apple's list allow it. It is much smaller than uncompressed and loses nothing.
• Don't keep two copies. Chobial keeps its negatives in Files › On My iPhone › Chobial › Captures. Once a file is in the library, the copy you transferred to Downloads is a second copy you may not need.
• Move finished negatives off the phone. That Captures folder is an ordinary folder. Copy it to an external drive or a computer when it gets heavy.

Photos imported into Chobial stay on the iPhone that imported them. Films and settings sync over iCloud, but photos don't (guide: iCloud).

If you travel with a Fujifilm or Sony body and an iPhone, this is a reasonable kit: the camera for the frames that matter, a card reader in a pocket, and the phone for developing and posting the same evening. The X100VI post covers the opposite case, when the iPhone is the camera.

Fujifilm, Classic Chrome and Classic Negative are trademarks of FUJIFILM Corporation. Sony is a trademark of Sony Group Corporation. Chobial is not affiliated with Fujifilm or Sony.

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