iPhone App Review: InShot
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 10:00AM | Glyn Evans 
You may recall that last Tuesday I posted news on a new self-portrait app called InShot, and commented on how I was impressed with the app when I first tested it, but then found the app continuously failed to detect my face.
Following my comments I was contacted by the developers who said "We're really keen to make sure the app works well for everyone; unfortunately I can see from your blog that it didn't work very well for you." They went on to explained "It does sometimes have difficulty in low lighting conditions or where there is strong light behind you which puts your face in shadow." and asked "Is it possible this might have been the case when it couldn't detect your face?"
As soon as I read this email, it was plain to see why the app had worked one minute and failed the next, as the lighting conditions were different on the occasions it worked compared to the times it didn't, so I gave the app another go, and this is my review.
The App
Launch the app and you presented with a simple clean interface with a box in the center of the screen that has the words "double tap", which is exactly what you do to initiate the app to take your self-portrait. Next the app will instruct you to "hold the camera towards you, hold still, and move the phone as instructed." Following the apps vocal instructions you are told to move the camera closer, further away, up, down, left or right,
"I can't see you" and finally when framed you will be told to "smile", and your photo will be taken. After the photo has been taken you are presented a preview screen where you can either save to the camera roll or delete the photo (or if burst mode has been used, then you can save or delete one or more of your self-portraits - more on burst mode next).
OK, so that's the core functionality of the app covered, but in addition to taking single shots, it has a burst mode (as mentioned above), which lets you take 3, 5 or 7 shots when your face has been detected, increasing your chances of getting that perfect self-portrait.
The only other feature this app has, is the ability to change the voiceover from a female, to a male to an evil robot, which sounds just like a dalek.
So having previously said "overall a nice app, but not one I can recommend", what do I think of it now?
Following the explanation from the developer as to why this app was failing for me the first time around, and after spending some more time testing the app in different lighting conditions, I am back to being impressed with it. OK there may be occasions when the app struggles, but now that I know it is due to things like a strong light source behind me (facing the camera), I just adjust my position slightly and it works.
What would I like to see this app do?
For me there is just one thing, and that is have it detect 2 faces.
My final thoughts.
This is a really good self-portrait app which has found a permanent place on my iPhone, worked 99% of the time for me, and as such gets 5 stars from me.
InShot in iPhone App Review
Reader Comments (5)
Will it save at full res on a 3GS? Sounds like a cool app! Thanks for all the work you do :)
@Joseph. It is full-res on the 3G, and whilst I can't confirm 100% it is full-res on the 3GS, I am pretty sure it is, but maybe someone could confirm this for us.
Thanks Glyn!
I can confirm this - it saves in full resolution on both 3G and 3GS models.
I bought it, just so I could test it against ArmsLength - my favorite self portrait app. Well, it WAS my favorite until today. What I like about InShot over ArmsLength are the fact that you can do a series of shots and pick the one you like, and you can adjust where you want your face to be in the photo. Maybe ArmsLength will do something similar in the future, I can wish right?