With the release of Instagram’s public APIs, many websites and apps have been released allowing users varying levels of access to Instagram feeds. But especially in a market of square frame “Instagram companion apps,” other than Instagram itself, there haven’t been any camera apps released that allow you to upload to your Instagram feed from within the app.
That is, until now. Camera app 100 Cameras in 1 can add one more camera to its feature set. It’s the first camera app with built-in export-to-Instagram features.
The new 3.1 update was just released. Other than performance tweaks and bug fixes, the only new feature is built-in Instagram support. It’s the first third-party photo app to let you export straight to Instagram.
It’s not straightforward. You don’t store your Instagram login in the app. Hit “Share” and follow the selections onscreen. When exporting to Instagram, 100 Cameras actually opens your Instagram app and loads the photo directly into the app, where you can upload as is or apply more filters in Instagram.
It’s not a smooth process. It takes you out of 100 Cameras. It doesn’t save the image before export — you need to do that on your own or you will lose the high-res image from 100 Cameras. Because it isn’t iOS 4 background process friendly, you’ll lose any work you’ve done in 100 Cameras upon export.
It looks like you can also export to a number of other apps that support drag and drop import in iTunes, including Camera+, Filterstorm, Dropbox and others.
The app no longer supports devices still running iOS 3. It now requires iOS 4.2 or newer — something the update description doesn’t mention.
I’m not a huge fan of 100 Cameras. I’ve reviewed it previously. It’s mainly an overlay app and to me, most of its overlays don’t mesh with my style. But, this is a cool new feature that really opens up the workflow if you process images with other apps before uploading to Instagram — even if for now it’s just 100 Cameras. Hopefully, we’ll see this feature show up in other apps soon.
100 Cameras in One normally sells for $1.99. Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.2 or later.
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