Halide 1.5: The camera app designed from scratch for iPhone X
Halide 1.5 is a huge update which features the first camera UI designed from scratch for iPhone X. All of the camera controls now sit within thumb’s reach, letting you easily shoot with just one hand. This new design uses every pixel of the new edge-to-edge screen, so nothing obstructs the viewfinder, giving you a uniquely unobstructed look at your subject. Every screen was further polished and designed from scratch for the iPhone X. Halide uses every bit of space on the iPhone X to create an unparalleled camera experience, even the upper screen corners.
Under the hood, extensive work was done to ensure Halide works perfectly with the new cameras on iPhone X. Halide 1.5 captures Depth, letting users apply Portrait effects to your captured photos in the Photos app, and manual focus lets you see the new f/2.4 aperture on the iPhone X telephoto lens in all its glory. Several improvements were made on older iPhones, too, to provide a more ergonomic experience.
New In Halide:
- The first camera UI designed from scratch for iPhone X – This new UI is designed to be usable with one hand. This completely unique design allows users to comfortably use the taller iPhone X without having to reach for features, yet ’embraces’ the ‘ears’ on iPhone X by showing exposure values and a histogram in the corners of the screen. The viewfinder is also completely clear of any obstructions, letting photographers focus on their subject with perfect clarity.
- Depth Mode and HEIC Capture – Halide can now capture Depth in photos so users can apply effects like Portrait and Portrait Lighting to their photos later.
- HEIC Capture – Newer iPhones can capture photos in HEIC for higher quality captures with a smaller file size.
- Faster and more reliable RAW capture – We work with other app developers and Apple to ensure we have some of the fastest and best supported RAW capture out of any iPhone camera app.
- Japanese localisation- -Halide is now entirely localized for our second biggest market, Japan!
About Halide:
Halide is a groundbreaking camera app for deliberate and thoughtful photography. With high-end tools and beautiful details, Halide is your go-to camera when you want to really take a photo rather than a quick snapshot. Halide’s gesture-based interface makes it fast and easy to change exposure and manual focus. It has customizable controls that adapt to your needs. Halide’s features include focus peaking, a detailed histogram, adaptive level grid, and RAW support.
Its creators, Ben Sandofsky and Sebastiaan de With, are no strangers to high-end photography. Previously, Ben had worked on Periscope’s video processing stack. Sebastiaan is a part time photographer motorcycle travel photography has been viewed over 5 million times on Reddit, People Magazine and other websites. The two noticed that smartphone cameras continued to improve while the interface of camera apps remained stagnant. “Nothing matched the pleasure of using a well-built camera,” explains Sebastiaan. “Halide aims to fix that.”
The controls of Halide are gesture-based, but also work with a tap. They are consistent and require no hunting; they can truly become muscle memory like the dials on a camera. While the app defaults to an intelligent automatic mode, just like the stock iOS camera app, just tapping the “A” button in the UI turns off automatic mode and lets you get down to the nitty-gritty: you can tweak values like ISO, white balance, and shutter speed.
For quick triage, Halide also lets you swipe through your recently captured shots and quickly swipe left or right on them to rate them as a favorite or delete them. This triage feature is a great way to ensure you only end up with the best shots from a shooting session. Thoughtful design touches in Halide include things like an entirely custom designed typeface for the UI, carefully tweaked haptic and visual feedback for the controls and a retro-style camera manual tutorial welcoming you when you first use it that you can thumb through.
Device Requirements:
- iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
- Requires iOS 10.0 or later
- 25.2 MB
- Pricing and Availability:
Halide 1.5 will be on sale for $2,99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) for a limited time during iPhone X launch weekend from Friday November 3rd, to Monday November 6th, after which the price will go up to $4,99. It is available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Photo & Video category. Question and comments can be directed to Sebastiaan de With.
Halide is built by Ben Sandofsky and Sebastiaan de With. Ben is a former Tech Consultant to HBO’s Silicon Valley, and used to be the tech lead of Twitter for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Sebastiaan is an ex-Apple designer and photographer that runs the San Francisco design shop Rune, which recently designed the Nylas email client.
