Instagram’s upcoming iOS app to add new filters, GIF features

New York, Sep 12 (IANS) Facebook-owned Instagram is redesigning its upcoming iOS app to take advantage of iPhone 7 camera capabilities and will add new filters and GIF features, a media report said.

Apple recently launched iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models with major upgrades to camera department. Both the iPhones have 12MP rear camera with optical image stabilisation (OIS).

The iPhone 7 Plus has a twin-lens set-up and offers 2x optical zoom and up to 10x digital zoom for photos.

The new app will also use 3D Touch to allow users to add a photo to their Instagram Story.

"Developers at Instagram are redesigning the filters of the iOS app to take advantage of the wide-gamut colour detection of the iPhone 7 camera sensor," technology website TechTimes quoted Ian Spalter, Head of Design, Instagram, as saying.

This would make Instagram photos more vivid by producing a broad range of colours in the photos taken, Spalter added.

Developers are also working on a new feature that will let users convert Live Photos into Instagram Boomerang back-and-forth GIFs.

A Live Photo captures 1.5 seconds of video and audio both before and after you press the shutter button to take a photo. Thus, in addition to a still JPEG image, you also get a three second Live Photo.

Previously, users need to shoot Boomerangs in the dedicated app, which captures a series of still photos and combines them to create a GIF animation.

The new version of Instagram will allow users to capture images in an iPhone camera and morph them into Boomerangs, the report added.

As to when the new app will be announced is still unclear. Till then, users can download the current iOS Instagram app for free from the Apple App Store.