After previewing it during the unveiling of the M4 iPad Pro, Apple has now finally released the Final Cut Camera app for iPhone. The new app is now available for download on iPhones running iOS 17.4 or later.

Alongside the release of Final Cut Camera Apple has also released an updated Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 as well as Final Cut Pro for Mac 10.8. Both updates are now available for download via the App Store.

Undoubtedly the biggest news from these releases is the new support for Live Multicam on the new iPad Pro, bringing support for up to four cameras to be previewed on Apple's best iPad in real time.

All the cameras

Apple announced the news via a press release, saying that "Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 unleashes the remarkable capabilities of the new iPad Pro with the outrageously fast M4 chip, enabling up to 2x faster rendering and supporting up to 4x more streams of ProRes RAW than with M1." But it's the Live Multicam feature that will get the most interest thanks to its ability to wirelessly connect to multiple iPhones simultaneously.

"Using a combination of iPhone and iPad devices, users will have a director’s view of each camera and manual control of their preferences using the all-new pro app Final Cut Camera," Apple explains. "Final Cut Camera powers Live Multicam and also works as a standalone recording app on iPhone and iPad, with the ability to adjust settings like manual focus, shutter speed, ISO, and more."

Over on the Mac, Final Cut Pro 10.8 uses the Neural Engine found in M1 or later machines to make new AI features available including Enhance Light and Color as well as a new Smooth Slo-Mo offering.

The Final Cut Camera app is a free download while the Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 and Final Cut Pro for Mac 10.8 updates are free for existing users. For new users, Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 is available via the App Store for $4.99 or $49 per year while Final Cut Pro for Mac 10.8 is available in the Mac App Store for $299.99.

More from iMore

• Final Cut 2 on iPad brings AI video editing to your fingertips
• Final Cut Pro gets 'automatic timeline scrolling' and more in new update
• Continuity Camera is the 'Best Apple software launch of the year'

It's super easy to crop and resize photos in iOS 17, and you don't even need a third-party app to get it done. In fact, the simple crop tool built into your iPhone's photos app is powerful enough to resize almost any image, and you can change their size, shape, and even aspect ratio. Make images suitable for TikTok, Instagram, or Twitter, and even remove unwanted extras from photos without downloading anything extra.

You can crop images you've taken on your iPhone with the camera or photos that you've stored from elsewhere on the device. It doesn't matter if you've got the latest iPhone 15 Pro or the iPhone SE, the cropping tool will help you manipulate your photos so that they can be at their best. Here at iMore, we're passionate about iPhones and iPhone photography, and we want your photos to be the best that they can be. We've constructed this guide so that you can learn too, and use our expertise to get the best out of your iPhone.

How to automatically crop photos in Photos on iPhone and iPad

1. Launch the Photos app.
2. Find the photo you'd like to crop.
3. Tap Edit in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

4. Tap the crop button in the lower right-hand corner. It looks like a square with two arrows circling it.
5. Tap the crop box button in the upper right corner. It looks like three rectangles in one.
6. Tap the aspect ratio which you want to crop your photo to. You can keep this as Freeform or specify a ratio, like Square or 3:4. 

7. Select whether you want a vertical or horizontal crop with the small rectangles under your photo.
8. Tap Done.

That's all there is to it. It's also important to note that the crop will save over the original version of the photo. 

If you've made a mistake and you want the original image back again, you can just change the crop ratio back again to the original. Or select the photo, hit Edit and you'll see a red option to Revert in the bottom right-hand corner. 

How to manually crop a photo in Photos on iPhone and iPad

Another option is to manually press and drag the crop border, which allows you to manually move it into whatever size or shape you want. Manual cropping can be useful if you're trying to fit a particular size of frame or border. The steps are similar, but there's a slight difference. 

1. Launch the Photos app.
2. Find the photo you would like to crop.
3. Tap Edit.

4. Tap the crop icon in the lower right corner. It looks like a square with two arrows circling it.
5. Press and drag the corners and edges of the photo to crop it manually.

6. Tap Done when you're happy with your final image.

How to resize photos on your iPhone and iPad

If you want to crop and resize photos, you're able to crop in the Photos app natively, but you won't be able to resize. That's why downloading one of the best photo-editing apps, like Image Size, is the best way to get a specific image size. 

You can get these results with other photo editing apps, but we'll show you the Image Size process below.

1. Launch Image Size from your Home screen.
2. Tap the Image Icon in the upper right corner. It looks like a photograph.
3. Tap the image you would like to resize.

4. Tap Choose in the lower right corner.
5. Select your image resize option at the top of the page. You have options like pixel, millimeter, centimeter, and inch. You can manually add in the size of your image as well.
6. Tap the Download button in the lower right corner to save your image resize.

Image Size will then automatically save the image you've edited to your camera roll.

How to create photo cutouts on your iPhone

The latest version of the Apple operating system, iOS 17, brings a new feature to Photos that might be handy if you don't want to crop or resize an image, but you do like the subject of the image. 

The feature is called Photo Cutouts and it allows you to do just that, cut a little bit out of your photos. For example, if a dog is in the center of your photo (like in the image below) and you don't want to keep the surroundings, you can save the dog all on its own – and even use it as a sticker. Here's how: 

4. Open a photo in the Photos app.
5. Touch and hold the part of the photo you want to save. Not all photos will let you cut the subject out. If it's going to work, a shiny, white outline will appear.
6. Once you see the shiny white outline, let go.
7. You'll then be presented with options, like Copy and Share. Tap one of these to use the cutout elsewhere.

Using your iPhone to edit photos is quick and easy

If you have to crop and resize photos on your iPhone or on one of the best iPads, then these are the easy steps to follow. We do wish that the iOS Photos app would let you resize images, but at least there are free apps that give you a simple way to do that.

It wasn't until the launch of the iPhone 7 that I became interested in the world of photography — up until that point I didn't think too much about how I captured pictures.

The iPhone 7 was a turning point as it allowed me to experiment with framing and manipulating images to find the moods and tones I wished to convey. This helped me establish my aesthetic and define what kind of creative I wanted to be.

A common misconception within creative industries is that you need the most expensive, top-notch tools to be taken seriously. But, thanks to advancements in handheld camera technology, you may find that the smartphone in your pocket provides more than enough power to help you develop your visual style and meaningfully engage with photography.

In this guide, which is part of iMore's iPhone Photography Week, will offer some beginner tips to help you make the most of your iPhone’s camera and the first-party app found on iOS 17.

The Camera App and Shooting

Let’s start with the basics. Apple's Camera app boasts a treasure trove of features, with the best place to explore them being its dedicated Settings menu. Head to Settings > Camera, and you’ll be presented with a series of options, all of which are worth checking out as you strive to find your style. Two sections to focus on early are Composition and Photo Capture. Here you’ll see a load of toggleable options to experiment with. 

The most valuable tool you can toggle on as a budding iPhone photographer, in my experience, is the Camera Grid. This will apply an overlay of grid lines to the Camera app, so when you’re taking photos, you can line up your shot and have consistent composition across various subjects and locations. This will also give you the room to play with editing settings like Saturation and Sharpness, as once you’ve got the composition down, it’s easier to experiment while maintaining the uniformity of your photos.

The Camera Grid is also an ideal visual tool for when you want to pull focus and place importance on specific objects in a given scene. For example, if you want to make a lamppost stand out and be the focal point of a shot, having these digital markers will allow you to draw attention and add drama to a shot with minimal effort.

Next up, tap the Photographic Styles option in the Camera settings menu. Here you can find a few stock images with some slight tonal changes, and you should consider which one appeals to the kind of shots you want to take. You can choose to use a Photographic Style (Rich Contrast, Vibrant, Warm, or Cool) in order to personalize your photos depending on the environment that you’re shooting in, your subject, orientation, and the level of tone or warmth that you may be seeking. 

In the app itself, swipe up to access the quick settings, which cover flash preference, Night Mode (handy for outdoor photos in the evening), Aspect Ratio, and Exposure. 

If you find that your scene is too bright, too dim, or out of focus, tapping on a part of the screen will establish focus on your specified target, and long-pressing on your focal point will allow you to engage the AE/AF Lock, locking the focus in place. Within the focus systems, you can also drag up and down with your finger to change the exposure on your focal point. 

Different photo styles are also available to play with at the bottom of the screen, such as Panorama and Portrait Mode. Portrait Mode blurs the background area around your subject while accentuating the foreground, and you can tinker with different light profiles to switch up how your subject looks. It’s a lot to consider, but just focus on what appeals to you as a photographer, and you’ll quickly find your creative rhythm.

The Photos app and editing with it

Once you’ve got to grips with taking photos on your iPhone, it’s time to dig into the native editing suite. While third-party apps offer tons of depth, the iPhone’s built-in editing tools boast plenty of power and should not be overlooked. 

Once you’ve found a photo that you’d like to experiment with in the Photos app, tap that edit button in the top right corner to open Pandora's box of fun. At the very bottom of the screen, you’ll see a sliding bar of options to play with. The leftmost option allows you to edit the specific frame of a Live Photo, just in case you missed a certain expression or moment in a shot. You’ve also got easy access to filters and a cropping tool to change the framing if necessary.

I recommend starting with the adjust settings tool, signified by a dial icon. As you work across the sliding bar of options, you can toggle each of them into the positive and negative, subtly adding Definition, Saturation, Tint, and Vignette to your photos. You can also tweak Highlights and Shadows to create dramatic lighting effects.

Finding your style is all about playing with what you’ve got, and these settings are a great basis for this process. Not to beat the drum of experimentation again, but there truly is no wrong way to approach photography, and as you get to grips with what each of the individual settings can do, you can really start to find your vision and clearly communicate what you want to achieve with your finished shots.

For me, this process was almost like learning a language. The more I practiced with photo editing, the more it all started to make sense in my head, and I eventually found complementary settings that suited my style. Playing around with the editing functionality on your iPhone is a great way to learn basic editing techniques before you graduate to the more professional third-party apps.

Free Courses and Lessons

However, if you’ve done as much personal experimenting as you can and want some more tailored support, there is no better educator than YouTube, especially in the form of Apple’s Today at Apple series. Today at Apple, take professional photographers and Apple Creatives and turns them into your personal teachers. These mini-courses offer plenty of pro tips and often hone in on specific tools like Night Mode to help give you an edge. 

A lot of these free online tutorials are also available in-store, so if you live near an Apple Store, you can book teacher-led Today at Apple sessions at no cost. There are a variety of free classes to take, from photography basics to architecture walks. These sessions are also repeatable at no extra cost, so you can return again and again to reap the educational benefits. 

Outside of Apple’s official channels, YouTube itself is full of photography content from talented creators, with channels covering important advanced topics like color grading, which you can get into as your skills start to grow. While there’s no denying the value of formal education, the internet has made a lot of the lessons typically covered in classrooms readily accessible, and taking advantage of what’s available online can help grow your confidence and photography vocabulary. 

In a world plagued with paywalls and expensive hardware, it can feel like what is built into your iPhone often isn’t good enough to get the job done, but with some settings tweaks, experimentation, and practice, anyone can find their own unique photographic style. In my experience, whether you are a professional, a hobbyist, or just someone looking to spice up your socials, it’s more about how you convey who you are in the shot than matching up with what you see around you. The main thing to remember is that when you’re finding your own style, there’s no rule book you need to follow - you’re better off carving out a new niche just for you.

This feature is part of iPhone Photography Week 2024. Expect new posts to appear daily, focused on making your photos shot with iPhone better than ever before.

Share your photos with iMore on X (Twitter) using #iMorePhotographyWeek

Adobe has announced that it plans to make the web-based version of Photoshop free to everyone. This idea is currently being tested in Canada in open beta. It isn't exactly free during testing, though. Users must have an Adobe account and an active Creative Cloud subscription to access it.

However, the web version of Photoshop can be very different from the full desktop app offering simplified functions and tools. Here are the biggest differences and things you should know about Photoshop on Web Beta.

Photoshop on Web Beta: Things to Know

Photoshop has long been the best photo editing software out there and now a new Web version is currently in beta for Canadian users. There are some requirements along with other things you'll need to do in order to access the beta.

Even if you currently live in Canada, you might not have access to the beta just yet. The program is rolling out to various locations and will soon be available to people across the Great White North. To see if you have access, check out Adobe's Photoshop on Web Beta webpage.

As I mentioned before, Canadian users will need to have an Adobe account as well as an active Creative Cloud subscription in order to check out the Photoshop on Web Beta. It's a little disappointing since the final product will be free, but that's how it works for now.

Everyone has their own specific web browser they prefer to use over others. However, at the time of writing this, Photoshop on Web Beta only works on Google Chrome and Edge and both must be version 90 or higher. Sorry, Safari fans.

The beta works on macOS, Windows, and Chrome OS devices as long as you're running macOS 10.15 and later or Windows 10 (64-bit) and later. You'll also need at least 4GB of RAM, 4GB of storage, and a processor that's 2GHz or faster.

Adobe hasn't fully addressed what will happen to any files saved within Photoshop on Web Beta after the beta lifts. At the moment, anything saved in the beta is stored as a cloud document, but Adobe recommends saving it locally "just in case."

At this time, the Photoshop on Web Beta is only designed for non-mobile web browsers, meaning you'll need to access it from Mac or PC. However, if you already have a Creative Cloud subscription, which is needed for the beta, then you already have access to Photoshop on iPad.

If you have a compatible iPad and Apple Pencil, you can also check out one of my absolute favorite drawing apps, Adobe Fresco, which is free to use.

Photoshop on Web Beta: Differences from the full desktop app version

While the Web Beta version of Photoshop has a similar layout overall, some things have changed quite a bit for a more simplified interface.

Photoshop on Web Beta currently only supports PNG, JPEG, PSD, PSDC, TIFF, and HEIC while the desktop app version offers several more formats. Unfortunately, this means the beta also cannot handle RAW files, but Adobe says it's working on them.

Many of the basic tools and functions accessed in the desktop app version are located in different areas within the Web Beta, so you'll want to spend some time exploring and getting used to this layout. Many functions are accessed in the hamburger menu in the top left. If you're having difficulty finding a tool that you need, you can go to Help > Keyboard Shortcuts to find what's available.

This version of Photoshop saves your work every five minutes and uploads it as a cloud document. Thankfully, you can also manually save from the hamburger menu for peace of mind.

At the top center of the page, you'll see a dropdown button that reads WhatsDifferent. Clicking on this allows you to look at past saved versions of your work and even allows you to revert to an older version.

Stretching, rotating, squishing, or flipping assets in your project are done using the Transform tool on the toolbar rather than accessing a separate Transform menu. This makes it easier to access rather than needing to jump into that hamburger button all of the time.

This button is located near the bottom of the toolbar and allows users to easily import images to their document from the cloud, from images shared with them, or from their device. Additionally, users can drag and drop images from other windows into Photoshop on Web Beta. You'll have to be patient as importing images can take longer than you might like.

In the desktop app version, people can choose masking tools in the layers area. However, in the Web Beta, selection options including masking also appear in a small toolbar after you've made a selection. Just click on that masking icon that appears in the small Selection toolbar after making a selection instead of bringing your mouse to the right side of the screen.

You'll still find Layers and Adjustment menus on the right side of the screen, but they've been simplified to make them easier to use. Tap on the respective buttons to open the menus or to hide them from view. Additionally, your ability to create new layers, masking layers, duplicates, and adjustments are at the top of the Layers section.

Some things have changed

While not the free version that people are looking forward to, the Photoshop on Web Beta does allow anyone with a Creative Cloud subscription in Canada to check out the new version. The tools are simplified, so if you're already familiar with the desktop version, you'll need to get acquainted with the new layout.

If you love taking photos on your iPhone, chances are you want a photo editing app that can take your photos to the next level compared to simply cropping and resizing photos. Whether you're looking for something simple like the ability to add filters to your photos, or you want a robust photo editing tool that enables you to fine-tune your images, you've come to the right place.

Your best iPhone takes really great photos already, but here are the best photo editing apps for you to make those great photos really stand out!

Snapseed

Snapseed is the main photo editing app I have used on my iPhone for years because it does a little bit of everything. If you want to add quick filters, slap on some text, play around with vignettes, tune your image, etc. Snapseed has an editing tool ready to go for you. Plus, it's fast!

You can easily tune images with the various effects by using swipe gestures. Swipe left or right to adjust various sliders. So whether you're adjusting the strength of a filter or adjusting the contrast of your photo, a few swipes of a finger is all it takes.

Snapseed also has a few editing features focused on portraits, so you can smooth the skin and emphasize your eyes. Plus, there is a healing feature to remove blemishes on your skin or just remove elements you don't want in the photo. The best part is Snapseed is completely free. No features are hidden behind a paywall at all.

RNI Films

Remember film cameras? While they do still exist, shooting on film is much less common these days, but the desire for photos to look like they were made on film is at an all-time high. RNI Flims excels at making your images look like they were taken on an actual film camera.

Most of the filters are broken up by film types with categories like Vintage, Black & White, Instant, Slide, and Negative.

While RNI Films focuses on filters, you can edit images with the app in a number of other ways, with tools to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, and more.

Adobe Lightroom Photo & Video Editor

When it comes to editing photos, Adobe Lightroom will undoubtedly be brought up as one of the most robust and fully featured software, but what about the mobile app? Well, I'm here to tell you that its mobile editor is just like having Adobe Lightroom from your Mac in your pocket.

All the intense edits you could want to make with your photos are available right on your iPhone. Whether you want to crop and straighten your photo, make precise adjustments to the lighting and exposure, or even fool around with the color grading and curves of your photo, Adobe Lightroom will let you do it all.

You can even save some presets if you like to edit photos in a particular way all the time, and if you want to pay for the app, you'll also get access to some fantastic premade presets.

Darkroom: Photo & Video Editor

While Darkroom's name not only harkens back to the film development era of photo editing, it's also clearly a bit of a shot at Adobe. Nevertheless, Darkroom is a robust photo and video editor that can make use of that awesome iPhone 13 Pro camera module.

It's an editor that can do a bit of everything: filters, light adjustments, color grading — you name it! Plus, it can also edit RAW photos with no problem, meaning your best iPhone manual camera app will pair excellently with Darkroom.

A lot of its basic features are free but some of its more advanced color grading features are behind a subscription, which may turn some people off.

VSCO: Photo & Video Editor

I know some people will likely scoff at the suggestion of VSCO as a "proper" photo editor, but if you want lots of high-quality filters, there's no better app than VSCO.

VSCO allows you to quickly take your photo to the next level with a tap of your finger by applying one of its many, many filters. Of course, it also has the ability to adjust any filter you choose and even some other editing options like adding text, adjusting exposure, white balancing, and much more.

The worst part of VSCO is that a lot of its filters you do have to pay to get access to, but if you do choose to pay, you'll have access to an absolutely massive library of filters. It's pretty impressive.

iPhone cameras are even better with the best photo editing apps

There's no doubt that photo editing apps can take your photos to the next level, but there is no substitution for taking good photos right from the get-go. Luckily for all of us, the iPhone cameras are superb at taking nice balanced photos. The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max have a 48-megapixel camera, which gives you incredibly detailed photos and lots of room for editing. 

On every iPhone, iOS 16 brings some great new photography features, such as the ability to remove the background of your photos in a simple drag-and-drop motion. The new Super Retina XDR screen is twice as bright, making it easier to take photos outside on a sunny day.

That being said, there are plenty of manual camera apps that can push your iPhone cameras to the limit. We highly suggest you check them out, so you'll get even better results when you pop those photos into one of these fantastic photo editors.

Live Photos aren't quiiiite video, but rather a full-on 12-megapixel photo that animates 1.5 seconds of motion before and after the still. Super cool, right? Yeah, we thought so. Live photos can be used to take action shots in which you can choose the best frame after. They can also be turned into boomerangs and gifs! Here's how to work with Live Photos. 

How to take a Live Photo with your iPhone or iPad

Live Photo can easily be turned on and left on, or turned off and only turned on when you expressly want to use it — which is a great option if you're looking to save the battery and some space on your iPhone. Since Live Photos (which combine a 12-megapixel JPG image with a ~15FPS MOV file) take about twice the amount of storage, and require you to keep the camera relatively still for three seconds, both your storage and patience might lean you towards the latter approach.

The important thing to remember is that a Live Photo is not a movie. It doesn't start when you hit the shutter. Instead, it grabs the photo. Think of it this way — the moment you hit the shutter is the mid-point of your live photo, the still that's wrapped in animation before and after. Grasp that, and your Live Photos will turn out just the way you want them!

1. Launch the Camera app from your Home screen.
2. Tap the Live Photo button, top center (looks like a set of diffusing rings) to toggle it on (yellow).
3. Tap the Shutter button to take your Live Photo.

The Live Photo icon will animate with a brief ripple and a yellow LIVE label will pop up to briefly alert you that it's on. A white LIVE OFF label will briefly alert you when it's not on. Additionally, there is an Auto option for Live Photos on the iPhone 11 series, but you can only access it via a control menu that is accessed by tapping on the arrow at the top of the camera screen.

How to view Live Photos on a newer iPhone model

Viewing a Live Photo on one of Apple's current-generation iPhone models (iPhone 6s and later) is easy-peasy!

1. Launch the Photos app from your Home screen.
2. Find the Live Photo you want to view.
3. Press firmly on the photo to animate it.

It'll blur for just a second and then start to play.

How to view Live Photos on an older iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

If someone who can take a Live Photo sends or shares one with you, as long as you have an iPhone or iPad — even an older one that can run iOS 9 or later — you can still watch it come to life.

1. Launch the Photos app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
2. Find the Live Photo you want to view.
3. Touch and hold the photo to animate it.

How to share Live Photos on your iPhone or iPad

You can share your Live Photos right from the standard iOS Share sheet. Here's how!

If your social service of choice currently doesn't support Live Photos, you can use an app like Lively to convert a Live Photo into an animated GIF, or use the built-in method in Photos, which we'll get to in a minute.

1. Launch the Photos app from your Home screen.
2. Find and tap the Live Photo you'd like to share. If a photo is a Live one, you'll see a gray "Live" indicator in the upper left of your screen.

3. Tap the Share button on the bottom left of your screen. It's a box with an upward-pointing arrow.
4. Tap a sharing method. You can share to just about any social media platform, and you can even share your GIFS to YouTube.
5. Follow the on-screen prompts to share it like you normally would with the method of your choice.

How to set a Live Photo as the wallpaper

You can set Live Photos as your wallpaper on iPhone 6s or later, which works especially well for loved ones, children, pets, and landscapes.

1. Launch the Photos app from your Home screen.
2. Find the Live Photo you want to use as your wallpaper.
3. Tap the Share button.

4. Tap the Use as Wallpaper button.
5. Tap Live Photo on the lower right of your screen if it's not already selected.
6. Tap Set. You can't adjust the size of a Live Photo wallpaper.
7. Tap Set Lock Screen, Set Home Screen, or optionally Set Both.

How to extract a still shot from a Live Photo

If you want the photo but without the fancy moving part, you can make a copy that gives you just that.

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Select the Live Photo you want to extract a still shot from.
3. Tap the Share icon in the bottom left corner of the screen.

4. Tap Duplicate in the option tray at the bottom of the screen.
5. Tap Duplicate as Still Photo.

A copy of the still photo will appear in your library right next to the original Live Photo. You can delete the Live Photo if you no longer want it to take up storage on your iPhone.

How to turn a Live Photo into a GIF

There's no longer any need to connect your iPhone to your Mac and go through the rigmarole of picking a GIF creator app. You can do it all right in the Photos app!

1. Launch the Photos app from your Home screen.
2. Find and tap the Live Photo you'd like to turn into a GIF.

3. Swipe up on the center of the screen to reveal the animation options.
4. Tap Loop if you'd like to loop the Live Photo as a GIF. You can also choose to "Bounce" it á la the Boomerang app for Instagram, or even go with Long Exposure.

You'll then be able to find your GIF in the Animated album in the Photos app.

How to turn a Live Photo into a GIF in iOS 15

In iOS 15, Apple has tweaked the method of turning a Live Photo into a GIF. Rather than scrolling down to bring up the GIF effects, you'll now be able to access them via a contextual menu where the "Live" indicator is.

1. Launch the Photos app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Find the Live Photo that you want to turn into a GIF.

3. Tap the Live indicator in the upper left corner.
4. Choose which GIF effect you want: Loop, Bounce, or Long Exposure.

When you change a Live Photo into a GIF with either the Loop or Bounce effect, it will go into your Animated album instead of Live Photos. You can change it back to a Live Photo at any time. Images with the Long Exposure effect are still counted as Live Photos.

How to stitch together multiple Live Photos to create a video

In iOS 13, Apple added the ability to stitch together multiple Live Photos (not necessary to have them back-to-back) to create a video clip. The process is baked directly into iOS itself, so you don't need to import your Live Photos into an app like iMovie to do so. It's insanely easy and lets you create amazing memories! Here's how to make a video from multiple Live Photos.

1. Launch Photos on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Find the Live Photos that you want to create a video file with.
   • When viewing an image, you can tell if it is a Live Photo when it has the diffusing circle icon in the top left, along with the word "LIVE" next to it.

3. Tap on the Share button.
4. You can scroll through your images and select more just above the Share Sheet options.
5. Scroll down and select Save as Video.
6. Your new video will be in the Recents album.

Getting creative with Live Photos

As you can see, it's easy to create magical moments with Live Photos on your smartphone, whether you're using an iPhone 7 or an iPhone 14. It's a fun feature that definitely makes your photos come to life, and there's so much you can do with them.

If you're not ready for Live Photos just yet and you're still getting your head around photos that don't move, we have some simpler tutorials that might be good for you, like our how to crop and resize photos on iPhone and iPad guide.

Updated August 2022: Updated for the latest version of iOS.

When you're equipped with the best iPhone, like the iPhone 14 Pro, it becomes pretty much everything to you, including the best camera. You know what they say — the best camera is the one that's with you. Our iPhone is perfect for capturing everything from special occasions to spontaneous moments and other fun things like food, other objects, and travel landscapes. 

However, as great as one of the best iPhones like iPhone 14 Pro is, it's not perfect, and glitches do come up now and then, such as the black screen in the Camera app. This is especially annoying since the moment may have already passed, and you can't capture it again — it has definitely happened to me a few times. If you've made sure that it wasn't anything covering the lens (hey, it happens), then here's how to fix the black screen in the Camera app viewfinder.

1. Close and restart the Camera app

While Apple's motto is "it just works," sometimes it doesn't. Apple isn't perfect, so its operating systems certainly aren't immune to errors now and then — sometimes they aren't properly loaded up when launched. In this case, you should try force quitting out of the Camera app and relaunching it. This is how the black screen in the Camera app issue usually resolves for me.

2. Switch between the front and rear cameras

Sometimes, the black screen in the Camera app can be resolved by just switching between the rear and front-facing selfie camera. The black screen could be caused by the app not loading properly, and each time you switch cameras, it forces the app to load again, so this could help. Another suggestion is to see if a third-party camera or video app works, such as Instagram or Snapchat.

3. Make sure VoiceOver is turned off

For some reason, VoiceOver seems to cause some glitches with the Camera app, so if you have it on, it's a good time to try turning it off to see if it solves your issue.

1. Launch Settings on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down and tap on Accessibility.

3. Tap VoiceOver.
4. Tap the toggle to OFF (gray).

4. Reboot the phone

If the other steps so far have not alleviated the problem of the black screen in the Camera app, you should try rebooting your iPhone. A good reboot of the hardware fixes a myriad of issues and could be what your phone needs. After all, a reboot refreshes the device's memory and clears caches.

5. Update to the latest software

If you're running an older version of iOS, you may be experiencing glitches and bugs that may be patched in newer versions of the OS. It's important to keep your hardware up-to-date with the latest versions of iOS and iPadOS. Not only do new versions of iOS and iPadOS patch previous issues, but they also make your device more secure and less vulnerable to security exploits.

6. Try a reset

And when all else fails, and you still see a black screen in the Camera app, you may need to try resetting your iPhone or iPad back to factory settings. If default factory settings do not work, the next step would be to erase all data and reset the phone — start with a clean slate, basically.

However, these are last resort steps and should only be used when everything else has failed. If you end up having to erase all of your data and resetting the phone, then make sure that you have backed up your iPhone or iPad first.

7. Contact Apple Support

If you have tried everything in this guide and still have the black screen in the Camera app problem, then it may be an issue with your hardware. The only way to fix that is to contact Apple Support or take it to an authorized repair center to see what they can do.

Updated August 22: These are still the best ways to fix the black screen in the Camera app issue.

After you've taken a couple of hundred (or thousand…) photos, it can be tough to find and pinpoint the exact image that you want to show off. Whether you're looking for a specific person at a particular event, a snapshot from your trip to Paris or Thailand, or a photo of your cat doing something adorable, sorting through your images can be tedious and time-consuming.

Luckily for you, there are actually a couple of different ways to search for people, places, animals, and things in the Photos app for iPhone and iPad: You can even search for non-tagged things like "dogs" or "mountains"! Here's how!

How to search for photos in the Photos app on iPhone and iPad

1. Launch the Photos app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap the Search icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
3. From the Search Screen, you can select to browse the following: Moments, People, Places, Categories, and Groups.

Or you could use the Search Bar at the top of the screen to directly type in the person, place, animal, or thing you want to find an image of.

1. Tap the Search Bar at the top of the Search section.
2. Type in the keywords that you want to search for. This can be a name, place, animal, or anything else you want to look for an image of.
3. Tap Search on the keyboard when you're done.

iOS is also capable of searching for photos that contain two or more people — you just need to input the names as they appear in Photos. If you have unnamed people, here's how to give them a name:

1. Launch Photos on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap Albums.
3. Scroll down and select the People album.

4. Tap on any unnamed People to view images with that person in them.
5. At the top, tap Add Name to give them a name.
6. Tap Next.
7. Tap Done.
8. Repeat steps 4-7 as needed.

How to search for photos using Siri in the Photos app for iPhone and iPad

If you don't want to go into the Photos app and search manually, you can ask Siri to help you out. With Siri, you can ask her to find photos from a certain date, location, or even both! Or you could just ask Siri to show you some pictures of cats, because why not? All you need to do is activate Siri, and then ask it what you want to see — you can be as broad or precise as you need to be.

How to search Photos with Siri

What will you search for first?

Do you have any questions about how to use Search in the Photos app for iPhone and iPad? Let us know in the comments down below!

Updated July 2020: Updated for iOS 14.

If you're someone who loves Live Photos and has a fiery passion for GIFs, then why not combine the 2?

A new feature that recently hit GIPHY allows users to save their favorite GIFs as Live Photos to their camera roll so they can set them as their wallpaper, save for later, or do whatever their hearts desire with 'em!

Here's how to use GIPHY so you can effortlessly turn GIFs into Live Photos!

How to use GIPHY to turn GIFs into Live Photos

Once you've downloaded the GIPHY app, you can start saving your favorite GIFs as Live Photos – and it's easier than you think it is!

1. Launch the GIPHY app from your home screen.
2. Tap your perfect GIF to select it.
3. Tap the three white dots to the bottom right of the GIF.

4. Tap Convert to Live Photo
5. Tap Save as Live Photo (Full Screen) and Save as Live Photo (Fit to Screen)

6. Go to your Photos.
7. Tap the recently saved Live Photo.

The Live Photo icon should appear in the upper left corner of the app.

You can tap and hold the Live Photo to test to see if it works, and then use it in whatever way you please! Have fun!

Will you try GIF'd Live Photos?

Do you think you'll try turning a few GIFs into Live Photos? Why or why not? Let us know your opinion on this cool little feature in the comments below!

Listen up iPhone photography fans! Apple's giving out free copies of Obscura 2 through the Apple Store app until the end of September, and it's one of the better camera replacement options out on the App Store.

We briefly covered Obscura 2 here at iMore when it launched earlier in the year, and it's been a favorite among many iPhoneographers who want a sleek and functional photography app. Well since everyone's able to get their hands on it (until the end of September), we're here to help you get the most out of this awesome freebie.

• The basics
• Advanced features
• Fun with filters
• Obscura 2 and your Camera Roll
• Tweaking Obscura 2's settings

The Basics

Obscura 2 provides iPhoneographers with a slick interface that's easy to use. What makes it different than other camera apps is how it focuses on the mode dial that's found on old-school cameras by mimicking it. Underneath the viewfinder, you'll find a scrollable semi-circle above the shutter button.

This dial contains all of the tools you need to capture the perfect shot: Camera (wide angle, telephoto, front-facing), Grid, Spirit Level, White Balance, Flash, Timer, Format (HEIC, JPG, RAW, Depth, or Live), and Filters.

While it's simple, the dial takes some getting used to. You'll have to scroll horizontally to see all of the options and then tap the tool to bring up the other choices available. For things like accessing the flash, it's an extra step, but you can do things like double-tap the screen to switch between the rear and front-facing cameras.

To the sides of the shutter are the Expose and Focus buttons. Both of these feature their own dial for adjusting strength, and everything's reflected in real-time. If you can master the basic control dials in Obscura 2, then you'll be taking fantastic shots in no time at all.

If you pull the screen down, you'll access your device's Camera Roll, but we'll get to that in a bit.

Advanced features

If you've tried taking any good photo, you'll know the secret lies behind the composition, focus, white balance, and exposure. With Obscura 2, it's easy to get all of these things to help you capture the perfect moment.

For composition, the Grid and Spirit Level are invaluable. Obscura 2 has two grid options: Thirds and Square. Both provide an overlay on the viewfinder so you're able to line up the shot perfectly. Spirit Level puts a line level in the center of the image that only extends to both edges when it's completely straight. With these two on, you shouldn't have any more crooked photos ever again.

While Auto settings usually work fine for most photos, sometimes you just need more control. Obscura 2 provides easy access for those fine adjustments.

As mentioned, the two buttons adjacent to the shutter are for exposure and depth. Just tap on them and slide the dial until you have your desired effect. If you're looking for Depth capture specifically, it's hidden under Format on the main control dial.

As far as the white balance goes, it's on Auto by default. However, depending on the situation, you'll want to change it for better results. To do this, just find the White Balance option in the control dial and tap it. From there, you'll have preset white balance settings for sunlight, cloudy, tungsten or fluorescent lighting, flash, and shade.

Additionally, Obscura 2 has individual ISO and shutter speed controls. These are the numbers underneath the viewfinder. Tapping on them allows you to change those aspects to your own preferred amounts, so there's a lot of experimentation involved with getting your perfect photo.

Fun with filters

Along with all of the various adjustments that you can make, Obscura 2 comes packed with a great selection of filters. These can instantly change the mood and tone of an image in just a few taps.

With the initial download, users get about 20 filters that add a touch of class to any photo. More filter packs are available through in-app purchases of $1.99 each: B&W, Analogue, and Portrait. These packs get you about eight more filters each and are suitable for just about anything. You'll also get a free Sepia filter if you simply tell others about Obscura 2.

To apply filters in real-time, just find the Filters setting on the control dial. Tap it to bring up available options, and then select the one you want. It's applied to the viewfinder, so you won't have to wait until post-editing to see how it'll look.

The only negative about the way Obscura 2 handles filters is that there's no way to adjust the intensity of each effect. Then again, Obscura 2 is more of a camera replacement app and not a photo editor.

Obscura 2 and your Camera Roll

Believe it or not, Obscura 2 actually can access your Camera Roll, and you can apply filters on existing images in your library. However, it's a bit hidden.

To reveal your Camera Roll, just pull the screen downward. You'll find your Camera Roll peek out from under the viewfinder, and Obscura 2 even tells you how many images there are.

Give a thumbnail a tap to view a larger version of it and even apply a filter. You can share, copy, or hide an image from prying eyes. If you choose to put a filter on it, you can save over the original or save a new copy, or just clear the filter from it.

For those who like to see image metadata, Obscura 2 has got you covered. If you scroll further down on an image, you'll get all of the metadata details, such as aperture, shutter speed, ISO, image settings, hardware info, and even geolocation.

If you need any of the metadata, you can copy all of it directly to your clipboard.

Tweaking Obscura 2's settings

To get to the settings, you swipe the screen down. You can switch between the Library or Settings by tapping on what you need at the bottom of the screen.

In the Settings, there's a myriad of options that you can change to customize Obscura 2 to your liking. One of the more useful settings are the Viewfinder Shortcuts, where you can have the app do different things on single, double, and triple taps on the viewfinder.

Another helpful one's Volume Controls. Here, you can assign different functions to your device's volume up and down buttons, like capturing the photo or locking focus and exposure.

There are quite a few different settings for both the camera and library sections in Obscura 2, so I highly recommend just diving into each one and tinkering around. Every photographer is different, and not everyone's setup is the same, hence all the customization possible.

Get out there and shoot some great photos

Obscura 2 is a fantastic camera app that should be in every iPhoneographer's arsenal. The intuitive interface looks great and it contains everything you'd need to capture some amazing and beautiful shots out there.

Remember, Obscura 2 is a freebie only through the Apple Store app, so make sure you grab it while it lasts!

• Apple Store - Free - Download Now
• Obscura 2 - $4.99 - Download Now

For as long as I can remember, Camera+ has been a staple in my iPhone photography toolkit. The app was a great replacement for the standard iOS camera due to the powerful set of features and editing tools built-in. However, as Apple improved the camera capabilities of iPhone hardware, Camera+ got less use from me in recent years, especially when I needed to snap a photo quickly before the moment passed.

However, Camera+ 2 is a brand-spankin' new version of an old favorite, and it's been completely rebuilt from the foundation to adhere to the next decade of iPhone camera improvements. There's a lot of new changes that the developers made with Camera+ 2, but we're going to just cover the biggest and most important ones.

$2.99 - Download Now

So how does it stack up? Let's find out.

• Camera+ Is Now Universal
• New Manual Controls
• RAW Capture and Editing
• Depth Capture and Editing
• New and Improved Shooting Modes
• Photo Library Integration in Lightbox

Camera+ is now universal

Previously, Camera+ had two versions, one for the iPhone and another for iPad. Now, with Camera+ 2, there's only one universal app for both iPhones and iPads, so no need to purchase the other version separately. This also means that both versions get the same features at the same time, with no delay.

Personally, I tend to do all of my photography and editing on my iPhone, but there are some perks of Camera+ 2 on the iPad. If you prefer using the tablet for photo editing, you're able to take advantage of the multitasking and drag-and-drop features of the iPad with Cmaera+ 2. With this, it's easier to get your images in and out of the app.

New manual controls

When I'm taking snapshots to capture memories with friends and family, I often just go with the basic native Camera since it's fast. But for the moments I'm feeling a bit more creative and want to experiment with my photos, I like to use manual controls, such as with Halide and Manual. Camera+ 2 now joins other camera replacement apps in giving users more precise control over their resulting photos.

The manual controls appear when you bring up the separate focus and exposure points. You can also enable these to appear all the time by going into the Settings, then Advanced Controls, and then toggling Always Show and Live Exposure on.

With Camera+ 2's manual controls, users are able to be precise with the shutter speed, white balance, and ISO through on-screen dials. Any changes kick in immediately, so there's no waiting.

I found bringing up the manual controls to be simple and intuitive. They're similar to other apps I've used, so it's great to see Camera+ implementing accurate features in its arsenal as well.

RAW capture and editing

For the serious photographers, Camera+ 2 now has the ability to capture full RAW for all of your images, just as you would get with a DSLR.

Capturing in RAW creates a "digital negative" for each and every photo once it's turned on in the settings (under Quality & Format), or you can turn it on selectively as you go. When you have a RAW photo, it means you get the highest attainable quality with increased dynamic range. Editing RAW images also means more flexibility and accuracy.

Personally, I don't save in RAW because the file sizes are significantly larger, so they take up more space on your device. However, if you are a professional and prefer RAW captures, then Camera+ 2 has your back.

Depth capture and editing

While Portrait mode came as a feature in the original Camera+ since the iPhones got it, Camera+ 2 takes it a step further with the new Depth Editing functionality.

When Portrait mode first came out with the iPhone 7 Plus, I missed out on it because I opted for a regular iPhone 7. As I saw how great people's Portrait mode images came out (even though it's not perfect), I was definitely impressed and had to have it in my next upgrade. Ever since I got the iPhone 8 Plus last year, I tend to take Portrait mode images whenever I can.

Now, I'm not sure if it's just me, but when I use Portrait mode in Camera+ 2, it seems a bit jittery as I'm trying to shoot. The viewfinder image is not smooth, and it feels like it jumps around a lot, at least this is how I found it in the beta for my testing. I've restarted the app, changed some settings to try and have faster shooting time, and even restarted my device. I still have a jerky effect with Portrait mode in Camera+ 2, which is weird as it doesn't occur in the original Camera+, and it also seems to take longer than the native Camera app to save photos when going to the Lightbox.

Either way, you can edit Portrait mode images in Camera+ 2 whether they're taken with the app's Portrait mode or imported from your Photo Library.

Depth information for every Portrait mode image gets captured alongside the image, so you're able to selectively adjust blur amounts and focus distance for various settings in The Lab. Everything's done through sliders, which I found easy and intuitive to use. There are number values on the sliders, so it's easy to go back to a preferred value after tinkering around.

New and improved shooting modes

With Camera+ 2, there's plenty of different shooting modes available to make capturing different shots easier than ever before.

If you like to do long exposure photography, Camera+ 2 made improvements to the slow shutter mode. With this, you're able to do exposures of up to 30 seconds, and the app automatically adjusts sensitivity for these long durations. Camera+ 2 also gives you an accurate preview of your capture as it happens — no guesswork needed.

A new Smile mode allows Camera+ 2 to detect smiles in the photo and then it shoots automatically for you. During my testing, I found this mode to work well, and it even applies to the selfie camera, so getting that perfect snap is easier than ever with Smile mode.

For those of you with shaky hands (myself included sometimes), the new Stabilizer mode works like a dream. When this mode is active, Camera+ 2 only takes the photo when it detects the device is stable enough to produce a sharp image. No more blurry imperfections here!

Lightbox integrates photo library

One of the biggest pet peeves I had with Camera+ before was the fact that I had to manually import photos into the Lightbox from my Photo Library. Now, with Camera+ 2, accessing the Photo Library is quicker than ever before.

When you view your photos, you can switch between the Lightbox and your Photo Library with just a few taps. As you view your Photo Library, the Camera Roll's sorted in descending order, with the newest photos at the top. If you have albums, you can get to them with an extra tap.

Regardless, the new integration with the Photo Library is pretty amazing. I always thought the import process felt tedious in the previous version, and many photo editing apps do this now, so I'm glad to see Camera+ jump on the ship as well.

With this new integration, you can edit photos directly in Camera+ 2 without extra steps, or you add it to the Lightbox if you so choose. There's also a setting where you can have edited photos revertible back to their original state. The other option is not revertible to original, which only saves edited versions, modifying the originals. It's riskier but takes less space on your device.

My verdict

Honestly, while Camera+ 2 offers some amazing new features like the manual controls, depth capture editing, new shooting modes, and Photo Library integration, I'm not sure if it's going to fully replace the native Camera app for me. As the iPhone cameras have gotten better, I'm satisfied with using the native camera for most of my mobile photography, especially since I can access it from the lock screen or Control Center.

I'm also not sure why Portrait mode is not as smooth as it should be, especially compared to the native Camera. I'm not sure if it's just a bug with the beta version that I was testing, but it's almost unusable — I'd rather just use the native Camera for Portrait mode and edit in Camera+ 2 if that's the case. I had no issues with the other shooting modes.

However, for those times when I need some precise control and want to do all my editing in one app, Camera+ 2 is definitely one I'll be turning to.

$2.99 - Download Now

What do you get when a prominent ex-Apple designer and former Twitter engineer join forces? A kick-ass camera app called Halide.

Sara Perez, TechCrunch:

The developers' website goes into detail as to why Halide was created and it essentially boils down to the fact that current mobile phone cameras are exquisite, but that just don't feel like the same quality as shooting with a DSLR.

Long story short, "It's a premium camera for your iPhone."

What's new with Halide?

Check back here for the latest updates in Halide news.

iPhonography buffs, rejoice! Popular full-featured camera app Halide is back again with yet another really cool update featuring an Apple Watch companion app, location stripping, an increased focus on accessibility, and more.

According to the company's blog post, Halide 1.8 features the following:

A new Apple Watch companion app

Yep, you read that correctly: you can now use your Apple Watch (and the Halide Apple Watch app) to remotely frame shots, trigger Halide's shutter and set timers. The company claims that the app is "blazing fast," and says it shows a realtime preview on your watch's display for "easy shooting." To use this new feature, all you have to do is open Halide on your phone, then open the Halide Apple Watch app afterward.

A self-timer

Even if you don't have an Apple Watch, you can still take advantage of Halide's new self-timer feature. The app now lets you set a 3, 10, or 30 second timer to ensure you get the perfect shot. And if you're worried about not knowing exactly when the shutter will fire, don't fret: Halide also uses the iPhone flash to show the progress of the timer.

Improved privacy options

With internet privacy issues consuming the news lately, it's heartening to see a developer providing options that you can use to better protect yourself when posting things online. Each time you take a photo with your digital device, its metadata contains info like date, time, and the location the photo was taken (ascertained via GPS). If you share that photo online, people may have access to a wealth of personal info that you'd prefer not to share. With Halide 1.8 you can disable embedding location information in photos by toggling it off. The Halide team has also introduced a new advanced setting that limits location sharing with Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Improved accessibility features

Halide is reportedly pushing hard for accessibility with this update (which, YES. Other app developers take note). The Halide team has worked with accessbility specialist Sommer Panage over the course of the past year, and as a result of her advice, 1.8 features "support for Dynamic and Bold Type throughout, VoiceOver support and many more enhancements. Even our 30 second timer option was included with Accessibility in mind, offering users with limited mobility more freedom to take photos." What's more, the team promises that they will "continue [their] push to make Halide the most accessible camera app around," and asks that if you are a user who benefits from accessibility features, you send them feedback on their implementation (and further improvements the company could make).

Contact Halide via email

Contact Halide via Twitter

Design tweaks and bug fixes

In addition to all the new major features, Halide's design and functionality has also been improved. Most notably, the photo reviewer has been overhauled with a grid view, which allows users to "scroll through a grid of their shots while still being able to flick back to their camera instantly."

For more details and to download Halide, check out the team's blog post here.

Desperately wishing Halide would take full advantage of Portrait mode? What about the iPhone X's TrueDepth camera? ARKit? Well, wish no longer. Today the high-end photography app's team launched an update with support for all of those features and more. Halide 1.7 makes what was already a powerful tool way more powerful, offering depth photography, semi-terrifying ARKit fun, and integration with popular image editing app Darkroom.

Now, when you pull up Halide's viewfinder on iPhones with a dual camera system, you'll see a depth button you can tap to switch to Portrait mode. Like the native iPhone camera app, Halide will show a preview of the Portrait photo before you take the shot. However, unlike the native app, Halide will also show you what it calls a "Depth Peaking" affect, which essentially shows how your phone is scanning the environment in three dimensions. To me it looks a bit like an electrical current moving up a Jacob's ladder. Unfortunately though, you can't use Depth Peaking and preview your Portrait mode image at the same time, so you have to choose between actually seeing what your photo will look like before you snap it and feeling like a cyborg analyzing your surroundings in some sort of dystopian future.

More importantly, though, is that the Halide's depth preview initiates super fast according to tests run by Federico Viticci at MacStories, making it seem even faster than Apple's Portrait mode at times. Viticci continued to go into further detail regarding the differences between Apple's camera app and Halide when it comes to capturing depth:

In addition to depth photography utilizing the dual cameras on the back of the phone, Halide 1.7 also offers integration with the iPhone X's front-facing TrueDepth camera, allowing users to take selfies in Portrait mode as well. And, in what is perhaps the most simultaneously cool and unsettling new feature in this update, Halide allows you to view your Portrait photos with ARKit, creating "3D posters" that you can walk around and look at from all angles. However, the end result is pretty disconcerting, and kind of ends up making the subject look like they're being sucked into an unseen black hole.

Finally, Halide 1.7 supports integration with Bergen Co.'s Darkroom — a powerful photo editor that you can now access with the touch of a button after you capture an image using Halide. This makes it easier than ever to quickly and easily take your iPhoneography to the next level.

For a more in-depth review of Halide 1.7 (and a hilarious demo of the new ARKit feature), check out MacStories' full piece.

Today, Halide announced an update focused specifically on speed. Halide 1.6, dubbed "The Speed Update" by the Halide team, is the first "under-the-hood" update since the app's redesign for iPhone X just over a month ago, and features faster photo capture, a new lock screen widget, voice over features for the visually impaired, and more.

The most major changes that 1.6 offers, as mentioned above, are meant to make it easier than ever to take, save, and view one's photographs quickly. With the updated Halide, users can now snap photos two to four times faster — the time between tapping the shutter button and revealing the photo has been cut down significantly, meaning there will be no more waiting around to see whether or not you got a shot that's to your liking. What's more, the Halide team has added a lock screen widget so you can launch the app with one tap, assuring that you won't miss any perfect photo ops. There are even brand new 3D shortcuts to launch the app in either Manual or Auto mode, so there won't be any toying around with settings necessary before you can snap your pic.

On the saving end, the Halide team has finally tackled an issue users had been encountering with moderate frequency. Prior to now, when users went to edit their Halide-captured photos in a separate app, they would show up blurry, as many apps can't read Halide's RAW image format. With this update, however, Halide will now intelligently save a processed image alongside the user's RAW shot, allowing editing apps to fall back on the non-RAW image so it can still be altered however the user desires. Plus, now all RAW images taken with Halide will be sorted into a special album in the user's photo library titled "RAW" so that they can effortlessly and painlessly be found later. And if you're concerned about compatibility with HEIC (or would just prefer to save your images in a different format), it is now possible for you to switch from "Most Efficient" to "Most Compatible" so Halide will use JPEG instead. The Halide team detailed more format options in its press release:

In addition to the speed-centric changes, Halide got a few aesthetic and accessibility changes as well. Thanks to co-creator Sebastiaan de With, the app has received a shiny new icon. The team also states that Halide is now also the first manual camera app to support VoiceOver, Apple's assistive technology for the visually impaired.

Version 1.6 will be rolling out to all Halide users starting today.

Ex-Apple designer Sebastiaan de With announced on Medium today that his and Ben Sandofsky's gorgeous iPhone camera app Halide is getting a new update, just in time for the release of the iPhone X. The app hasn't only been adapted to scale correctly on the new screen, however — it's been completely redesigned from the ground up to take full advantage of the iPhone X's strengths.

On the iPhone X, Halide 1.5's camera UI stretches from edge-to-edge, utilizing every pixel of the screen's unique shape and size. It even uses the top corners on either side of the infamous notch to display camera data like exposure values. And because of the iPhone X's extra space, nothing obstructs the viewfinder: all of Halide's controls are now within reach of your thumb below the viewfinder, getting them out of the way. This also means that you can use Halide one-handed without any trouble.

In addition to the new camera UI, Halide 1.5 captures Depth on supported iPhone models, letting users to apply Portrait Mode effects to their snapshots in the Photos app after they've captured them. New hardware-based noise reduction has also been introduced in 1.5, giving you the sharpest images possible. And like the native Camera app on newer iPhones, Halide is able to capture photos in HEIC, allowing for higher quality files that take up less space.

Now go forth and upgrade so you can start your iPhonography binge as soon as you get your hands on your new iPhone X!

How is Halide different than other 3rd party camera apps?

Using tools like tactile controls to quickly change between autofocus and manual focus, bring down the exposure with a fast swipe, and more, Halide aims to imitate older photographic cameras like a Lecia or a Pentax.

Halide also focuses on giving users super simple access to professional camera tools: with the app you can choose to shoot photos as RAW or JPEGS, adjust manual focus, and even tweak things like focus peaking and the ability to snap stunning photographs with full ISO and shutter controls.

The app is designed with other smart features like:

• Smart auto, which intelligently optimizers both your ISO and shutter speeds for super sharp images.
• Quick EV, which allows you to adjust exposure with a mere swipe of your finger.
• Grid and level, which lets you be precise with your shooting with the help of a subtle overlay grid.

… And so, so much more!

Awesome! So how much does it cost?

Halide will set you back about $5, but for everything you get to do with this camera app, it should probably be priced a little bit higher.

John Grubber:

Where can I download it?

Right here!

• Halide - $4.99 - Download now

What do you think?

Will you be downloading and using Halide, or do you think any camera app besides the default camera app is a waste of time, effort, and money?

Let us know what you think about Halide (and share any questions you might have) in the comments below!

With the news that Flickr has been purchased by SmugMug, many Flickr users might be wondering what will happen to their accounts, and whether or not they should move over to SmugMug right now. Others still may be wondering about a slightly confusingly-worded email that they received from Flickr about the acquisition.

I'm here to fill you in on what's going with this acquisition so you can make the right choice for you and your data.

• How to transfer photos from Flickr to SmugMug

SmugMug + Flickr: two great tastes that taste great separately

You might be wondering if you should move your Flickr account over to SmugMug. Well, this is actually a fairly simple decision, but it might require a bit of explanation. No, you shouldn't because you can't. SmugMug may have purchased Flickr, but the two will remain separate products for the foreseeable future. That way, SmugMug gains a product that still has a dedicated community behind it, without angering that community by forcing them all to migrate over to the SmugMug way of doing things. This is especially important for anyone who uses Flickr for free (probably a lot of Flickr's users), because all of SmugMug's available tiers are paid.

Some of the confusion around the status of Flickr users and their accounts stems from an email that Flickr sent to users regarding the acquisition. The offending passage reads:

As SmugMug CEO Don MacAskill later clarified what this means is that your data will be transferred over to the SmugMug company rather than the SmugMug product itself. The data will remain on Flickr.

While SmugMug and Flickr will be separate products, and SmugMug has said that it doesn't have a full roadmap for what it wants to do with Flickr just yet, that doesn't mean some changes aren't already in the works. While (as noted above) your Flickr account won't become a SmugMug account, Flickr won't be staying within the Yahoo/Oauth infrastructure, as stated by Flickr's official Twitter account:

After this point, while you should be able to continue using your Yahoo username and password, you can change them if you want.

How to transfer photos from Flickr to SmugMug

Of course, you can still upload photos from Flickr to SmugMug if you have a SmugMug account. If you'd feel better about doing that, just remember that you'll need to sign up for one of SmugMug's tiers, all of which are paid after a 14-day free trial.

1. Head to SmugMug in your browser of choice.
2. Click on your SmugMug account name.

3. Click Upload.
4. Choose to upload To New Gallery or To Existing Gallery.

5. Choose the gallery you want to upload to or follow the instructions to set up a new gallery.
6. Click Create or Done.

7. Click Flickr.
8. Click OK, I'll Authorize It in the Flickr authorization window or tab. If you've already connected Flickr to your SmugMug account, you can skip this step.

9. Choose which Flickr photos you want to bring over to SmugMug.
10. Click Upload.

Please note that if you do this, the photos that you upload from Flickr will remain there until such time as you delete your Flickr account.

Questions

If you have any questions about SmugMug's purchase of Flickr or moving your photos from Flickr to SmugMug, let us know in the comments below.

According to a new report from USA Today, Flickr has been purchased by photo-sharing service SmugMug. The company says it plans to "[breath] new life" into Flickr by pouring in the necessary resources and focus.

For what it's worth, SmugMug CEO Don MacAskill sure seems bullish about the service:

It's unclear just how much money SmugMug spent on this 14-year-old piece of the entire fabric of the internet, but it has already launched a landing page for SmugMug + Flickr.

SmugMug, which has been around longer than Flickr, says the two platforms represent "the world's most influential photographer-centric community." It seems the company plans to stand out from services like Google Photos, Facebook, and Twitter by focusing on its community of photographers both amateur and professional as well as its ongoing commitment to privacy.

Here's what MacAskill told USA Today:

Hello, Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc. — you've just been called out.

MacAskill says he's not entirely sure about the company's long-term plans for Flickr but SmugMug users can rest easy. The company says its products aren't going anywhere.

Have you ever snapped a photo that you thought looked perfect, and later when you were doing your editing, realized there were some more flaws than you originally noticed?

Well what if there was a type of "hallucinating AI" deep neural network that "hallucinates missing details to make an image look natural"?

Before you tilt your head to the side and go, "What the hell are you talking about…", take a peek at Let's Enhance, an Estonia-based startup company that aims at using new forms of artificial intelligence to fill in the gaps and perfect your photography.

So you might be asking yourself, what exactly does that mean?

The app works by targeting issues like pixelation, blur, discoloration, and quality control to produce a more appealing, high-quality image.

While before your shot of the skyline with your iPhone might have been a bit blocky, now with Let's Enhance, the details are designed to be more crisp and precise rather than blurry and looking like they were shot on a mobile device.

What do you think?

Are you intrigued and interested in trying your hand at something like Let's Ebhance? Or would you rather stick to more traditional ways of snapping your photography?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Google's research team announced in a blog post today that it has officially begun launching a series of experimental photography apps. Dubbed "appsperiments" by the company, these apps will be available on both Apple's App Store and on Google Play and will allow users to test a collection of new technologies in development at Google.

The first of the apps, called Storyboard, allows users to transform any video into a comic book page — complete with graphic novel-esque filters and multiple panels — right on their device. According to Google, all you have to do is shoot the video and upload it to Storyboard. After that, the app will automatically select what it finds to be the most interesting frames from the video and lay them out in a comic format while also adding one of six "visual styles." If you don't like what the app creates for you, you can just pull down on the image to instantly produce a new page. Once Storyboard creates one you dig, you can save it directly to your camera roll. Storyboard is unfortunately an Android-only app at the moment, but may also be available for Apple users in the future.

The second app, Selfissimo!, is designed for — can you guess? — taking selfies, of course. However, you don't have to do all the button pushing yourself. Instead, the app will take a very hip black-and-white photo for you every time it detects that you're striking a pose (i.e. when you sit still for a second). When you've decided you've taken a sufficient amount of selfies, all you have to do is tap the screen to end the session. The app will then generate a contact sheet of all the photos you've taken (just like analog photographers used to do with negatives!) and you can choose to either save a few of your favorites from the shoot or just save the whole darn thing. Selfissimo! is available for both iOS and Android.

• Selfissimo! - Free - Download now

The final app of today's release, dubbed Scrubbies, is an app that allows you to control the speed and direction of video playback. Just upload your video to the app and then, as the Google research team suggests, "remix it by scratching it like a DJ." Scrubbies is currently only available for iOS — no word yet on whether it will be made available for Android users or not.

• Scrubbies - Free - Download now

In order to get the most well-rounded feedback from testing, all of the new photography apps are totally free of charge. All Google asks is that if you do try them out, you use the in-app feedback links to let the company know what you think so you can help them further develop new tech.

Thoughts?

Have you tested any of Google's new apps yet? If so, what do you think? Let us know in the comments!

When the iPhone 7 Plus launched last year, one feature that people were so absolutely gaga over was Portrait Mode: and for good reason.

The newest camera feature essentially turned your iPhone into a DSLR, allowing you to capture stunning portraits of people, animals, food, and whatever else around you. By slightly blurring the background and bringing the foreground into crisp, clean focus, you transformed your phone to a top-of-the-line photography beast.

Now that Portrait Mode has gotten more and more attention, it's obvious that people want a bit more variety with their photography/Portrait Mode-capable apps; which is where Focos comes into play.

• FREE - Download now

Simply put, the app does everything Portrait Mode on your iPhone does, plus a little bit more.

Through the apps settings, you can add a grid, to your photo, apply the app for your front-facing camera (if you have an iPhone 8 Plus or an iPhone X), the chance to save your original photo automatically, and a slew of EXIF data options like the ability to svae your GPS location, the photographer's name, and copyright info.

Focos also lets users save their photos in 1536 x 2048, 2160 x 2880, and 3024 x 2032 sizes, and gives users access to in-app purchases like Max Curve which is a professional photo editor which works mainly with the curve edit function, and ColorBurn which gives you access to 1,000 filters for your portrait photography.

Once you have your settings in order, it's as simple as shooting with Portrait Mode on your camera app — but the real magic doesn't happen until after your portrait photo is taken.

Using Focos, you can adjust the final photos aperture and diaphragm (to make sure that blur is juuust right), adjust highlights, saturation, softness, and so, so much more. You can even select and isolate the back bokeh and front bokeh of your Focos portrait and adjust individual color levels, sharpness, and blurring effects to tweak into perfection.

When you're done with editing your final portrait photo, save it to your camera roll and post it on your social media like the true iPhoneography pro you are!

What do you think?

Do you prefer to use third-party camera apps or sticking to the standard on your iPhone? Is there a portrait app that you've fallen head-over-heels in love with and won't use anything else? Or are you one of those people who thinks Portrait Mode is a silly flash in the pan?

Let us know what your thoughts are in the comments below!

Lightrick, the developer of apps like Facetune and the award-winning Enlight, recently released the newest addition to their creative suite: Enlight Videoleap. According to the company, Videoleap is "poised to revolutionize the creation and editing of today's digital video content," and allows you to access editing features that only desktop editing software is usually capable of. If you're familiar with Enlight, you'll be very comfortable using Videoleap as it has a similar workflow. However, if you're new to the entire Lightrick family of products, you still shouldn't have much trouble — Videoleap has an accessible interface with clearly marked editing tools.

• Enlight Videoleap - Free with IAP - Download now

CEO and Co-Founder of Lightricks Zeev Farbman had this to say about the new app:

Videoleap has all your usual video editing features such as trimming, music and filters, but is also packed with more powerful features, including:

• Keyframe animations: Users can animate objects (like text) in a video with the keyframe timeline, meaning that they can define when exactly an object appears in the video and control the position and other properties of said object in specific frames. This allows for the creation of complex animations.
• Layers: Users have access to multi-layer functionality, and within each layer they can add and adjust additional videos, images, text and effects from a library of assets and content.
• Chroma Key: According to Lightricks' press release, this feature uses AI edge awareness to remove solid backgrounds while leaving foregrounds intact (a bit like using a green screen), so you can merge and blend multiple videos into one finished product.
• Blending and Masking: Users can overlay and adjust images, videos and text with various blending and masking modes for really cool and surreal effects.
• Color Adjustments: Videoleap will use its powerful image processing capabilities to color-correct your videos for you, or you can have complete control over the adjustments yourself.

Enlight Videoleap is a free app, however you won't get the full gamut of professional tools unless you upgrade to Videoleap Pro. Lightrick is offering a half-off deal right now, meaning for a limited time you can upgrade by purchasing a monthly subscription for only $3.99/month, a yearly subscription for only $1.67/month, or by paying a one-time fee of $39.99. Considering the high prices of desktop video editing software, that's not a bad deal. After this promotional period is over though, prices will double, so if you're interested I'd hop on it as soon as possible.

Thoughts? Questions?

Would you use Videoleap for all your mobile video editing needs? Let us know in the comments!

StikBot Studio from Zing Global Ltd. allows a cinematographer-to-be to easily create and share amazing stop animation movies using an iPhone or iPad. Although the studio and action packs are sold separately, the App is free to download.

You can make clips that are as long as you like but the playback is set at a default of 10 frames per second (it can go all the way to 30 frames per seconds with a settings change), therefore it would take 100 pictures to make a 10 second clip. Although the StikBots developed and sold by Zing allow for easy posing and manipulation due to their suction cup hands and feet, you're free to use any action figure or toy you want in your films and the stories are up to your imagination. Here's how to get started!

Getting started with StikBot Studio

1. Download and Install StikBot Studio from the App Store.
2. Tap Open.
3. Tap the Video Camera icon.
4. Tap OK to allow access to the camera.

Set your scene

At this point your camera will be enables and ready to start taking photos.

1. Set you camera on a small stable location like a tripod for best results.
2. Set up your initial scene.
3. Tap the red face to take your first shot.

4. Make a small adjustment to your figure. You'll see a ghost image of your previous position so that you get the motion "just right".
5. Tap the red face to take your next shot. You'll notice that the ghost image in now gone awaiting your next stop motion movement.
6. Continue until you have completed your scene.
7. Once you've completed your scene, tap the video editor icon.

Modify your animation

Once you have your desired scene completed, you can add sound effects, dialog, text, and items from your camera roll in the video editor.

1. Tap the new scene you've created.
2. You can preview your video by tapping the play arrow.

3. Press the pause button to stop the preview.

1. Tap the scene marker time to add a sound to. The go in increments of 1/10 of a second.
2. Tap the picture icon to add sound. You can choose pre-made effects or record your own. You'll need to tap OK to allow access to your microphone. In this tutorial we will use pre-made effects.

3. Select the type of sound effect you want. You can select music my tapping the music icon.
4. Various sounds like action or animal sounds can be selected by tapping the pow! icon. Here we select a Punch effect.

5. Tap the effect you've just added in the effects timeline to make adjustments or to delete it.

6. Go on to your next scene marker you want to add sound effects to.
7. Pre-view your edits by tapping *the * play arrow**.

There are further options you can make by tapping the settings icon such as automatic looping or video recording speed. When you're happy with everything you can start to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Here's our test video!

StikBot Quick Film

Exporting and sharing

Once you've completed your awesome animation you're ready to save and share it!

1. Tap the export icon.
2. Tap YES to save your movie to the camera roll.
3. Choose your video format.

4. Tap OK to allow StikBot to access your photos.
5. Tap OK once the export to camera roll is complete.
6. Go into your Photos.
7. Tap your movie.
8. Tap the Share icon.
9. Select the method your wish to share your video be it Messages, eMail, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter etc…

10. Done!

Practice makes perfect

It will take some time getting used to which shots and movements look best but with some practice you can make some great animations! There are other possibilities to explore with StikBot Studio such as photo manipulations that you can add to your movie. And remember, you need't purchase the StikBot figures to make some great stop motion movies. Just take a look at some of the animations that my children have made!

StikBot Nightwing

StikBot Star Trek

Final thoughts

Do you have any suggestions for Apps that get the creative juices flowing? Let us know in the comments!

Metadata can be a great thing when it comes to knowing where you snapped your photos, specific details about certain images, which lens your iPhone 7 Plus used, and so much more.

While there are apps available for erasing and securing metadata on images, there aren't many that target video in particular … until Metapho's 3.0 update!

Free - Download now

How does the new Metapho update work?

With this latest Metapho update, you can now see and manage metadata from your iPhone's videos.

What else is new?

As of Metapho 3.0, you can — for the very first time — pick and choose multiple images to edit at once, making the process of going through images and stripping data a heck of a lot easier.

What do you think of the latest update?

Let us know in the comments below!

If you're someone who loves snapping pictures with your iPhone, then you've probably heard of Halide, a brand new, state-of-the-art iPhone camera app that was designed by an ex-Twitter engineer and former Apple employee (so you know it's gotta be good!).

The app essentially turns your iPhone into a mini sort of DSLR camera, giving users full control of focus, RAW image capture, and so, so much more.

Craig Grannell, Stuff:

• Manual focus is a must
• This photo is RAW!
• Play with the ISO
• White balance your life!
• Selfie-game strong
• The user manual is your BFF

Manual focus is a must

If you've ever shot with a DSLR camera before, then you know how important manual focus can be. Depending on autofocus for tricky little specifics and details is kind of like flying blind, while manual focus allows you full control over the subject you're shooting – and more importantly which parts of the subject are shown clearly on camera.

With the manual focus feature from Halide, you can effortlessly use your iPhone to focus and pick up smaller details and focus points in the photo you're snapping!

Halide also takes it one step further with a sort of "focus indicator" feature where red lines will outline what you're trying to take a picture of and will fade/adjust depending on whether you're in focus or not. It's super helpful if what you're trying to capture is incredibly small and precise!

BONUS: Pair your favorite mobile macro lens with Halide, start experimenting, and I can guarantee your macro shots will rival those of a professional photographer!

This photo is RAW!

You've probably heard of people shooting RAW photos. If you're not sure what it means, here's a great description from Photography Concentrate:

Halide allows users to effortlessly shoot and edit in a RAW photo format. This means a couple of things, including that if you're shooting RAW images all the time, you're going to run out of room a lot quicker than if you were just shooting compressed images.

It also means that the photos you shoot through Halide will be clearer, sharper, and easier to edit/markup than most other pictures you'll take through other third-party camera apps.

Play with the ISO

When it comes to digital photography, ISO measures the sensitivity of the image sensor AKA how much light is flooding your photographs.

With a DSLR camera, you can easily adjust and get specific with ISO settings, but typically with an iPhone camera app, you're SOL – that is, until Halide appeared on the mobile photography scene!

Halide is great because you can play with the ISO and the brightness of your mobile photography with just a few easy swipes, so whether you're capturing the beauty of a dramatic sunset or want to adjust the shadows for the perfect selfie in a nightclub with friends, then Halide's got your back!

White balance your life!

White balancing and adjustments are typically reserved for filmmaking and professional DSLR-level photography, but to quote Stuff, Halide "encourages you to think a little more about whatever you're shooting", which is why the white balancing features exist!

When you use white balance with your photography, you eliminate the need for time-consuming editing afterwards.

White balancing can get rid of any ugly yellow tones or discolored accents in a photo, and with Halide, you can adjust the white balance for an especially sunny day, more of a cloudy day, a day with low light, or a day that's a bit brighter. You can also just the auto white balance option.

Selfie game strong

While there are plenty of camera features that only work with your front-facing camera (AHEMPORTRAITMODEFORSELFIESAHEMMMM), Halide understands that taking a stellar selfie with your third-party camera app is a must.

Using Halide, you can effortlessly adjust white balance, ISO, exposure, the grid, and so much more on your selfies, guaranteeing that they look top-notch every single time!

The only thing you can't do in selfie mode with Halide is manual focus, so if you're looking to snap a super clear selfie of your intricate makeup or the freckles on your nose, you're pretty much out of luck.

The user manual is your BFF

Sometimes with apps like this that are laid out in a very minimal, simple way, it gets insanely confusing and complicated to know what each and every little icon does.

Halide is fantastic because in the settings menu, in the upper right corner, there's an option to delve into the User Manual. While it may not seem like a big deal to some, the animation on the manual actually makes you feel like you're flipping pages in an actual instruction booklet!

With this manual, you can figure out how to adjust exposure, how to access menus, and so, so much more; although, I do wish it would go into more detail about what each feature does for people who aren't as confident with formal camera technology and terminology.

What do you think of Halide?

Are you a big fan of playing around with third-party camera apps like Halide to snap your iPhone photography, or would you rather just stick to the standard Camera app?

If you could set Halide to be your standard camera app that you could easily swipe to, would that encourage you to use it more?

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

If you thought Instagram was hip, then you probably haven't heard of VSCO, "an art and technology company empowering people everywhere to create, discover, and connect" (VSCO.co).

The app essentially works like an Instagram of sorts, allowing users to upload and edit their photos with stunning, colorful, vivid filters – some of which are free, others which come in packages which cost a lil' $$$ – and adjust settings like contrast, brightness, temperature, sharpness, gain, and so much more. Then, when you're done with your photo, you can either save it to your camera roll, or post it to your VSCO profile.

In the last year or so, VSCO released DSCO (by the way, VSCO stands for Visual Supply Co), an app designed to take short videos that move and play-back like GIFs, and while VSCO has been incredibly popular, DSCO hasn't been as well-received, earning barely a 2-star rating in the app store.

Recently, VSCO has decided to incorporate DSCO directly into its layout, meaning that having two separate apps for photography and video/GIF-making is no longer necessary!

How do I access DSCO from VSCO, yo?

1. Open up VSCO.
2. Tap on the white arrow at the top of the screen.
3. Tap DSCO at the bottom of the screen. It should be right beside VSCO.

Cool! How do I use it?

Press and hold down to start recording your short video. Then when you're finished, swipe to the left and right to pick the perfect filter to lay on top.

You can even download filters and filter packs to find the perfect one that matches your ~~aesthetic~~

Where can I post my DSCO videos after?

You can either download them to your camera roll, or post them onto your VSCO profile.

My personal favorite thing to do is upload them onto giphy.com and make actual GIFs and reaction GIFs that I can sarcastically send to my friends.

How do you VSCO/DSCO?

Are you a big fan of VSCO and DSCO? Or would you rather stick to Facebook and your standard camera app? Is this a super cool way to capture video? Or just another pointless thing to clutter your social media?

Let us know what your thoughts are in the comments below!

If you were on social media in the summer of 2016, you probably caught a glimpse of a photo that had been edited with Prisma. Essentially the app takes your picture, you pick your filter/art style, and voila – you have a selfie inspired by the likes of Van Gogh.

But now everyone's favorite artsy app is getting a couple big big big updates, letting users shop from an seemingly free in-app store, delete filters they aren't fond of, and even design their own Prisma art filters!

WHAT! I Can design my own Prisma filters?!

Yup! But only on your desktop (for now, at least…)

Using a soon-to-be launched desktop tool, users will be able to create and tweak their own art style.

So everyone can make their own Prisma filters?

Well as of right now, this feature is only available to a couple of Prisma's most active users.

What about the store?

The store will allow users to download, rate, and review different art styles and filters. Subsequently, users can now get rid of specific filters they aren't fond of.

Will it cost anything to download filters?

Right now, it appears that everything is free! #awesome

How do I get access to the filter creator?

Well, unless you're a big-time Prisma user, you're not going to have much access (but if you reeeeaaaalllllyyyy wanted to try, you could look here)

What do you think of Prisma's latest update?

Are you going to be creating new filters, or downloading a bunch for your photo editing shenanigans?

Let us know what you think about Prisma's latest update in the comments below (and what your favorite Prisma filter is!)

For those of you that have been reading iMore for a while, you might remember us posting about FotoSwipe wayyyyyyy back in 2014 and 2015.

Together, with the help of our awesome community, we helped the FotoSwipe team launch their app in iTunes and Google Play, and we've been super pumped about their progress!

Okay, back up: What is FotoSwipe anyway?

FotoSwipe is a simple app that lets you share tons of files across multiple devices without any hassle. You can transfer pictures, videos, files, apps, music, WHATEVER!

Better yet, you can transfer files between two iOS devices, an iOS and Android, or two Android devices. It doesn't matter. It just works.

Why should you use it?

With services like Dropbox or a traditional cloud service, you have to upload your files, share the link, and wait a specific amount of time for things to load. That's way too many steps, honestly.

With FotoSwipe, it's as easy as tapping your photo, getting your code, typing it in, and BAM: your photo is downloaded instantly. Also, once you add a device in FotoSwipe, it remembers it forever, making it easy to share files whenever you need!

Some scenarios where you might find FotoSwipe a huge help:

• Sharing photos quickly without the need to exchange contact info
• Transferring photos between devices quickly at home (from iPhone to Android tablet, for example)
• Authorizing a device once and then pushing photos to it (for example, your parents iPad. Authorize it once and easily share family photos with them whenever you like!)

Give it a try and let us know what you think!

FotoSwipe is free to download, and recently pushed version 3.0 to iTunes. Some really great improvements have been made including the ability to send large videos (500MB or more) and apps directly from one device to another.

If you're ready to give it a try, hit the button below to get started!

See at iTunes

Prisma updated its app to add an offline mode for "the majority of Prisma styles." That means you're less likely to see the "over-capacity" error for many of Prisma's most popular filters! The app was also updated with special "philanthropic styles," that let you make a $1 donation to an Elbi charity.

Prisma is a photo filter app, available on the App Store, that turns your snapshots into digital artwork. It uses artificial intelligence to alter photos for maximum effect.

It can also take hella long to load individual filters. We're talking, like, 10 seconds or more, which is way too long when you're trying out three dozen different filters for one picture. Worse, it can sometimes give you an "over capacity" error and simply not work at all. So, what's going on?

How Prisma works

Prisma uses artificial intelligence to suggest the perfect filter for your photo. It then analyzes the elements involved and, in essence, redraws it.

For Prisma's more complex filters, it uploads your picture to the server, makes the changes, and then downloads it back onto your device. A lot is happening to turn your selfie into a work of art.

Why is Prisma is sometimes 'over capacity'?

You may have seen the message, "Prisma is over capacity. There are too many people using Prisma right now. Please wait a moment and try again." Because of Prisma's popularity, the servers are having a difficult time keeping up.

Why does Prisma sometimes runs slowly?

Even when Prisma's servers are up and running, they can still be slow or even free up if too many people are trying to use it at once. Basically, Prisma is like the Pokémon Go of photo apps. They'll need to add more servers as they get more users to properly scale the service.

Aside from Prisma's server problems, due to the AI process, some filters require your device to be online. So, if you have a slow connection or weak data signal, it is going to take even longer for those filters to load.

Which filters are offline?

If you're struggling to get Prisma's online filters working, you might just want to stick to the offline options. A quick way to tell the difference is to turn on Airplane Mode. Without network access, the app will gray-out filters that need an internet connection to work.

Tips and tricks to getting Prisma's online filters to work faster

1. Make sure you are on a strong network - Whether you are using local Wi-Fi or your cellular data, you can get to the filter faster if your signal is strong. If your Wi-Fi network is slow (like at a hotel or coffee shop), switch over to LTE while you load up filters.
2. Don't leave the app - If you get a text message or notification while loading a Prisma filter, it won't continue to load in the background. It just stops, mid-load.
3. Don't run data-heavy programs in the background - If you're streaming music or downloading app updates in the background while trying to load filters, you may see a slight slowdown. Normally, the slowness would be insignificant, but since Prisma is experiencing its own problems with server issues, the less clutter, the better.
4. Don't restart Prisma - I know, most of the time, when an app is struggling to load, your first instinct is to "hard close" it by swiping up from the Recent Apps tool. But if you've already loaded a half-dozen filters when Prisma started to slow down, you still have those six filters already on lockdown. If you hard close the app, you'll lose all of that progress and have to start over from scratch.
5. Just walk away - There are times when Prisma just isn't going to work, especially when the servers are overloaded. There is nothing you can do about it except follow the app's advice to, "Please wait a moment and try again."

What has your experience with Prisma been like?

Have you been struggling to load some of the filters on Prisma? How's the update working for you? Let us know how its been working for you in the comments.

Prisma, available on the App Store, makes your iPhone photos look like wondrous works of art … it just takes a while to do it. That's because Prisma's artificial intelligence (AI) filters run on the cloud, so it has to upload every photo, apply every filter, and download every photo, every time, before it can show it to you. That means you're probably spending a lot of time trying out different filters to see which one looks best on your photo. If you'd rather skip that time-consuming step, scroll through our Prisma filter cheat sheet.

Note: I'd still encourage you to take the time to try out a few different filters — you never know exactly how they'll look on your photos.

Unfiltered, original photos

Candy

Coloured Sky

Composition

Curly Hair

Curtain

Dreams

Femme

Flame Flower

#GettUrban

Gothic

Heisenberg

Illegal Beauty

Impression

Light Summer Reading

Marcus D - Lone Wolf

Mondrian

Mononoke

Mosaic

Paper Art

Red Head

Roland

Roy

Running in the Storm

Tears

Tokyo

Transverse Line

Udnie

Urban

Wave

What's your favorite?

Have you given Prisma a go? What are your favorite filters? Let me know in the comments, or send us your favorite Prisma-filtered photo by tagging it with #imore or @imoregram on Instagram!

Prisma, the popular photo effects app that is everywhere on Instagram and Facebook right now, adds a watermark of its logo by default to every photo it produces. But with one change, it's easy to turn it off.

How to remove the Prisma logo watermark from your photos

1. Open Prisma from your home screen.
2. Tap on the Cog (Settings) icon to the right of the screen.
3. Uncheck Enable watermark setting.
4. Tap Done at the top right to return to photo screen.

That's it! All of the photos you create with Prisma with now on will not have the logo watermark on the bottom right. Nothing else changes, and your photos are not altered in any other way.

What's next?

Prisma is a new and exciting photo effects app, and we'd love to know how you're using it. What are your favorite effects? Let us know in the comments below!

Imagine being able to take a picture with your iPhone and have it print instantly from your phone case in vivid color and high-quality detail. No wires, no ink, no waiting, no mess. Pretty cool, right?

Now imagine if these printed photos had an unlockable video clip that was activated every time you looked at the picture through your iPhone's screen – a short little piece of augmented reality capturing the moments after a photo was taken – a physical, tangible memory.

While all of this sounds like the stuff Harry Potter books are made of, the realities of the wizarding world are closer than you think, thanks to the help of Prynt's instant smartphone printer!

Back in 2014, co-founders and former engineers Clement Perrot and David Zhang founded Prynt in Paris, and after two years, dozens of prototypes, and a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, Prynt as we know it was developed (ha, photography pun).

While the idea of the Prynt case is wickedly revolutionary and cool, is it honestly worth the $149 price-tag, and more importantly, does it even really work the way it says it does? Here are a few things we discovered while taking a peek at one of the coolest gadgets for your iPhone.

See at Prynt

• Style
• Features
• Design
• The Bottom Line

Style

Right off the hop, the Prynt is not a practical, everyday iPhone case by any means. This shouldn't really surprise anyone though, as it's quite literally a printer attached to your iPhone, so it's adding an inch or two of bulk. It's important to think of the Prynt as a camera accessory for your iPhone to help you capture the best snapshots rather than your standard iPhone case.

That being said, attaching the adaptor to your iPhone is simple as pie and once your iPhone is snugly secure in the case, it doesn't actually feel like it's going to slip out and shatter. However, the Prynt leaves half of your iPhone exposed and isn't made of a durable, drop-resistant plastic, so be careful and try not to drop it while you're out shooting or you'll probably end up breaking both the printer and your iPhone. It's more printer than "case".

The case comes in two colors, black or white, and has a smooth, matte feel to the body of the case while the grip is covered in a sort of thin, white faux-leather material. The minimalist Prynt logo is also on the front of the printer, but other than that it's a simple design.

While the case itself is quite large, the paper that comes with the Prynt is a narrower, slimmer version of Polaroid's classic film, but without the white boarder. The photos that get printed also double as stickers — just peel and stick wherever you want! As an additional bonus, the paper doesn't cost as much as you'd think; you can get 50 sheets of sticker paper for less than $25 online.

Features

Augmented reality and adapters and instant photo editing, oh my! The Prynt has a ton of features that truly make this one of the coolest toys to get creative with.

Once you get your hands on a Prynt case, you're going to download the Prynt app. The app is where all the magic happens, letting you add filters, adjust photo settings, write text on your photo, play around with editing, and so much more. You can turn your photos into black-and-white masterpieces, or give them a washed-out look with more of a vintage feel depending on your style and mood.

To print with the Prynt case, all you need to do is snap a photo or pull an old picture from your camera roll, tap the print button, wait around 20 seconds for the picture to render, watch it print, and then you have your tiny printed masterpiece! It takes around 30-40 seconds for the entire printing process, and the animation on your screen even makes it look like your photo is sliding directly out from under your phone's glass screen (which is, like, the coolest thing ever, tbh).

Perhaps the most amazing feature the Prynt has is its relatively seamless augmented reality feature that is activated within all of its printed photos. After you snap your picture, Prynt takes a 5 to 6-second video of whatever you just snapped and stores it in the cloud, linked to that physical photo/

After the picture is printed, you and your friends can use the Prynt app to scan the picture and bring the video to life on top of the photo in your hand (through the phone's screen). The video follows your photo around and loops as it goes, making it look and feel like a real-life GIF. It's practically identical to what Harry Potter has in the wizarding world, except we have to look at the pictures through an iPhone screen and the people in the photos don't talk back to you.

Design

The neatest part of the Prynt's design is that it essentially turns your iPhone into a point-and-shoot camera. You get the wider, textured grip on the right side of the case to hold the Prynt in your hand better, plus a shutter button on the top that really makes you feel like you're shooting with a "standard" camera rather than an iPhone. So again, think of this as more as a camera accessory rather than an iPhone case.

Strap hooks on the camera allow you to attach a neck or wrist strap, while an internal battery that can be charged via USB assures you won't be draining your iPhone battery as you're shooting and printing. You don't have to worry about wires or Wi-Fi or Bluetooth either – simply slide your iPhone into the appropriate adaptor, and you're ready to start shooting and recording.

The Prynt case was designed to work with a bunch of different types of phones including the iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5, and the Samsung Galaxy S5, so if you get an upgrade or change the phone you're using, all you need to do is pick up a new adapter to start printing with your Prynt again!

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, the Prynt does everything it says it will. It captures and prints beautiful pictures almost instantly, it lets users edit and tweak their photos depending on their creative style, unlike other instant cameras from the past, and it has seamless, mind-blowing augmented reality that will help you unlock and relive memories for years to come.

Even though the case is quite bulky, think of the Prynt as a camera attachment or tool for your iPhone to help you capture the best snapshots rather than a traditional iPhone case, and if you're still bothered by the size after seeing all the Prynt's cool features, then I'm not too sure what to tell you... other than have fun in the muggle world!

Popular camera app Camera+ has arrived at version 8.0, adding a number of new features including the new Slow Shutter for longer exposures. The app also has a new Ultra-low ISO mode, which works well when paired with Slow Shutter. Neither of these features will be available on the iPhone 5 or older.

In addition to Slow Shutter, Camera+ has added new options for importing photos, including support for importing your most recent photo. Additionally, Camera+ now features an action extension, which lets you send photos to your Lightbox from other apps. You can also now initiate an import from the Camera+ Notification Center widget.

There are some smaller changes with this update as well. The "What's New" section will tell you what's changed with the most recent update. This release also sees a number of bugs getting fixed.

You'll find Camera+ 8.0 on the App Store now.

• $2.99 - Download Now

Macphun, the developer behind a number of Mac photo apps, has released version 1.2 of Aurora HDR, which helps you create great high-dynamic-range photographs. The headline feature of Aurora 1.2 is its support for Photos for OS X with its new photo editing extension.

Aurora HDR 1.2 features a number of improvements and fixes. Check out the list below for the full rundown of what to expect:

NEW

• Photos for Mac editing extensions support
• Leica M Monochrome (type 246) RAW file support
• Open/Save for .HDR and .EXR image formats

IMPROVED

• Better RAW file handling for images created by Panasonic, Olympus and Fuji
• Updates to Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop plug-ins for enhanced support to keywords, metadata, and "F" Screen mode
• Enhanced masking brush for better smoothing on edges
• Improved clipping results for overall HDR effect in shadows and highlights
• Chromatic aberration reduction has been significantly improved
• Better UI support for 11" and 13" displays at multiple resolutions
• Faster HDR Merging, faster Deghosting, enhanced Chromatic Aberration Reduction

You can grab this latest Aurora HDR update either directly from Macphun or from the Mac App Store.

• $39.99 - Download Now

Friend of iMore and contributor Jeff Carlson is an ace photographer and recently wrote a new book on MacPhun's new Aurora HDR software. Over the holidays, he's graciously allowing us to run an excerpt from the new ebook, Aurora HDR and Aurora HDR Professional: A Photoversity Guide ($8). In the book, Jeff offers tips for capturing the best source photos and then walks you through not just building HDR images, but using Aurora HDR's professional tools to creating holiday photos both hyper-realisitic and fanciful.

MacPhun's Aurora HDR application for the Mac makes it easy to create and edit HDR (High Dynamic Range) photos. You've certainly seem them: brilliant landscapes with ethereal glows, or architectural photos where you can see every detail. HDR is broader than that, though, allowing you to balance details in a scene without going overboard.

The secret to HDR is combining two or more exposures (which Aurora HDR calls brackets) to create one image with more tonal information than what a camera can capture. In the past, merging those photos and manipulating the results was almost a dark art. With assistance from photographer Trey Ratcliff, who popularized the technique, MacPhun has built a tool that can be used by any photographer.

Import Brackets

When you first open Aurora HDR, click the Load HDR Brackets button to select the images you want in a standard Open dialog, or drag the image files onto the window. You can also get your feet wet with three of Trey Ratcliff's images by clicking the Load Sample Images button.

Aurora HDR then displays thumbnails of the images you chose. Before you click the Create HDR button, though, pay attention to the checkboxes at the bottom:

• Alignment: If you shot the brackets handheld, select this option to align the shots before merging them into an HDR photo.
• Ghosts Reduction: One catch with merging multiple images is that the world doesn't stand still for your images. If it's windy, even just a little, leaves or grass can change position between exposures, which appear as translucent "ghosts." Select this option to reduce the effect.
• Chromatic Aberration Reduction: One common artifact when creating HDR images is chromatic aberration, which manifests itself as halos (often purple-fringed) around edges. This Pro-only option corrects for it. (Note: These features can be applied only when you load brackets; if you want the application to reduce chromatic aberration later, for instance, you need to start over.)

After a short wait while Aurora HDR ­processes the photos, the HDR image appears, along with the tools on the right and presets along the bottom of the screen.

There you go! In most cases, the result is pretty good without any further editing.

Fun with Presets

The easiest way to make great HDR images is to take advantage of the dozens of presets that have been fine-tuned to deliver treatments ranging from realistic enhancements to almost painterly abstractions. The Aurora HDR Professional version includes an entire category of presets created by Trey Ratcliff himself.

However, don't think of presets as just sets of canned effects: More often they're great jumping-off points for your own additional editing.

A row of presets runs along the bottom of the Aurora HDR window, showing previews of the photo with those settings. Click one to apply the look. Clicking the Compare button in the toolbar gives you a split before-and-after preview.

Tip: Press the Tab key, or choose View > Toggle Presets, to temporarily hide the presets and view more of your image.

In addition to the presets that come with the application, you can save your own based on settings you make, and also share them with friends who also own Aurora HDR.

Layers and Masks

Aurora HDR includes a huge number of settings for adjusting tone, color, structure, and more. These editing capabilities elevate it above being a simple conversion utility for merging multiple exposures—but the layer and mask features kick it into orbit.

In nearly every photo I capture, some element stands out that I want to devote more attention to. A reflection could be a little brighter. Noise in the sky would be better toned down. Or, specifically in the case of creating HDR images, I may want to combine the effects of two presets in one photo.

Layers and masks let me do that. If you've used Adobe Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements) or other image-editing software that supports layers, you'll feel right at home. If you're coming from an iPhoto/Photos for OS X background, prepare to be amazed and inspired.

In beach sunrise photo below, I want to draw attention to the design carved into the sand by the water rivulets, and also brighten the foreground. Applying the Basic Bright preset gives me detail and more illumination, but at the cost of making the sky too noisy. So instead, I'll apply the preset on a new layer and make sure it applies to just the beach by making a mask.

1. Click the plus (+) button in the Layers panel to create a new layer, and then give it a unique name. The image itself isn't copied; instead, think of it as a container for settings (or what Photoshop calls an adjustment layer).
   
   
   

2. With the layer still selected, click a preset to apply it. The result is initially the same as when we chose the preset for the Original Image layer.
3. From the toolbar, select the Brush tool, and change its characteristics using the Brush drop-down menu. The brush's opacity is set to 50%, but I recommend increasing that to 100%, at least at first, so you don't end up going over the same areas multiple times.
   
   
   

4. Brush the area that reveals the effect, in this case the beach and rocks, but not the sky. Notice that the layer thumbnail reveals a rough approximation of the masked area.
   
   
   

As you draw, press the bracket keys ( [ and ] ) to reduce or increase the size of the brush instead of returning to the drop-down menu. If you need to change other aspects, Control-click to view the menu wherever the mouse pointer is.

To erase brush strokes, click the Eraser button next to the Brush button just above the image. (Actually, clicking the Brush button toggles to the Eraser, too.)

Using these techniques, you can selectively edit areas, apply new effects, and otherwise make the photo more dynamic than what you started with. In the final image, I've also made the sky more vibrant and removed digital noise using the HDR Denoise tool.

Jeff Carlson's Aurora HDR and Aurora HDR Professional: A Photoversity Guide costs $8 (normally $15) and is available as a downloadable 53-page, full-color PDF. MacPhun's Aurora HDR costs $39.99; a free demo version is also available. Aurora HDR Professional, which includes pro features such as native RAW support and the Trey Ratcliff presets, costs $99.

If you've made the switch to OS X's new Photos, you may have been frustrated with your inability to merge your photo libraries. A recently-released Mac app, PowerPhotos from Fat Cat Software, seeks to fix this issue with its latest update. PowerPhotos 1.1 allows you to merge libraries, while also helping you weed out duplicate photos and more.

When merging libraries, PowerPhotos will bring over basic metadata, including descriptions, titles, dates, and keywords. However, the app cannot bring over Faces, reversible photo edits, or manually assigned locations. You can also copy individual photos between your libraries.

In addition to merging libraries, PowerPhotos helps you do more with Photos for OS X. You can build and manage multiple libraries, quickly search your photos, and migrate both iPhoto and Aperture libraries.

You can try PowerPhotos for free, and purchase the full version of the app for $29.95. Included in that price is a license for iPhoto Library Manager, a similar app from Fat Cat that is geared towards iPhoto.

• $29.95 - Download Now

We've already started to see some interesting apps based around Live Photos pop up in the App Store, and a new app called Lively is the latest. Lively lets you take your Live Photos captured on your iPhone 6s or 6s Plus and export them as GIFs or videos to share with your friends.

When you load up Lively, you're presented with a list of all of your Live Photos. From there you can export to video or GIF format, and you can even change the speed of the playback. The app also includes 3D Touch support in the form of quick options to make a GIF or movie from the last live photo taken, along with Peek and Pop to quickly view live photos in the app. This certainly isn't the first app that we've seen for turning Live Photos into animated GIFs or movie files, but it's definitely a fun and well-made app worth checking out.

It's worth noting that Lively is free to download and try for the first three exports, but you'll have to pony up $1.99 to unlock unlimited exports via and in-app purchase. Still, if you'd like to give Lively a gander, you can snag it from the link below.

• Free - Download Now

Vimeo has updated Cameo, the video editing app for iPhone that it purchased last year, with a complete overhaul, stripping it down to its basic components, and focusing entirely on video editing. Cameo doesn't shoot video itself, and instead needs access to your own video library. Once you add your videos, you can cut down their length, and even add multiple videos into a single creation. So if, for instance, you went on a trip with your family, taking several videos, you could cut and combine all of them into a single video of the trip.

Going beyond cutting, you can add a number of effects and filters to your videos. You can also add music to your videos, which can be selected from Vimeo's library of free tracks. While the original Cameo tried to combine elements of a social network into the app, it now settles for being able to share your videos on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and of course, Vimeo. You can also save videos to your phone.

You can grab Cameo 2.0 from the App Store right now.

• Free - Download Now

The app is available in both both standard and pro versions at $17.99 and $49.99, respectively. While the standard version offers up basic noise reduction tools that should work for most users, the pro version brings a proprietary RAW noise reduction technology, additional color space models, and the ability to run as a plug-in in Photoshop, Lightroom, and Aperture. Here's a full breakdown of Noiseless' features:

• Advanced noise reduction technology to remove color and light noise, while preserving details
• Special technology for improving Smartphone and ActionCam photos
• Adjust panel for fine tuning details and smooth areas and filtering noise reduction selectively
• Crop and rotate
• Easy­to­use interface
• The software automatically selects the optimum starting preset based on the image
• Opacity slider on each preset to fine tune amount of noise reduction
• Incredibly fast processing speeds
• Support of sRGB (Standard. Pro), ProPhoto (Pro only), AdobeRGB (Pro Only) color spaces
• RAW file noise reduction technology (Pro version)
• Ability to run as a standalone or a plug­in to Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture (Pro version)

If you're interested in Noiseless, you can pick up the standard version of the software from the Mac App Store now, while the pro version is only available for purchase from Macphun's website.

• $17.99 - Buy Noiseless Standard
• $49.99 - Buy Noiseless Pro

Press Release:

Macphun Launches Powerful, New, Noise Reduction App, N​oiseless

Advanced algorithms, elegant design, fast, one­click noise reduction pre­sets and unprecedented detail retention for any image

San Diego, CA ­ April 16th, 2015 - ­​Macphun, a leading photography software developer with over 25 million users, today launched their latest app, Noiseless. Using new, advanced imaging technology, Noiseless provides a one­click solution for eliminating the pixelated/grainy patterns generated by nearly every camera when shooting in poorly lit situations. Users of smartphones, action cams, point & shoot cameras and entry­level DSLRs will especially benefit from this new, affordable app. To learn more about Noiseless, simply visit w​ww.macphun.com/noiseless.​

What is Noise?

Noise is created in situations where the camera automatically increases the ISO sensitivity to correct for low light conditions, thus introducing intrusive grain and speckles to the image. This "noise" can ruin an otherwise great image. What Noiseless does, with advanced algorithms, is automatically detect and correct for this "noise" in an image. Noiseless is able to detect if the image is from a smartphone, action cam or DSLR and applies most optimal correction. For even greater control, advanced or adventurous users can tap into the "Adjust Panel" for even more detail preservation and selective reduction tools. "We're very confident that Noiseless is the most capable of any noise reduction tool out there. Plus, it offers extra controls over detail, selective adjustment of noise reduction and ease of use that simply are cutting­edge," said Paul Muzok, CEO of Macphun. "I would encourage every photographer—including people who own smartphones or already have a noise reduction tool—to download Noiseless and give it a "test drive."

Two versions: Standard & Pro

Noiseless will come configured in a standard version sold exclusively on the Mac App Store and a Pro version sold on Macphun's website at www.macphun.com/noiseless. The Pro version will add a powerful, proprietary RAW noise reduction technology, support for additional color space models, extra detail controls and the ability to run as a plug­in within Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, and Apple Aperture, while the Standard Version will be more applicable for the everyday, casual shooter or "iPhoneographer" who isn't too concerned with tons of detail and nuance.

Key Features of Noiseless

● Advanced noise reduction technology to remove color and light noise, while preserving details

● Special technology for improving Smartphone and ActionCam photos

● Adjust panel for fine tuning details and smooth areas and filtering noise reduction selectively

● Crop and rotate

● Easy­to­use interface

● The software automatically selects the optimum starting preset based on the image

● Opacity slider on each preset to fine tune amount of noise reduction

● Incredibly fast processing speeds

● Support of sRGB (Standard. Pro), ProPhoto (Pro only), AdobeRGB (Pro Only) color spaces

● RAW file noise reduction technology (Pro version)

● Ability to run as a standalone or a plug­in to Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture (Pro version)

Pricing and Availability

Interested users may download the Pro version by visiting www.macphun.com/noiseless. To purchase the standard version visit the Mac App Store. Noiseless pricing will be $17.99 for the Standard version in the Mac App Store and $49.99 for the Pro version sold on the company's website. Upgrades from Standard to Pro will be offered at $29.99.

Following the recent announcement of FotoSwipe here on iMore, the developers behind the iOS/Android cross-platform photo sharing service followed up with us today to say THANK YOU. A small tribe of our forum community members were actively involved in beta testing the app — we love to see developers active in our forums — so we were happy to write up the official release of the app.

FotoSwipe let us know that in the short time since it was released, these efforts have helped them pass the milestone of one million photos being shared. There are now over 175,000 users (about a 50/50 split between iOS and Android) using FotoSwipe in 175 countries and the user base is growing fast. Since the initial release, the developers have been quick to listen to user feedback and have already released an update to FotoSwipe. The basic swipe gesture has been greatly improved, and the interface has been revamped as well. More features are on the roadmap as well, including faster sharing speeds when on Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi connections and support to share videos by swiping.

In case you missed the announcement post, here's a recap of FotoSwipe. It's a free and incredibly easy to use app that allows you to share photos between iOS and Android devices. True to its name, Fotoswipe lets you share photos by swiping your finger from one device to the other (both devices must have FotoSwipe installed). Simply open the app on both devices, tap and hold a photo, swipe to the device you'd like to send the photo to... and you're done. Fotoswipe does not require users to register and you don't need to be on Wi-Fi.

FotoSwipe isn't limited to sharing between just two devices either. Perfect example: Let's say you're at a holiday party (with some friends and some strangers) and you take a group photo. Everybody has their Android phone or iPhone with them and would like a copy of that photo. With FotoSwipe installed on each device, you simply would bring the phones near each other with FotoSwipe open, and the person who snapped the photo would then swipe it over onto each phone in rapid succession — no need to exchange email and sent contact info, no need for NFC, no worrying about whether or not your bluetooth is on or off. Watch the video above to see it in action.

• FREE - Download Now

One of our favorite camera apps for the iPhone has received an update to deliver better image quality. Camera+ has now been updated to version 6.1 and allows discerning users to save images with lossless compression in the TIFF file format to retain better image details and have a higher quality photo as a result. The trade-off with saving a TIFF file, compared to a traditional JPEG, is that the TIFF format will consume more storage space on your phone.

In addition to the TIFF format, the new version of Camera+ also introduces an auto-flash mode for using the front-facing camera on your iPhone:

The new version will work on either iOS 7 or iOS 8 for those who have not taken the plunge and updated to Apple's latest mobile operating system.

What do you think of the lossless compression with the TIFF file format? Will you be using Camera+ more now to retain more details in your iPhoneography?

• $2.99 - Download now

Every day dozens and dozens of new and updated apps and games hit the iOS and Mac App Stores. It's impossible to keep up with them all, but it's not impossible to pick out the very best. Here they are! Today we've got the most awesome news app in the universe, social media apps, games and more!

New and updated iOS apps

• iMore 3.1.2: An awesome app that brings you breaking news, helpful how-tos and lots of other awesome content about all things Apple. The update sports more stability and performance enhancements for iOS 7! Free - Download now
• Flickr 3.0: A complete rebuild and redesign of the app for the popular Yahoo-owned photo blogging service. Free - Download now
• Bejeweled Blitz 1.5.0: A new Flower Power rare gem has been added, plus the popular matching game gains "general polishing" in menus and other interface elements. Free - Download now
• Hootsuite 2.5.7: Hootsuite lets you share and schedule posts from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare accounts. The new version includes bug fixes, better Push Notification support, improved Dynamic Type support and more. Free - Download now
• Accuweather 7.0.10: The weather app sports dramatic performance improvements, revised its Daily Forecast list for better readability, made active severe weather warnings more obvious, and added radar support for cities in Spain. Free - Download now
• CloudMagic 1.0.22: This email client integrates well into Salesforce, Zendesk, Trello and MailChimp workflows. Bug fixes in this release along with some interface tweaks. Free - Download now
• Facebook Paper: An alternative to browsing Facebook on your iPhone. Adds supports for birthdays, events, groups, new story buttons, and more. Lots of new tweaks to the interface to make the experience better as long as more article covers. Free - Download Now
• Facebook Messenger: Dedicated messenger app for Facebook messages. Create groups on your iPhone and save them, great for messaging people you typically add to a group. Message forwarding and more. Free - Download Now

New and updated Mac apps

• Tweetbot 1.5.1: Bug fixes for the popular Twitter client for OS X. $19.99 - Download now

More apps and updates?

If you try any of the apps or updates, let me know how they work for you. If you got any new or updated apps today that you loved, but don't see here, let us know about them!

Google recently opened up the SDK to its $35 Chromecast dongle, and for us consumers, that means apps. Developers can hook into the Chromecast going forward to get your apps and content from your iOS device to the biggest screen in your home. It's still early days, but quick out of the gate is Photo Cast for iPhone and iPad.

It's a simple app with a simple purpose; get your photos onto your TV. The iPhone has a pretty fantastic camera, but those great looking photos deserve to be shown off where everyone can see them. That's where this comes in.

You open up Photo Cast and what you see is basically your Camera Roll and any other photo containing folders. Providing you're in the vicinity of a powered up Chromecast, you'll see the standard icon in the top right corner in gray. Getting a photo to the TV is as easy as tapping on your selection and selecting the desired Chromecast from the list that pops up.

And that's it. You should now be seeing your iPhone photos on your TV in all their glory. A couple of things to note, however. Firstly it only supports photographs, no videos. Secondly, there's no slide show or anything like that, you need to choose each photo manually. However, the developer has said this is coming in a future update, which is pretty awesome.

What this app does, it does properly. I had a great time testing this out looking at a bunch of panorama photos on a 40-inch TV. And since Chromecast is so insanely portable, it'd be a great option to take with you to show the family those holiday snaps you took. Oh, and did I mention it's free? If you're rocking a Chromecast, there's no reason not to take a look.

• Free - Download Now

Canon has today pulled the wraps off its latest entry-level DSLR camera, the EOS 1200D, and along with it a companion mobile app to help you find your way around it. The 1200D – like the 1100D before it – is aimed at those taking their first steps into DSLR photography, and the app will be available to folks with an iOS or Android device.

Some of the same content is available on the actual camera, but it makes absolute sense to pull those tips, tricks and troubleshooting guides out and put them in your pocket. The camera will ship in March at £349.99 (body only), but the app should be available prior to that for interested buyers to take a look. Indeed, the Android version has already hit the Google Play Store.

As a less than camera-savvy person myself, I like what Canon did with this. How about you?

Source: Canon

Loom for iOS has been updated to version 1.3 with new sharing and saving options. You can now decide to share a link to a Loom Photo Page, or you can embed photos directly in messages. Sharing can now be donw via iMessage, email, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can also upload straight to and open photos in other applications from Loom. Multiple items can be saved at the same time, and you can also download videos from Loom to your Camera Roll.

Loom 1.3 is available now on the App Store.

• Free - Download Now

Sony's QX-series 'lens cameras' – one of which features in my own 2013 favorite tech guide – are set to get a little better in the near future, with the announcement of a firmware update for the QX10 and QX100. In January, both cameras will get 1080p video recording capabilities, as well as expanded ISO range up to 3200 for the QX10 and 12800 on the QX100. In addition, the PlayMemories Mobile app used to pair the cameras to your iPhone is also seeing an update.

On top of all that, the higher spec QX100 will also get a shutter priority mode, for those folks who are into that sort of thing. No word on exactly when the firmware updates will hit other than January, but owners of the little hockey puck shaped cameras are sure to be happy with it. Whenever it lands.

The Sony PlayMemories app update meanwhile is live today with a bump on iOS to version 4.0.1. Here's what's new:

• Embedded Photo Browser – A “Quick Viewer” photo browser has been added to the PlayMemories Mobile application, which will allow for seamless navigation between shooting images and viewing images in playback mode.
• Improved Speed and Functionality – The newest version of the application will have improved connectivity speed when linking to devices running the Apple iOS™ platform. More specifically, connection start up time will be approximately twice as fast compared to previous versions of the PlayMemories Mobile application.

I've not had chance to fire it up on my own QX10 yet, but connection speed was one of the biggest downers when the camera first launched. There's only so much you can do with a wireless connection, so we'll take what we can get, but hopefully it makes it much more pleasant to use. Grab the app from the App Store at the link below, and jump a little further for the full press release.

• Free - Download Now

SONY ANNOUNCES SOFTWARE AND FIRMWARE UPDATES IMPROVING SPEED, FUNCTIONALITY OF  CYBER-SHOT QX “LENS-STYLE” CAMERAS

New PlayMemories Mobile™ App Version 4.0 Adds Photo Browsing, Faster Connection Speeds; New Firmware Adds Full HD video shooting, Expanded ISO Range and more

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 18, 2013 – Sony Electronics has announced plans for a software and firmware update designed to improve the overall usability, speed and functionality of the Cyber-shot QX100 and QX10 “Lens-style” Cameras.

SOFTWARE UPDATE

The software update for the PlayMemories Mobile™ application – Version 4.0 – will work with all Sony Wi-Fi enabled cameras in addition to the Cyber-shot QX series, and will be available immediately in both Google Play™ and App Store™.  The updated application will feature:

• Embedded Photo Browser – A “Quick Viewer” photo browser has been added to the PlayMemories Mobile application, which will allow for seamless navigation between shooting images and viewing images in playback mode.
• Improved Speed and Functionality – The newest version of the application will have improved connectivity speed when linking to devices running the Apple iOS™ platform.  More specifically, connection start up time will be approximately twice as fast compared to previous versions of the PlayMemories Mobile application.

Sony will be releasing another software update in Spring 2014 to improve connectivity speed with Android devices.  

CAMERA FIRMWARE UPDATE

Additionally, there will be a firmware update for QX cameras in January which will add a variety of exciting capabilities including:

• Full HD Movie Recording (QX100 and QX10): Both of the Cyber-shot QX Series cameras will have the ability to shoot Full HD 1080p video (1920x1080@30p in MP4) after the firmware update.
• Shutter Priority (“S”) Mode (QX100 only):  The Shutter Priority (“S”) mode will be added to the QX100 camera to allow direct access control to shutter speed.
• Expanded ISO Shooting Range (QX100 and QX10):  Each of the cameras will be able to shoot at higher ISO settings for greater versatility in low-light conditions.  The QX10 camera will be expanded from max ISO 1600 to max ISO 3200.  The QX100 camera will be expanded from max ISO 3200 to max ISO 12800.

Most of us have tons of photos in both our Camera Roll and on Instagram. Why not combine all those photos into one video slideshow we can share with friends and family? That's exactly what Flipagram for iPhone does.

Flipagram is a sharing app that has one sole purpose, to help you make short movies out of your images. You can link up your Instagram account and pull directly from it, which makes for a neat way to rediscover old pictures you may have already forgotten about. If you plan on uploading the short video to Instagram, you can even have Flipagram time the video for you and evenly space all slides. Or you can manually choose the length of each.

Once you're done, you can choose music from your music library to go along with your Flipagram movie. From there, all you have left to do is share it. Flipagram supports native sharing to YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, email, and export to Camera Roll. The only option I see missing is Twitter, which is odd, but not a deal breaker as you can always upload it directly from your Camera Roll.

All your Flipagram creations show up on the main menu of Flipagram underneath where you would tap to begin a new project. This way you can tap into any of your older projects and access them whenever you'd like to share them again.

I've found Flipagram to be a neat way to rediscover and interact with old Instagram photos I've forgotten about. If you've tried Flipagram, let us know what you think in the comments!

• $0.99, on sale - Download Now

Camera Plus was quite a popular app a while back but sadly, had an extensive period of time where it went without being updated very often. After the iOS 7 launch, it appears as if the developers have decided to breathe new life into the app, and fortunately for us, they've succeeded.

The first time I launched the newly designed Camera Plus app I knew it would quickly become one of my favorite photo management and editing apps again. The interface is gorgeous and intuitive. One of my favorite features is that when you're scrolling through photos in your Camera Roll or any album, the menu bar floats and stays at the top of the screen. This may seem like a little thing, but it's a big deal for folks who switch albums frequently and don't want to have to keep tapping the menu bar and backing out of screens. One tap and you've got access to all your albums.

In edit mode you find the usual suspects which include adjusting things such as saturation, contrast, exposure, and more. When taking a photo, you can even adjust the brightness with the Lumy slider off to the right. Tap on the plus sign next to the focus point to switch between normal, macro, and far modes. This is a feature I can see myself using often as I've never been particularly pleased with the way the stock Camera app for iPhone handles manual focusing.

Camera Plus also offers locked options so you can protect some of your photos from prying eyes. You can easily do this to any existing photo by tapping on the lock button. From the main Camera Roll view, just swipe to the left to access your locked photos.

The good

• Beautiful interface that's easy to use
• Great control over images with focus, macro, and far modes
• Locked mode for photos you don't want everyone seeing
• Direct share options to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, and more

The bad

• Aside from the great interface, it isn't incredibly different from other photo editing apps that have been around a good long while
• The app went without being updated for a long time, it's a gamble that it won't happen again
• No AirDrop support from what I can see

The bottom line

Camera Plus faded into the night at some point but it's great to see that the app, and the developers behind it, came back swinging. The interface is gorgeous and the feature set is a nice compromise between too much and too little. For those not experienced with photo editing, Camera Plus makes it easy to learn how. Let's hope the app is continually supported this time around though.

• $0.99 - Download Now

Popular iPhone camera application, Camera 360, has been updated at long last with the promised support for the Sony QX10 and QX100 lens camera systems. Until now, the only way to use one either of these Sony camera attachments was through the official Sony Playmemories application, but Camera 360 adds some additional creative possibilities.

The Camera 360 Android application was updated a little while back with the same support, and hopefully many more will follow. One of the biggest issues we had with the QX10 during our review period was Sony's application. While some issues are out of their control, the overall experience just isn't that great, so hopefully Camera 360 can bring a little bit extra to the table.

Beyond support for the QX lenses, the update also adds a new intelligent detection for the environment you're taking photos in so as to help take better photos, and a bunch of bug fixes and general performance improvements. We'll be firing it up with our Sony QX10 today and taking it for a test drive, so stay tuned for more on that. Grab it for free at the App Store link below.

• Free - Download Now

Loom is a new service that lets you store any photos or videos in order to free up precious storage space on your iPhone or iPad. The best part is that you've then got one unified library that's accessible across all your devices. Loom is available for both iOS and OS X.

The Loom app itself is compatible with both iPhone and iPad and can show you either unified libraries or separate ones. It also has support for albums so you can sort photos however you'd like. All your photos are stored in the cloud so everything stays in sync across all your devices. Loom can also sync your content in the background as well. You can then access your media by logging into Loom through a browser or through the Loom for Mac app.

If you've ever used Dropbox before, Loom functions very similarly but just puts an emphasis specifically on photo and video. The plans are also a lot cheaper. Loom gives you 5GB of space for free. If you'd like to store more than that, you can purchase a yearly subscription as an in-app purchase. Pricing is as follows:

• 50GB - $39.99
• 250GB - $99.99

I currently subscribe to the 100GB plan with Dropbox and I know I pay around $100 a year for it. With Loom, I'd be getting 250GB for the same price. Unfortunately, I need to store lots of different file types, not just photos and videos. Either way, storage prices for Loom are more than fair and if you take a ton of photo and video and find yourself frequently running out of space, it's a great option.

One of the biggest complaints I get from friends and family members is that their iCloud backups stop working due to running out of storage space. Often times, their bloated Camera Roll is the culprit. Loom can help solve iCloud backup woes in their tracks and for users that are familiar with these frustrations, Loom is a superb option.

• Free - Download Now

Beyond having an odd sounding name, Oggl is the latest creation by the long serving team at Hipstamatic. The app just went live in the App Store, but at the moment it requires an invitation code to use -- though you can apply for one in the app. But, what exactly is it? The official tagline reads as: "A community of creative people capturing & curating their Lives through photography." So that'll be a social photo sharing service then, will it?

Anyone who knows Hipstamatic knows that the fundamental principle stands around applying filters to your photos. Pretty common these days, but Hipstamatic has been doing it for a number of years now. When it comes to the social aspect, there's only one clear market leader; Instagram. So, is Oggl just an Instagram clone, or does it offer something more?

The main 'timeline' view is a definite improvement on the way Instagram attacks it. It's much cleaner, much simpler, with no usernames or comments on display it's all about the photos. You can customize what it is you want to see, be that from people you follow, editors choices, global or at the moment there's a special featured selection to see photos from San Francisco. When you see something you like, tapping on the image brings up the user information, and the lens and film combination they used to shoot it.

That then gives you the option to take that combination, and automatically select it to shoot your own images with. I quite like this touch. Quite often I'll see an effect in a photo that I really like the look of, and having the chance to use it myself in a couple of taps is really handy. Of course, it won't make me a better photographer, though.

So, onwards to the shooting side of Oggl, Hipstamatic's bread and butter. The camera app itself is pretty nice, with the different effects being applied during shooting. Below the viewfinder are the selections for film type and lens type, along with some preset effects made up of a specific combination of film and lens. You aren't bound to applying the effects before taking the shot either. If you don't like it, you can change it up using the same effects afterwards.

The camera button remains at the top or bottom of each view throughout the app, so wherever you are it's only a single tap to access shooting mode. To the left of the shutter button is one-tap access to your Oggl gallery, and to the right of it is your exit point back to the global feed. So far then, so good.

It's when we get to the sharing that things become a little, peculiar. With Instagram, you hit the camera button, take your shot, edit it, tag it and upload it to whichever of the available services you desire. With Oggl, you take the photos, and then you have to go get them and decide what to do with them. It isn't difficult, but I have to admit that it took me a few minutes to figure it all out. With a sharing service, you would expect to take a photo, then share it pretty much straight away, not leave it sitting in a gallery.

Perhaps oddly too, Instagram is one of the available sharing services for Oggl. The other usual candidates are there: Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare and Tumblr, but being able to share to Instagram also seems like a strange move. The main Hipstamatic app can also share to Instagram, I just can't quite get my head around why you would use something like Oggl, only to then send the photos to Instagram.

This becomes an even stranger thought when you take into account the yearly subscription that Hipstamatic is charging for full access to Oggl. Priced at $2.99 quarterly or $9.99 yearly, paying up serves two purposes. The first is keeping Oggl free of all forms of advertising and keeping the app as a free download. The App Store listing puts it better than I could:

Oh yeah, and that's the other benefit to paying up. While Oggl is free to use for everyone, none-paid members are classed as 'contributors' and only get access to a limited number of the photo effects. Paid members get access to Hipstamatic's full catalog of filter packs.

The Good

• Well designed and good looking UI
• Sharing options a plenty
• Huge selection of effects for paid members
• Easy navigation, lots of one-tap access to various areas of the app

The Bad

• Slightly confusing method to sharing
• Limited effects available to free users
• Invite only at the moment

The Bottom Line

I want to love Oggl, really and truly I do. Instagram has always just felt like an extension of the other social networks to me, and like people tweet about anything and everything, there's a tendency to Instagram anything and everything. And every meal. Oggl feels different though. They're penning it as a way to curate and enjoy beautiful photography, and you do get that impression. The photos are always front and center, with the person who did it, where and how they did it and all that other business tucked out of the way.

Whether it will take off or not is another question. Whichever way you look at it, Instagram is free, and the best experience in Oggl is not. The average eye may see little difference between the two, only the mention of subscription fees, and then decide to stick with Instagram. And I still don't know why you can share your Oggl photos to Instagram. If you want to do that, the main Hipstamatic app will do that for you. I'm going to give it a chance though. I've signed up for a three month subscription. I like what I see so far, lets see what I think three months down the line.

So, is Oggl more than an Instagram clone? In some ways, yes. It takes the same idea and makes it a better experience. But it's going to need people using it to make it worthwhile.

• Free - Download Now

Reduce is an iPhone and iPad app that lets you batch resize your photos and images to be optimized for the web. You simply select the photos you wish to resize, set the dimensions and file size limit, and Reduce will batch-process them for you and drop them into a new album in the Photos app.

When choosing the sizing options for your photos, Reduce lets you set the number of pixels for width, height, longest side, or shortest side. You can also set the max file size or jpeg quality as well as automatically sharpen the images to avoid softness that is often associated with resizing.

If you'd like to add a simple text watermark to your image, Reduce lets you do that as well. You can choose the font type and size, location, border and more for your watermark. And if you plan to use Reduce for multiple purposes, say two different blogs, you can create presets to quickly apply the settings that are appropriate for your intended use.

Once you've got all the settings how you want, you simply hit Start and Reduce gets to work. It processes all your images and drops them into a new folder in the Photos app that you can then use with any other app.

The good

• Batch-process multiple images
• Resize the image to a specific dimension
• Auto-detection of the needed jpeg quality for a given file size
• Alternatively use a fixed jpeg quality
• Optionally sharpen the image to avoid softness caused by the resizing
• Choose if you want to remove EXIF data like GPS position or the used camera settings
• Add a watermark or description to your photos
• Use a border to separate your photos from the background

The bad

• Reduce integrates with your photo albums, but the albums are not named

The bottom line

Reduce is a fantastic tool for bloggers who regularly use their iPhone or iPad to share photos to their website. Correctly sizing photos has always been one of the annoying aspects of blogging with my iOS device, but now it's easy with Reduce!

• $1.99 - Download now

Instashare lets you quickly and easily transfer video files, music files, PDF presentations, and more between iPhone, iPad, and Mac over local Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth. There's no pairing or fancy setup needed. As long as two or more devices are running Instashare in the same area, you're good to go.

When you launch Instashare you're taken through a quick tutorial of how to use it. Afterwards, you're ready to start transferring files. Instashare supports both WiFi and Bluetooth transfers. That means if both of your devices have Bluetooth functionality, you don't even have to be connected to the internet in order to share files wirelessly. To share an app from Instashare for iPhone and iPad, just find the file you'd like to share via your camera roll (photo or video) and hold down and drag. You'll be automatically taken to the transfer screen where you can drop it to whatever device you'd like.

There are certain apps such as document and media apps that have share buttons. You should also see a send to Instashare option which will automatically launch the file sharing option and let you choose a device you want to share it with. The Mac version of Instashare is a free download from the Instashare website. It will basically sit in your task bar where you can drag files directly to it. While Instashare does support all file types, I have noticed that larger files sometimes time out during transfer and I'm not sure why this is. I experienced it frequently when trying to transfer audio or video files from iPhone to Mac.

Once you've received files from another device with Instashare you can view them natively inside Instashare or choose to save them or share them wherever you'd like. If you have any third party apps installed that support those specific file types, Instashare will also give you the option to open them directly within that app. For example, if you're viewing share options for a photo and have photo editing apps installed, you'll see an option to open them directly within that app.

The good

• Bluetooth support means you don't even have to be connected to the internet to share files
• You can easily add and remove trusted devices within settings whenever you'd like
• Supports any file type, not just photos or videos

The bad

• Seems to have trouble transferring larger files resulting in time outs or errors
• When sending multiple files at once, they show up in one bulk upload that you have to scroll through
• Sometimes devices that are within the network or paired don't show up correctly

The bottom line

Many people have wished for OS X AirDrop to come to iOS. It hasn't yet. Meanwhile, Instashare is shaping up to be a great way to share all kinds of files between iPhone, iPad, and Mac but it isn't quite there yet. The amount of errors, timeouts, and strange UI bugs I experienced would keep me from using it as a dedicated file sharing service. For the time being, an option like Droplr that also offers link shortening services is probably a better one.

• Free - Download Now