SnapBridge Reviews

Really, Nikon? WMU works with the low end amateur cameras. Consistently. But this abysmal failure doesn't work at all. Why is it that Sony can consistently deliver connectivity, but Nikon can't offer a reasonable solution for their top of the line camera, or any other (I also have the D7500) body. It sometimes worked with version 1 of your software, requiring forgetting/deleting profile EVERY time, then signing up again each time to transfer 1-2 images. REALLY?!? What 75-year-old, out-of-touch engineer thinks this is a workable solution for a modern professional who is charged with social media duties? Now version 2 of this software just hangs and won't connect at all. Calling Nikon tech support doesn't lead to any solutions. As an NPS member, I'm embarrassed by this incredible blunder and complete failure. Wait for version 3 and don't buy a Nikon body until they can fix this, something that every other company can do.

EDIT: With the latest update, snap bridge actually works the way it is supposed to. I have to completely change my review, as it actually works as promised, making the D850 the perfect camera for professionals! Took them a year, but someone is listening!

I purchased a D5600 for myself for Christmas, as a friend of mine owns and loves this camera. I had also read that Nikon had fixed the this app app. I spent hours trying to get it to work to no avail. First, the camera and phone would not sync. Eventually I got the devices to sync but this appears to be a fluke, since I did not do anything different. Next, SnapBridge would not automatically upload any photos; rather, I had to manually select them. Finally, there are problems with the WiFi/Bluetooth function...my camera automatically turns one off the moment I turn the other one on. When I finally got the required WiFi to work, it turned off every time I received a text message or opened any other app on my phone (even though this app was still running). My friend, who owns a Samsung phone, tried to help me, but she confirmed I had done everything right and that while SnapBridge worked on her phone, it did not work on mine. On a whim, I decided to read some reviews of SnapBridge , and it appears that some other reviewers have had the same exact problems. A few mentioned that they had iPhones and were using the latest software. I am also using an iPhone with the latest update, so I wonder if it is a software compatibility issue. Please create an update so SnapBridge works on iPhones! I’m so disappointed that I can’t use my new camera and I’m sure others feel the same!

First it doesn’t support video for coolpix p1000. Why? It’s designed to get the content on your phone to tempt you to upload it to their cloud. You would not have any reason to do that if it used the cameras built in SD card. As a consequence of them not wanting to provide a useful app for remote control they are unable to stream video on the limited available bandwidth. When presented with the option of saving the footage on the device or not supporting it at all, they chose to not support it.

The obsession every single company I interact with wanting to be a cloud provider while lacking the competencies to do so is frustrating. You make high quality cameras, do you not Nikon? Why can’t you focus on your core business, doing the best you can to create a high quality product and an app to fully support and show off those capabilities. Your greed to get into the big data business which you will never, ever manage to do successfully is now affecting your core business. A mindless decision of ineptitude or perhaps sheer negligence.

I won’t buy another Nikon product, I’ll add you to the list of companies that have lost their way to seeing dollar signs in the perverse data collection obsession plaguing our society. Pathetic.

Back when I got my B700 (first camera) in 2017 I absolutely loved using this app with the ability to download images off my camera through only Bluetooth (WiFi was only required for videos), I would tell everyone all about it and how much I loved SnapBridge and how convenient it was. Soon after when an update was released Bluetooth downloads was removed and now I’m forced to use the cameras WiFi connection, however for years now it’s been nothing but problems. SnapBridge will pair to the camera perfectly fine. I’m able to connect to the cameras WiFi with minimal-moderate issues however even when I am properly connected if I try to click download images I’m greeted with a lovely message saying “camera has refused access” I’ve been keeping this app up to date as well as my camera firmware and even iOS and over the course of approximately 2 years I’m still plagued with this issue and the love for this app has faded away. I used to live in an rf dead zone so interference plays no role. I have also tried resetting my camera. During all of this time I would estimate the chances of a successful connection to be something like 1/100 or less. It’s absurd. I wish I could go back to the 2017 version of this app :( (1.something I can’t remember)

So, my first attempt at getting this software to work with my Nikon D3400 was a colossal failure, so I stepped back and read the notes and requirements again. My first error, I believe, was installing SnapBridge on two devices: iPhone 12 AND my iPad. That’s was my first mistake. It seems to confuse the camera if it’s trying to talk to two devices. And both were set to “auto link”. Naturally, the camera was confused as to who to talk to.

Second....GPS. I deleted it off my phone and left it on the iPad. But...the iPad does not have GPS (it’s a non-3G model). So I had location services enabled on the camera, but not able to do so on the iPad. Second point of confusion.

I’ve now deleted SnapBridge from my iPad, reinstalled it on my phone, and just started SnapBridge , paired it with my phone, and downloaded all my new photos (about 25 test shots). It appears to work perfectly. Time will tell, and while SnapBridge could be better, I think I’ve found at least a few points of “User Error” on my part that have been remedied.

Having a hard time connecting the camera to my device to transfer over the photos I’ve taken. I’ve had this camera a year but have only used a hand full of time & everytime it’s the same issue.
I’ve disconnected from everything, “forgotten this device”, uninstalled app & reinstalled & it just says not connected “camera is off” (when it’s clearly on) or says its connected to another device & wont download the photos. I check & it’s my device connected to it but no matter how many trouble shooting videos I watch or info i read I can’t get it to connect successfully . My hubby was finally able to connect to his device but in 45 mins time only 10 of the 98 photos had downloaded. We shut it off & went to bed. Tried again today & still says the same. This is extremely frustrating & takes up several
Hours of my time to download just a single photo. I’m finding it quicker & easier to take photos with my phone than with my camera :(

Tried to connect to my D5600. Finally, after a few days of trying to figure out this convoluted app, I got it to connect but the photos will not upload unless I do it manually. Even then I’m lucky to get two or three to transfer to my phone. I purchased this camera because of its affordability and the ability to connect to my iPhone. For Pete’s sake, can’t you figure out how to make it a lot more user-friendly?? The idea is perfect. Execution, not so much.
*UPDATE*
It all of a sudden started working. I don’t even know what I did. It still is very buggy though. Dropping connections all the time. Having to go through connecting the camera and phone repeatedly is VERY annoying since it is not a clear cut method. LOVE the camera. SnapBridge functionality will be so much better if you could fine tune it. I’m upgrading my review to three stars. It’ll be five stars when and if SnapBridge gets the proper attention it needs.
**Another Update**
It is now working. Photos now transfer automatically.

Worked great for about a week but now I can not get the auto transfer to connect. I have disconnected, forgotten the devices all both camera and phone, deleted SnapBridge and re-downloaded, resetting all settings on the camera. I even tried waiting a day and doing everything all over again in case it needed time to reboot. I’ve tried disconnecting everything with my iPhone and trying to set up with my iPad but that does not transfer either. Nothing will work. I can hit the manual download option and it pulls up all of the pictures but then takes about 20 minutes to download just one picture. I’ve only had this camera for about a week so maybe I can get lucky and return it and try to find something that will actually work like it is supposed to! Very frustrated because I have wasted hours trying to get this to work. Also not helpful that there is literally nowhere to submit questions to get help with SnapBridge . Only an option to submit a comment where they can not respond back to you. I’ve never left a review on anything before but this was just so beyond irritating. Also annoying that there have been plenty of complaints with no solutions.

I have used Nikon equipment for decades because of the high quality. I was hoping for same quality in the W300 camera that I purchased. But my gripe is about the this app application for IOS. I have had enough tries at getting this this app to function that it is obvious that this software product does not work. Simple as that. It has been on the market for 4 years and Nikon cannot get it right. 2 out of 10 tries I could get the BT to connect. After 10+ tries, I still have not been able to get the WI-Fi connection set up. The iPhone see the camera, but the this app application does not.
The idea of using phones and tablets as backups to the days shooting is an excellent idea, but clear that Nikon software development does not know how to do it. Here is the solution that I will be using, mostly because of ease of use and reliability. I do have an Apple Lightning to SD Card Reader. ($29) Place the camera SD card in the reader and plug the reader into the lightning port on the IOS device. Then open the ‘Files’ utility and locate the Nikon SD and photo directory. ‘Select All’ on the photos and copy to the local download folder. Sort them all out later.

Nikon this app is a bit of a mess. When I first used it years ago, the menus during initial setup were too large for the buttons to be displayed, so it was impossible to even connect to my D3400. They have since updated the UI and I was able to connect successfully. However, I wasn't able to see or download any of the pictures from my camera. About half an hour of googling and troubleshooting later, and I figure out that images will show up for download if they are in JPEG format. I prefer to shoot in RAW for the additional wiggle room for adjustments during editing, so none of my images show up. Now, that's fine and all, but all of the articles and guides I was looking through stated that images in RAW format would be converted to JPEG for download. This is not true, as the feature has either been removed or never existed in the first place.

My issue is now less with SnapBridge itself and more with the poor documentation. It works fine, unless you shoot in RAW, and then you're left to figure out that the help is inaccurate.

I have the version 2.6.1 using with ios 13 and with Z7 camera. Basic functionality of connecting to camera and downloading via wifi works well. It doesnt fail as i have experienced with previous versions and other nikon models. There are a few annoying limitations and bugs. For one, app only supports downloading 2MB compressed images from the phone. In order to download full res images, you need to hit download option and then transfer selected photos. Another annoyance is with remote photography self timer functionality. The self timer resets itself after every photo. You need to re-enable it after every photo if you want to take multiple shots.

The best part of this camera was supposed to be the ease to upload images to phone for editing purposes. I have had this camera for over a year and when I first got it was discouraged with the fact that it would not pair to my iPhone 7 Plus. I did all the updates tried deleting SnapBridge . Watched multiple videos and read through everything on the help page and to no avail i still could t get them to pair, so there my camera sat for a year because it’s much easier to carry my phone around and snap a picture then to lug a camera around that isn’t going to be time consuming in the long run.. had it been able to pair with my phone I would not mind taking my camera EVERYWHERE! Well here I am a year and a month later with a newer phone and thought maybe the age of the phone had something f to do with my pairing problems however nope SAME problems I have gone through everything and still not pairing to my phone. My phone will show it is connected but the camera itself will not pair therefore continuing to leave this camera/app useless in my opinion. My camera is Nikon Coolpix B500

I downloaded SnapBridge a couple of days ago on my new iPhone SE. Initially, things went smoothly. The phone and camera (D5600) synced right up. I want to get a few of my favorite pictures. About 6 of them downloaded (just the small sized files) and then it disconnected. I went through the connection process again and got nothing. Since then, I’ve deleted and reinstalled SnapBridge , updated my camera’s firmware, and wasted well over an hour of my life and cannot get the two to sync up. Being able to share my pictures from my camera more easily was one of the big reasons I was excited about this phone. Now I’m just irked.

I’m still irked, but I found a workaround and got the phone and camera connected. I didn’t follow any instructions from Nikon. On the camera, I went to “Wi-Fi” on the setup menu. Select “Establish WiFi connection”. It gave the network name and password which I then put in under settings on my phone. They paired up and I got a picture moved over. Hopefully this will continue to work.

I acquired a Nikon D850 and have tried to use this app with my iPad Pro. The camera control option leaves a lot to be desired. It it has too many hiccups and takes way too long to connect. Photo’s taken via the iPad take a long time to download, it doesn’t inform you of the status of the download and the camera doesn’t save a copy to the camera’s memory card. So unless there is some trick I am missing, there is no way to capture NEF files when controlling the camera with the iPad. I had hoped to use this capability to avoid getting on my stomach or some other odd position when photographing flowers close to the ground or controlling the camera remotely when photographing wildlife. The hiccups getting a camera to iPad connection make the whole process too slow to be practical.

One can only download jpgs and not nef files, unless there is some trick I am missing. As it is, taking pictures the old fashioned way and downloading from the memory card to the computer are the only feasible way to go. this app is an interesting toy, but difficult to use seamlessly with the camera.

I sell online on several websites. App is working pretty well for me so far. I don’t have any complaints.
I love being able to transfer images to my iPhone without having to involve my laptop and iTunes. Although the iPhone has a great camera I can’t ever get the white balance on my photos right even with a white balancing app. So I have to use an actual camera. I have a Sony also and although it is a more “professional” camera with much different options (and takes great shots)...it does not have WiFi connectivity, so it takes more time.
I have a WiFi / Bluetooth printer also. I can lay in my bed while sipping coffee and handle all my online business without running back and forth from my office. Cuts the time it takes me to do everything in half! I have kids and work from home, so that is a HUGE deal!
Everything I have attempted to do with this camera has worked out. I am very happy!

Let me begin by saying I was a die-hard Nikon fan for 40 years. Four years ago my local shop expert suggested I try an OlympusME. I loved the camera, but when I needed a new lens, I found the lens to be more expensive than a new camera. My friend had a P900 and was very pleased with the ease of using the camera and it’s photos were exceptionally clear even from miles out. So I purchased the P950 as there is no P900 any longer. One of the things I loved about my Olympus was the ease of using the wireless to transfer my photos to my iPad or laptop.

I have only been working with this P950 a short time (a week or so) but have found SnapBridge to be VERY non-user friendly. As a computer geek who has rebuilt and reprogrammed computer, I am not a novice to technology. I have uninstalled and reinstalled SnapBridge twice. Each time I try to transfer photos, I must delete, reinstall, repair, and reconnect. Just very frustrated that such a superb company cannot make a simple program for the camera to use for the downloading of photos. Nikon, get it together!

One of the reasons I opted to buy a newer camera body was for the wireless transmission capabilities to share photos with family and friends in a quick and easy manner. The first version of this app was disappointing, unfortunately my experiences with this update are even worse:(. First, even connecting my phone to my camera seldom occurs. I continue to receive a message stating I need to connect to the WiFi connection of my camera, but it still sits in an endless loop. Next, the few times I am able to connect, the images take an extremely long time to transmit.....literally over an hour this evening to transfer 7 images! Finally, after getting frustrated with the amount of time it was taking to transfer the 7 images, I was going to turn my camera off, and received a message “your wireless transmission will continue the process...” my phone is now almost dead, the camera is wasting battery, and all for 7 images. It is faster for me to take the memory card and transfer the images directly to my computer than use the wireless capabilities of this app. Very disappointed customer !!

I have been using my d3500 for over a year now and have no problems with the camera itself. It’s a fantastic camera and works beautifully. At the moment, it has no new firmware and is full battery - like every other time I’ve had issues. I have been able to download photos to this app three times. I have so many full SD cards it’s not even funny. I use an iPhone 12 (which is completely up to date along with this app) and began with an iPhone 6s Plus when I first started using SnapBridge ; I’ve had problems with both. I don’t understand why I have these issues and from what I’ve read, many other have the same issues as me. My camera says it’s ready to download photos but when I click “Download Photos” it fills the loading circle a third of the way before telling me my camera was unable to connect to SnapBridge . Whenever this happens, it can last for days. Days.

This is an app made for Nikon cams to download photos to phones easier. I see no purpose in SnapBridge if I cannot use it. Don’t get SnapBridge. You’ll only get frustrated.

When I bought my Nikon camera, there were very easy-to-understand instructions on not only the camera itself — how to download and use this app. Connecting my camera to SnapBridge was also so simple. Instead of having to use some more complicated methods of downloading my photos to a computer for example, I can just easily turn my camera on and the auto download will do its thing. Not only that, the downloading process is very quick compared to other means of downloading tons of photos. SnapBridge is completely free, and never asks you about paying for anything, and there isn’t any sorts of ads either. If you have a Nikon camera and are looking to have your photos downloaded to a device, this easy and simple app is the best way to do so. Highly recommended.

I have a Nikon Z6 and we plan to take this on a trip. I was looking for a way to save photos and video off the camera card. I will be without reliable internet connection, so the cloud won’t work. I no longer have a laptop so I can’t back it up there, and evidently there is no way to connect a Z 6 to a portable smart drive. Using this software is slow when transferring pictures, even slower with 4K movie, and if you do have a problem you evidently HAVE to delete the camera connection and start over. You do get a pop up window saying that the software can’t connect to the camera and asking ‘do you want to access the help file’? To download pictures from the camera to your iPad the iPad has to be connected to the cameras WiFi and not to an internet capable network. YOU CAN’T ACCESS THE WEBSITE BASED HELP FILE BECAUSE YOU AREN’T CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET. At this point the only reliable ways if you are not sure you can connect to a cloud to offload cards is either as many memory cards as you can afford or a laptop.

If you have just purchased a Nikon camera and are planning on downloading SnapBridge for any other reason besides you like space taken up on your phone DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT. In fact take your new camera and return it as fast as possible. SnapBridge has wasted hours of my time because it simply does not work. You might be able to pair once or twice right in the beginning with out any problems, but that is it! I have not been able to get SnapBridge to work since then. It has been over a year. I have researched and there is no solution! The help section in the manual has not fixed the problem either. This was supposed to make your life easier so you wouldn’t have to use a computer, but instead it will bring pure rage upon your life. I would not put the task on my worst enemy. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME RETURN THE CAMERA, I promise your life will be better off without SnapBridge. As you can see many other reviews would share this opinion so save your self the time and money and either get rid of your camera or just use the a computer.

I’m the first to admit that there are a wide number of hurdles to overcome when you are trying to get high end electronics to ‘talk’ talk to each other. But as a professional photographer and NPS member that regularly also uses Sony, Fuji, and PhaseOne systems it’s embarrassing that Nikon still has so many issues on the software side; especially when I see first hand how well it can work on other systems.

I have used this current version of this app on my D500 and it works well 90% of the time. However even after uninstalling, ‘forgetting’ the network, and restarting a brand new iOS device countless times... I still can’t get either of my 2 D850s to connect to a mobile device.

If you download SnapBridge and are frustrated and in disbelief that even a $200 ‘action camera’ can connect to your phone easily but not a $3500 ‘professional’ product... you are not alone. For now I’ll resort to taking pictures of my display with my iPhone to send clients for feedback while on location. Maybe in another 3 years Nikon will get it together?

I received the Nikon CoolPix B500 as a birthday gift from my mom this past December and I was so excited on getting it, but within the first few days, I started to become a little deterred because apparently SnapBridge has yet to have an update that includes my camera that works alongside the iOS 13 software. So I figured I would wait it out since apparently SnapBridge told me that an update is being worked on. Given that it was the holiday season, I would give it some time for to receive an update. I’ve been waiting for an update to fix my problem from December to now, four going on five months I’ve been waiting. Every time I check Nikon’s website, it tells me that the issue is being worked on, but for how much longer would I have to wait for an update?? It saddens me that I have to take extra steps in order to have my photos on my smart device and laptop, but I honestly feel that SnapBridge is meant to make that process so much easier. Extremely disappointed on Nikon’s behalf.

SnapBridge need major rework:
1) I cannot remember how many times I have to redo the Bluetooth pairing on my iPhone X because it keeps complaining my D850 is connected to another Bluetooth device. It is seems the pairing from previous sessions sometimes get corrupted and become invalid.
2) The picture download function is also flawed. When I click Download, it needs to switch from Bluetooth mode to WiFi mode before displaying the list of pictures available for download. And half of the time, the Bluetooth-WiFi switching fails and the this app would have trouble re-establishing the Bluetooth connection with the camera, especially when the camera decides to power itself off when WiFi connection fails. In some cases, it would even mess up the Bluetooth pairing and I have to redo the pairing all over.
3) Bluetooth connection is lost when camera is in power safe mode. This is a major design flaw on SnapBridge and camera firmware. A popular use case is: I want to take a few shots, bring up the this app app, choose a few good pics, and immediately share with my friends on social networks using my smart phone. Not having a reliable Bluetooth connection plus major WiFi connectivity problem is simply making this use case impossible.

This whole this app/Bluetooth/WiFi functionality is badly implemented and very frustrating from user perspective. I thought Nikon could do better than that.

Not unlike my experience with Canon's software or cameras, SnapBridge drops a connection instantly when trying to use my phone for remote shooting. Even with the optimal settings according to Nikon's online guide, current updates and a close proximity (within inches of the camera) the phone refuses to stay connected, immediately dropping the connection to the camera. This is, of course, the WiFi connection, since the Bluetooth connection does not work with iOS 13.

I got the remote shooting setting to work a total of two times over WiFi and then the remainder of times it refuses to connect or drops the connection right away. This makes long exposures completely unfeasible as a shooting option, since pushing the button on the camera itself will cause it to move, blurring the image. A remote of sone sort is pretty much required for a longer exposure time or night shooting.

For reference, this is the Nikon D5600 and I'm running iOS 13 on an iPhone 8 with all of the latest updates.