Instagram is a social media service owned by Facebook for sharing photos and videos. Instagram launched in 2010 exclusively as an iOS app and didn’t come to Android and the web until 2012.
In June of 2017 Instagram shared that it reached 250M daily users, surpassing its rival Snapchat by almost 100M. It also has over 700M total users.
Instagram has been criticized for taking popular features from Snapchat such as face filters,stories, and stickers. The company also has plans moving forward to introduce more business focused features.
Facebook announced today that its beginning to test auto-playing videos in News Feed for its mobile apps. Videos in the News Feed will automatically begin playing as users scroll, but they’ll be silent until users tap to switch to a full-screen view with sound:
Today we’re starting to test an easier way to watch videos on Facebook. Now when you see a video in News Feed, it comes to life and starts playing. Videos initially play silently, and if you want you can tap to play with sound in full screen. Scroll past if you don’t want to watch.
It didn’t mention specific platforms, but did post the image of its iOS app above. Facebook’s Instagram app, which implemented new Vine-like video features back in June, already auto-plays videos by default as users scroll.
The company’s blog post notes that the silent, auto-playing videos in Facebook will include videos posted by individuals, musicians, and bands initially, but it does have plans to “explore how to bring this to marketers in the future.”
The new feature will be rolling out as a limited test in the coming weeks through its mobile apps and “continue to roll out over time.”
Flickr appears to be making a play for the Instagram market with the latest update to its free iOS app adding new filters with live previews and instant editing tools which include the ability to crop photos, adjust colors and add vignettes.
Facebook updated its Messenger iOS app today making it easier to send photos and emoji with a few new features. Facebook is deeper integrating Instagram into Messenger, allowing users to attach photos from Instagram albums (in addition to any other album on their iPhone) right in the app. Version 2.6 of the app also makes it easier to send photos and emoji with a new paper clip icon that users can tap from any message.
What’s New in Version 2.6
Now it’s easier to send photos and emoji:
– Just tap the paper clip from any message
– Choose photos from Instagram and any other album on your phone
Don’t forget about stickers: Tap the smiley to see what’s new in the sticker store.
Yesterday, Facebook unveiled its updated Instagram apps for iOS and Android that now include a new Vine-like video feature for creating 3-15 second long videos with, of course, Instagram-style filters. While there has been some backlash over the decision from a small group of users, it appears that a nice chunk of the service’s now 130 million strong user base are embracing the new video features. As noted by CNET, Facebook has since confirmed that over 5 million videos have been uploaded in the 24 hours since the updated apps were released.
Facebook also notes that Instagram was seeing around 40 hours of video uploaded per minute during the NBA Finals:
At peak, Instagram users uploaded 40 hours of video per minute. The climactic moment came Thursday night as the Miami Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs during the NBA Finals, the spokesperson said.
Your follow count is dropping fast, but who are the ones that are unfollowing you? Was it spammers who don’t matter or was it Scoble who grew tired of your tweets? With the free Friend Check app, you can find out.
Once you install the app and give it permission to access your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram account, it will take a snapshot of your followers, mutual, and following lists. At any time, you can create a new snapshot and compare that to the previous one. The screenshot above shows the exact snapshot where fellow 9to5Mac reporter Zac Hall decided to unfollow me (only to test the app, of course!).
The only “con” I’ve found with this app is that they give you step-by-step instructions for literally everything the first time you use it. It is tiresome at first, but from then on it’s smooth-sailing unfollower goodness.
Friend Check is currently free to download in the App Store. You can add one account of each service or pay the 99 cents in-app purchase to enable multi-account support.
Today, live from Facebook’s press event, the company just announced that its bringing video to Instagram with a brand new set of features. In what appears to be direct competition for Twitter’s rapidly growing Vine video sharing app, Instagram will soon allow users to share similar short video clips. On stage, Instagram demoed an updated iOS app that now includes a button for video capture that will allow users to create 3-15 second long videos using multiple clips.
It also announced that it has partnered with an artist to create 13 brand new custom filters specifically for video and a handful of leading experts to integrate “mind blowing” cinematic video stabilization features (something that isn’t too great in a lot of other apps).
So what does this mean for your content? Nothing’s different from photos. We’re still committed to making sure you have control over all of your content. Only the people who you let see your photos will be able to see your videos. And as with photos, you own your videos.
As for where videos will appear, like photos, Instagram says “your video will appear on your profile and in feed. If your visibility is set to private, only your approved followers can see videos or photos you share.”
The video feature will also be available on the web, allowing users to view Instagram videos in any browser without having to use the apps. Expand Expanding Close
Many casual photographers have been reaching for their smartphones over their digital cameras recently for the convenience of social media integration and other sharing options. Eye-Fi has long offered photographers the option to transfer high-quality media from standalone cameras to personal computers and mobile devices but required intermediary WiFi hotspot access – a major obstacle for photographers shooting on location outdoors and in remote locales.
Today, Eye-Fi announced the “Eye-Fi Mobi,” which instantaneously beams new photos and content from digital cameras (without WiFi capabilities) to your favorite mobile device. “Simply replace any camera’s standard SD card with Mobi, and just two quick steps later, the camera’s photos instantly appear on the selected iOS or Android smartphone or tablet.”
The Eye-Fi Mobi puts beautiful, high-quality images on your mobile device ready to be uploaded to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other social network. The built-in WiFi means you’ll never have to seek out network access to transfer your pictures. Setup does not require a computer, account or cloud. Just download the Eye-Fi mobile app to get started.
Eye-Fi Mobi is available now in two flavors; 8GB ($50), 16GB ($80).
UPDATE: Some users are reporting that their accounts have been restored following the deletion earlier this evening. We’re still waiting on an official response from Instagram.
UPDATE 2: Instagram has responded with the following comment.
A small percentage of users could not access their accounts for a few
hours as a result of a temporary glitch. We have restored access for these
users, and no pictures or data were lost.
It seems many Instagram were caught off-guard today when the free photo-sharing app suddenly deleted a significant number of accounts, citing “terms of service violations” as the reason despite many affected users having no such content on their profiles.
Analog Camera for iPhone by <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=jZ6GP8Fu9UU&subid=&offerid=146261.1&type=10&tmpid=3909&RD_PARM1=https%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fnl%2Fartist%2Frealmac-software%2Fid310591643%3Fl%3Den" target="_blank">Realmac Software</a>
From the wonderful folks who brought you Clear for iPhone and Mac, Realmac Software announced today it will bring a few of its stunning filters from Analog for Mac to the iPhone with Analog Camera.
Analog Camera for iPhone resembles the simplistic, gesture based UI of Clear for iPhone, featuring soft square or rectangle buttons that pop up upon contact and prompt fun, clever sounds.
Check out my observations of the app and a teaser video below: Expand Expanding Close
Instagram announced today that it is updating its iOS and Android apps with a new feature dubbed ‘Photos of You’ making it easier to view and be notified of photos you care about most. The feature will make it easier for users uploading images to add mentions of people or things and also adds a new “Photos of You” section on your profile where tagged photos will gather:
When you upload a photo to Instagram, you’re now able to add the people and things in the photo as easily as you add a location and hashtags. When someone adds you to a photo, you’ll receive a notification and the photo will appear in your “Photos of You” – the new section on your profile where you can curate all of the photos you’ve been added to. Want to make sure you like the photo first? No problem: you can easily adjust your settings so nothing appears on your profile until you approve it.
The feature will be in a sort of beta mode until May 16th at which time the Photos of You section will become visible on users’ public profiles.
Version 3.5 of Instagram with the new Photos of You feature should be hitting the App Store any minute.
You can check out the feature via profiles of a few Instagram employees already using Photos of You:
Update: Twitter said in a comment to BusinessInsider that the content was displayed as an Editor’s Pick due to human error:
A human error resulted in a video with adult content becoming one of the videos in Editor’s Picks, and upon realizing this mistake we removed the video immediately. We apologize to our users for the error.
Just a week after the popular photo-sharing app 500px was pulled from the App Store over concerns of nude photos and possible child pornography, the launch of Twitter’s new video-sharing app Vine is running into similar issues. Users began noticing pornographic videos were making their way to the service this weekend, but they were only viewable to users searching for pornography-related tags. That is arguably not as big of an issue as 500px (many apps—Instagram included—have similar problems), but Darrell Etherington at TechCrunch pointed out today that porn has somehow made its way to the top of Vine’s “Editor’s Pick”.
We confirmed, as highlighted in the screenshot to the right, that the pornographic content in question is displayed as the first thing in a new user’s stream upon launching the app. The post has since been removed, but this is clearly an issue for Twitter’s new video service, and it is something that highlights the larger conversation brewing around Apple’s App Store guidelines and adult, user-created content.
1. DataMan Next:The same developer behind the popular DataMan apps for tracking data usage on your iOS devices is out today with DataMan Next for iPhone featuring an all-new design. The app lets you get real-time stats on cellular and Wi-Fi usage, receive threshold alerts, view usage by bill cycle, and more.
Updates:
1. Lumify Movie Studio version 3.0:The app that we previously referred to as an Instagram of video apps was updated today with a ton of new features including 5 new video filters, multi-track audio mixing, and a slew of new editing features.
In June, we told you about BlueStacks. It is a tool that allows Android apps to run on a Mac. The alpha only officially supported 17 Android apps, with Pulse and Words with Friends being the two of the more notable apps at launch, but the application has improved immensely. As Venture Beatfirst noted, BlueStacks has moved into beta this morning. It now allows users to run every Android app that the Google Play store has to offer. Some may be puzzled at the need to run a mobile application on the desktop, but it does come in use for apps like Instagram and Flipboard that have no desktop equivalent. BlueStacks reminds us a lot of Parallels or VM Ware, and it definitely becomes more useful with the added apps.
As of earlier this month, the Silicon Valley-based company passed 5 million installs on both Windows and Mac. BlueStacks also plans an even more impressive growth with partners AMD and ASUS, as TechCrunchnoted, where the software would be pre-installed on over 100 million devices. Upcoming features include an App Discovery system in the Mac app to make it easier for users to find apps. Interested? You can download the beta from BlueStacks.
MapChoice | $0.99:A new app just released on the App Store provides you with access to both Apple’s new Maps and Google Maps in a single app. Your position will transfer from one map to the other, and it also includes StreetView and Foursquare integration.
MapChoice gives you a choice between old and new maps. You can also view Street View and search using FourSquare.
Updated:
Instagram version 3.4.0 | FREE:Instagram gets updated today with support for 25 languages, a new “Mayfair” filter, Facebook iOS 6 integration, and more.
– Instagram is now available in 25 languages!
– New filter: Mayfair
– Share photos from any album
– Facebook iOS 6 integration
– Improved performance and bug fixes
The Wall Street Journal version 5.0 | FREE: The Wall Street Journal just updated its iOS app, moving content on iPhone and iPad to Apple’s Newsstand and providing users with automatically updated issues each morning. WSJ will now offer in-app subscriptions, billing users directly to their iTunes accounts monthly. The updated app also includes Alerts for breaking news.
Newsstand & Alerts
– WSJ is now in Newsstand! Get new issues automatically delivered to your device overnight. To use Newsstand, tap ‘Allow’ when prompted.
– Note: WSJ App icon will now appear in the Newsstand Folder.
– Breaking News Alerts from WSJ. To get alerts, tap ‘Allow’ when prompted.
In-App Subscriptions – Purchase a monthly subscription to WSJ through your iTunes account. With a digital subscription you get access to iPad, iPhone, WSJ.com and more.
StubHub version 4.1.0 | FREE: The StubHub iOS app gets updated with more interactive seat maps, the ability to see your view before buying tickets, iPhone 5 support, and more:
• Interactive seat maps for certain football and basketball games: filter ticket listings by section
• View from section: see the view from your section before you buy (for many events)
• iPhone 5 support
• Improved sharing (Twitter, Facebook, and text messaging)
• Ability to add events to your calendar
• User interface enhancements
Flickr version 2.0: Yahoo! is releasing an all new, completely redesigned iOS app today for Flickr that, according to its iTunes page, is “now easier to use, more beautiful and includes more of the great features you love using on Flickr.com.” Among the new features: a brand new UI, a simplified sign-up and registration screen, and 16 unique Instagram-like camera filters.
· Simple sign-up and registration process
· 16 unique camera filters
· Full Groups capabilities
· Explore interesting photos from around the world and nearby
· And more!
Skype/Skype for iPad version 4.2.2: Both the Skype for iPhone and Skype for iPad apps have been updated today “under-the-hood improvements” necessary or future feature updates:
-This version gives us under-the-hood improvements that support future feature launches.
Gilt for iPad version 2.0.0: The Gilt iPad app gets updated with a redesigned UI that now includes optimizations for iPad 4 and iPad mini, access to local Gilt City offers, search filters, the ability to preview and set reminders for upcoming sales, and much more: Expand Expanding Close
Twitter announced yesterday it is bringing Instagram-like photo filters to its iOS application—and now the touted features, complete with editing capabilities, are finally live.
Apply one of eight different filters to instantly add a new look and feel to your photos
Choose a filter by comparing all your options in a convenient grid view or by swiping through each version
Make your photos pop with balanced light and colors by tapping the auto-enhance wand
Crop and scale to frame the action the way you want
The micro-blogging service mentioned Aviary, which, according to Aviary’s website, provides developers with “a robust, customizable photo editor that can be plugged into apps,” will power the photo filters.
The Android version of the new Twitter app went live on Google Play yesterday, while today’s iOS update also includes unspecified tweaks and fixes.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City:Rockstar Games announced on its blog today that Grand Theft Auto Vice City’s will officially make its way to iOS in celebration of the title’s 10th anniversary. Rockstar is promising a release this fall and more details in the weeks to come:
In conjunction with the anniversary, we’re pleased to announce that we’ll be releasing an Anniversary Edition of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for select iOS and Android devices later this fall. This upcoming version will bring the full experience to mobile devices, featuring native high-resolution graphics and several enhancements unique to the iOS and Android platforms. Stay tuned for more details in the weeks ahead including a list of compatible iOS and Android devices.
-Support for Twitter’s new header image
-Ability to create custom locations
-Various other fixes and improvements
Instamac: Released on the Mac App Store today, Instamac is a streamlined Instagram client for Mac that is currently selling for 99 cents. We’ve been playing with it and have nothing but positive first impressions. It will go up to $4.99 after 24 hours, so we suggest picking it up now.
HipChat version 1.8: 9to5’s favorite group chat app gets a big update today with iPhone 5 support:
* Lots of performance improvements, especially for large groups
* iPhone 5 support
* Fix edit mode for Active Chats
* Start app on Active Chats display instead of Lobby
* Clear password on signout
* Mark users as away when they background the app (ensure notifications get sent when app is not visible)
* Keep reconnect banner displaying until app reconnects (even when switching views)
Snapseed, which has some features of the hit iOS app Instagram in terms of jazzy vintage filters, is just one of many desktop and mobile photography apps that Nik Software develops. Snapseed launched on Apple’s iPad in June 2011, winning “iPad App of the Year” soon after, and then it landed on the iPhone in August 2011 and Mac OS just four months later. The app also boasts a Windows counterpart.
Today’s announced buyout could notably help Google’s budding social network, Google+, better combat direct rival Facebook, which recently acquired Instagram and its 100+ million users.
Lumify, a new app launching today for the iPhone, is an Instagram-like social experience for video that allows users to share 20-second montages set to music. The free app analyzes video clips from your device’s camera roll, allows you to select soundtrack music from your iPod library, and then automatically creates a “lumified” montage for you. According to one of the developers, former Senior Product Manager at Google and YouTube Kuan Yong, “Lumify is the first mobile app capable of analyzing and editing 1080p HD videos in real-time, entirely on the iPhone.”
Technically, we are ridiculously fast and easy video editing…We use advanced algorithms to mash up your videos in real-time. We highlight the most interesting parts and pair them with music for a 20-second montage…In the end, we want to help you take video in a new way. Just point and capture each moment as it happens. We take care of the rest.
Google+ version 3.1:The universal Google+ iOS app was updated today with a couple of notable features including the ability to open web links within posts in the Chrome iOS app, fixes for an Instant Upload issue, performance enhancements, and access for teens to join and create Hangouts.
PhotoMagic version 1.0: Recently released on the App Store, PhotoMagic is an Instagram-like app for your Mac, allowing you to apply one-click filters, lighting effects, frame styles, and share photos through Facebook, Flickr, and elsewhere. Unlike the Instagram experience, PhotoMagic isn’t limited to only a few filters and packs in 70+ photo effects, 90+ lighting effects, and 90+ frames. The app is currently half off for a limited time.
Silent Film Director/Vintagio:Silent FIlm Director is free starting this Thursday until August 19 in order to celebrate the app’s upcoming update and name change. Silent Film Director will soon turn into “Vintagio”, and users of the old Silent Film Director app will get an update to the new and improved vintage video app for free.
A few apps and updates hit the App Store today, unfortunately some are still reporting issues with apps not launching after updates. Let us know if you run into any issues in the comments.
eBay version 2.6.0: ebay’s main iPhone app received an update today alongside a small update to the eBay for iPad app. Unfortunately, eBay has now posted warning on at least the eBay for iPad release notes that some have reported the app is not working. As for the iPhone app, version 2.6.0 includes the following features and fixes:
• Improved selling flow
• Landscape support for easy typing of eBay item descriptions
• Faster bidding experience
• Check auto parts for compatibility before you buy
• Ability to search for items in My eBay
• Add and remove your Favorite Sellers
• Filter Feedback for buyers and sellers
• Payment support for Singapore and Malaysia
• More UI, stability and performance improvements
TED Books:TED, the people behind the TED conferences that are later made available online as TED Talks, released a free app today, which offers paid subscriptions to “Ted Books.” The books are produced every two weeks and “are typically under 20,000 words. They also consist of audio, video, and built-in social features. Subscriptions cost $15 for three months or $2.99 per book for non-subscribers.
InstaTalks:Recently released on the App Store, InstaTalks is a third-party messenger built for Instagram that allows you to exchange private messages and photos with Instagram users. There is no registration required (just an Instagram account), and the app is available for free now.
NBA Summer League: NBA Digital just dropped the official Summer League app, while the NBA Game Time app has also been updated with live video and scoring content for Summer League games.
