Want to share your photos with your friends and family in an extremely easy way? There’s a way to do it with Shared Photo Streams, to easily and automatically share photos with people. Start by using our guide to create a Shared Photo Stream. Once the Shared Photo Stream is created, tap on the blue arrow to enter the Edit Photo Stream screen. Now, it’s possible to add a subscriber that can view the Photo Stream on Mac in iPhoto, on Windows with the iCloud Control Panel, or on their iOS device. However, the easiest way to share photos is to create a public website from the Photo Stream. Turn the Public Website switch to on. Now, this creates a public website that will feature any photos that are in the Shared Photo Stream where users can see comments and download the photos for themselves. To share the link with someone else, tap the Share Link button. You can share the link through social networks, Mail, Messages, or by copying the link and pasting into the sharing method of your choice. Now, on the web view, the photos will be arranged by date, to see when a photo was uploaded. To add a new photo into a Photo Stream, go to the photo in Camera Roll, tap on it, and then tap on the Share arrow. Tap on the Photo Stream icon, and you can add it to either an available Photo Stream or to a new one that can be created. When you add a photo, you can add a comment that will be displayed along with the photo in the web gallery. You can add multiple photos by tapping Edit to multi-select the photos, and sharing them as normal. Note that any comments added will be for all the selected photos. To delete a photo from the Photo Stream, open up the Shared Photo Stream in Photos, and tap the Edit button. Select the photos to be deleted, and tap Delete. While this will prevent them from being viewable in the gallery any more, those with the link may have saved them separately. Remember: the things you share publicly never truly go away. These tips should make it easier to share photos straight from your iOS device in an easy-to-access web gallery. Thanks to this guide for inspiring these tips.

Our phones have become a significant part of our lives, holding large quantities of our personal data on them. Apps that use our data are also a significant part of them, especially given the rise of free apps and services – if you’re not paying, you’re the product – and what these apps have access to is often quite extensive. While Apple’s walled garden does keep many of those with malicious intent away from the App Store, they’re not perfect. There may just be an app that you trust that is doing something with the data you gave it permission for. Here’s how to manage these privacy settings.

The first and most obvious destination is the Privacy section in Settings. Here, you will see sections for various types of data that apps have requested.

By going to one of these sections, and switching the toggle for that app off, then it will not have access to that data any more. So an app that requests Photos access can have it be restricted. Or, if you initially denied access and wish to grant it, you can now do so from this section.

The Location Services section is particularly worth delving into because not only can the icon appear at random times for no apparent reason, but the section to manage it has many wrinkles that the others do not. One, there are variably-colored location icons next to each service, and they may not be apparent to what they mean until you scroll to the bottom, where iOS explains what each icon means.

What this means is that you can see on this section which apps are currently requesting your location, not just which apps have access to your location. If an app is continually causing the location services icon to appear in the status bar (and potentially draining your battery), you can see which apps are the culprit here. Often times, apps that use location services can have settings disabled from within the app to have their recurring location check disappear, as having loaction access enabled periodically may be key to your usage of the app. As well, the System Services section shows several system functions that use your location, including one for Location-Based iAds that can modify the types of ads you see.

Hopefully these tips have helped you manage your privacy better, and you have a greater understanding of the types of access that iOS apps and system functions have to your data.

Now, there’s one particular advertising-related privacy setting that’s not in Privacy that’s worth considering. Go to Settings→General→About and scroll all the way down to Advertising. Tap on this, and you’ll see a setting for Limit Ad Tracking. By enabling this, then services that identify your device by the Apple Advertising Identifier cannot track you based on this. This means that advertisements will be less targeted to you.

The iPhone is great not just because it’s a camera, but because it’s also a great photo editing device, along with the iPod touch and especially the iPad. Now, there’s a good chance that some of your most treasured photos are on there already. But it’s not your only camera. Maybe you own a super-sweet DSLR that you use for real photos, and there’s that one photo that would get so many likes on Instagram. Maybe you have an Android phone (gasp!) but want to edit those photos with Camera+. Woe is your fate to have these photos be trapped on these disparate devices!

But lo, there  are ways to free them from their digital prisons through many different processes. Despite iOS’s user-friendly reputation, these methods aren’t necessarily as smooth as they should be, as just adding a photo to an iOS device is kind of like walking into Mordor. But what I am here to show you today is a method that is relatively simple, and that involves as little file transformation as possible, so photos should lose little to none of the quality they had, while still being usable on your iOS devices.

Here’s what you’re going to need:

Regular readers will recall i-FunBox from an earlier How To article on transferring app save files, which is worth a read for the basics on what the app is and what it does. When ready, load up i-FunBox. On the left sidebar, click the dropdown arrow next to App File Sharing. Select GoodReader from the list.

Now, if you use the app, you’ll see your downloaded files here. Otherwise, if this folder is blank, then just add your photos here – the fact that this supports folders gives it an advantage over using iTunes’s built-in file sharing method, though you will have to open up the folder that you want to add photos to – you cna’t drag and drop files into folders with i-FunBox.

Now, open up GoodReader on your device. The main page of the app should show the files you just added. To add a picture to your Camera Roll, tap on it to open it up, and then tap the camera icon superimposed with an arrow on the bottom taskbar. Repeat this for each photo you want in your Camera Roll. For massive photo libraries, this may take a while, but it will ensure that the actual original photo is being copied to the Camera Roll.

The photos are now resting comfortably in your Camera Roll, ready to be edited, shared, iMessaged, or whatever your heart desires! Have another preferred method for getting your photos on to your iOS device? Let us know in the comments.

The folks at Grab Games are a versatile bunch. They’re last game, Amoebattle, tasked players with coordinating an army of amoebas to strategically best their opponents. Their latest game, Picsy, is a social photography game. Quite the difference there. I was able to ask the game’s Lead Designers, Greig Carlson, Hans Vancol, and Harold Vancol a few questions about their newest title and their answers have me looking forward to Picsy‘s planned updates.

So, going from a squad-based RTS featuring microorganisms to a social multiplayer photo-sharing game. Was it difficult to “change gears” so drastically?
Not at all! Our game designers are well versed in different game genres. Additionally, we had 2 separate teams working on those two projects

How long did it take for you all to come up with the name “Picsy?”
About 6 weeks. We had several other names but trying to secure a trademark is a huge challenge we didn’t originally foresee

Was it difficult at all to integrate so many photo uploading options (take a photo, choose existing, paste from clipboard)?
Not really. Those are all standard features one would expect in playing a photo game like this. Originally we wanted to include a lot of other options for submitting photos, such as Instagram, but figured we could get to the additional features in future updates. Plus, we didn’t want to give users too much at first as we felt it could become a bit overwhelming.

How exactly are the judges for each round selected? That was one thing I was never entirely clear on.
There is a Single Judge game and a Multi Judge game. In a single judge game, the judge rotates from round to round. In a Multi Judge game, everyone in the game is able to judge the photo submissions.

Were there any features that you wanted to include that didn’t make the cut?
Tons. The challenge is getting a game out with enough features to keep the user happy, while keeping the scope contained so that you can be first to market. Otherwise, we could have been in development for well over a year.

Any that might be added in a future update?
We’re already on our 3rd version of the game and plenty of features have been added thus far. We’re currently working on more features such as photo filters, new word options, creating your own words, sharing options, etc. We’re constantly improving the game so stay tuned for future updates!

I’d think that the ability to copy/paste photos would take some of the fun out of a game if all anyone ever does is Google image searches. Might there be a chance of including an option for custom rules when setting up a game that would disable certain things, such as said copy/paste?
We have considered different game options like copy paste, time restricted games, camera only, 1 vs 1 game modes, public vote games, etc. We made it so that users get more bonus points for taking pictures with their camera as opposed to copy/paste from the web which incentivizes users to submit original photos.

I know there must’ve been at least a few test rounds when Picsy was in development. Who’s the reigning champ at Grab Games? Any chance you can share their best submission?
There were tons of great photos submitted during testing which is why we fell in love with the game. One photo that stands out in my mind was for the word “Outrageous”. Photo has been attached [see above]. As you can see, the UI is temp from one of our early versions.

Both Picsy and Amoebattle are available right now for free and $4.99, respectively.

FREE!

Picsy

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-08-15 :: Category: Games

$4.99

Amoebattle

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-04-04 :: Category: Games

There are plenty of reasons for someone to show another person some photos. The trick is to find a way to do it that isn’t incredibly boring. The folks at ImageAMMO, LLC are aware of this issue and have come up with their own app to combat the problem: the aptly named ImageAmmo.

ImageAMMO allows users to display and peruse their image library using a number of 3D interfaces. These shapes range from spirals to cubes, and they can manually sift through everything or start a slideshow as they see fit. The app automatically incorporates the iOS device’s library so there’s practically no setup involved. It also supports external displays, so users with a VGA adapter (or AppleTV and AirPlay) and monitor can create presentations that are much more interesting than the norm.

The developer has also adapted the software for music libraries. IA Jukebox gives users the option to shuffle through their music libraries in much the same fashion as the photo app. Album covers reconfigure themselves on the screen to create interesting shapes, and calling up a particular song is as simple as tapping the screen a couple of times. I’d think hooking it up to a TV would make selecting background music for a party much more entertaining.

Both ImageAMMO and IA Jukebox are available in the App Store right now for $3.99 and $2.99 respectively. Just think of the presentation possibilities.

$3.99

ImageAMMO

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2010-11-11 :: Category: Photography

$2.99

IA Jukebox

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-02-13 :: Category: Music

InStudios, developed by Veena Karthick, is a visualization tool for the iPad that allows users to explore their creativity and imagination on the iPad. InStudios is a tool to visualize new inventions, landscapes, or anything imaginable.

The tool uses photos users can find all over the internet to help them create what they’re envisioning. The app boasts a powerful search engine that aids users in finding high quality images to use for their creations. Search images can be saved for later use. Images can be viewed in a full screen mode. The app also includes information guides to help new users to get started, is usable in both portrait and landscape modes, and has social networking integration to share ideas with others.

InStudios has recently updated to its 1.2 version of the app. The update has added an enhanced user interface, info guides with improved graphics, and an exclusive new interactive feature.

InStudios is available for $5.99.

$2.99

InStudios

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2012-01-27 :: Category: Lifestyle

Do you enjoy tinkering with Instagram but wish there was some sort of game aspect? If so you’re in luck as the Instagamer companion app has just been launched. This simple card matching game lets you enjoy some of the best pics you and your friends have taken while also introducing fun new content and ways to discover even more cool stuff.

Setup is simple, you can search by tags, your personal feed of pics or those of your friends, and you’re off. The photos are spread facedown on screen and you have to remember where they’re hiding in order to match up pairs. The game supports two players so you can take turns with a buddy, and if you see a photo you enjoy you can like it or get more info on who took it from within the app. This may not be much more than a simple companion app, but it’s still a fun way to explore the Instagram library.

FREE!

InstaGamer - Games with Instagram Photos

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-03-12 :: Category: Games

Social media power users will be pleased to hear that the official Google+ iOS app has been updated to allow photos and videos to be instantly uploaded onto the service. Now, instead of manually going through the entire Camera Roll, picking out the images you want uploaded and waiting for them to appear, users can instead opt to have everything instantly uploaded and shared with their circles. Furthermore, the update also adds the What’s Hot stream, so this latest update puts the iOS app on equal footing with the Android version of Google+

One thing to keep in mind before you switch on Instant Upload, remember that any photo or video you take will be immediately added to your profile, so you might want to exercise caution. Now that Valentine’s Day is over we expect there will be fewer inappropriate pics taken with phones, but do remember to either exercise restraint or, at the very least, turn off Instant Upload before you do anything that may cause embarrassment later.

FREE!

Google+

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-07-19 :: Category: Social Networking

This week at 148Apps.com, writer Blake Grundman offered part one of his developer interview with the folks behind Squishy’s Revenge, Toy Studio. Grundman writes, “Despite only having been in existence since September of 2009 the team working behind the scenes at Toy Studio have been hard at work, churning out an impressive thirteen games in that short span. Having successfully released titles on both the Nook Color and Facebook, it seemed like the next logical step was to transition into the iOS space.”

Read the rest of part one at 148Apps.com, and keep checking in for parts two and three soon.

FREE!

Squishys Revenge

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-09-29 :: Category: Games

Over at 148Apps.biz, founder Jeff Scott reported on Unity’s big announcement at Unite11. Scott says, “Shown during the Unite11 keynote, Unity 3.5 includes lots of new, very impressive sounding features like Multi-threaded rendering, Improved occlusion culling, and Radiosity Normal Mapping lightmaps. All in all, about 40 major new features. I’m thinking this will make some developers very happy — and me, as a game player will reap the benefits! For a full list of new features in Unity 3.5, check out the press release.”

Read more about the big announcement on 148Apps.biz.

GiggleApps writer Amy Solomon contributed a review of Snap and Share Kids Cam, stating, “I take a lot of photos of my son, who will also now ask me to take a snapshot many times of things he finds amusing, sometimes asking me to email them to family members. This app easily allows a child his age to take and send photos himself, as this app is very simple to use and contains nice spoken prompts explaining each event leading up to the emailing of photos. So easy to use in fact, that I plan to use it myself as this application is surely quicker than taking a picture, finding it on the camera roll, tapping to email, typing the recipient’s email address and tapping again to send the email on its way.”

Read the rest of Solomon’s review on GiggleApps.

$1.99

Snap & Share Kids Cam

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-09-06 :: Category: Photography

And thus we come to another weekly round-up of 148Apps network goodness. There’s so much more to see on the various sites, so check them out for yourself – and don’t forget to follow our Twitter and Facebook feeds for daily news updates and contests galore. See you next time.

For a while I had this idea about taking a photo of myself every day for a year or two, then compiling the images into a kind of stop-motion video that showed me aging in pseudo real-time. Then I thought it might make a decent art project (or something) to do something similar, only with a baby as it grows into whatever it is babies grow into these days. It appears as though I wasn’t the only person who’s thought of this, which isn’t exactly a surprise given the billions of people on the planet, as MJH Apps has seen fit to create a universal app that does exactly what I’d been daydreaming about.

And really, that’s what Watch Me Change does. It enables users to create time-lapsed video using pictures taken from their iOS device and stringing them together. They can set how many frames-per-second, set background music and use a grid that pops up on-screen to help with more consistent framing. Stuff like this can be a little eerie to watch, but it’s also pretty fascinating. Those brave enough to put themselves under the microscope can currently find Watch Me Change in the App Store for $0.99.

$1.99

Watch Me Change Full Version

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-09-15 :: Category: Lifestyle

These days, it appears as though everyone has a home computer. It also seems like most people have iPhones. And I always see a surprising amount of people carrying around iPads, too. So it’s not out of the question to imagine that at least some of these folks own two or even all three of these devices. The problem is, in this age of shutter-happy digital photography, it gets a little hard to store all those pictures in one location. Putting them on the phone is a good idea because then they can be shown off at a moment’s notice. Keeping them on the pad makes for easy editing. But then, the computer has a lot more storage space. What to do…

Well, Adobe’s gone and made a reasonable solution to the issue: Adobe Carousel.

For all intents and purposes, it’s basically cloud photo storage. All images will be kept in one spot and will be available on any iOS device with an internet connection. Tweaking a photo from one (i.e. adjusting hues and the like) no longer requires syncing or transferring between systems; the updated image will be viewable by all instantly. Oh, and said editing can be done from inside Adobe Carousel, similar to Photoshop Lightroom. It certainly seems like something the photo-happy iOS user could get a lot of use out of.

Granted, all this convenience and freedom from restrictive storage capacities does have a price. A very literal price. Adobe Carousel will require a subscription which can be either monthly ($5.99) or yearly ($59.99), depending on the user’s preference. Granted this isn’t all that substantial when compared to various other subscription fees, and it has no restrictions so users can import, edit and browse as much as they want.

There doesn’t appear to be a specific release date yet, but according to Adobe’s website it should be out “soon.” Likewise there’s no official word on cost, free or otherwise, aside from the subscription fee. Still, this is an app shutterbugs should keep an eye out for.

Drop-It! is a new app from Voxygen Limited that enables users to take photographs and automatically have them stored on Dropbox’s cloud server.

Anyone who regularly takes photographs with their iPhone or iPod touch can relate to the truth that the files can add up quickly, taking up valuable space that could otherwise be devoted to a larger iTunes collection. Drop-It! addresses this issue by automatically sending all photographs to the all-covering cloud in the sky – or, really, just an account on Dropbox. This does two things for users. First of all, it saves space on their device. Second, it allows them to view their photos on any iOS device, Mac or PC. Like with all other cloud-based services, users can essentially take their photos with them anywhere they go.

The app has a few other extras in addition to its cloud services that make it worthwhile. For instance, users can name their photo files and create separate folders for optimum organization. They can also specify to save photos as either a PNG or JPEG file type.

While the iOS Drop-It! app costs $0.99 to download, access to the cloud itself is free. Users can sign up for an account on Dropbox, which Drop-It! uses, for free within the app itself.

“We built Drop It! because we needed an easier way to photograph sketches and whiteboards to share with the rest of our team,” Voxygen Limited says of its app. “Using DropIt! we can now do this with one tap.”

Drop-It! offers a promising service, but one can’t help but wonder how useful it will be once Apple releases its iCloud this fall. Furthermore, this is hardly an original idea. There are numerous other apps already on the iTunes App Store that offer similar cloud storage, such as QuickShot. Only time will tell, of course.

$0.99

Drop-It!

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-07-26 :: Category: Utilities