IPhone App Review: Instagram

*Note: the following review comes from the writer's personal experience as a regular user of the Instagram photo sharing application for the Apple iPhone. The writer is not receiving payment from Apple or the developers of the Instagram application.

Who says you have to be a talented photographer or own fancy equipment and expensive software to create eye-catching pictures that pop? With the Instagram app for iPhone, you'll not only be creating incredible amateur photography in minutes, but you'll be sharing your photos with friends, family and fellow Instagram users as well.

Designed and developed by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, Instagram runs on Apple's iOS mobile devices (iPhone and iPod Touch) and is compatible with devices running iOS 3.1.2 or higher. If your device is in need of an OS upgrade, simply sync your device to iTunes, accept the software license agreement and install. As of September 2011, the Instagram app had acquired over 10 million users, an impressive feat for a company of only six people (Segall, Laurie (May 25, 2011). "TechCrunch Disrupt: Tumblr, Instagram discuss growing pains" . CNN Money. )

Simple and quite user-friendly, the Instagram application boasts five options at the bottom of the app (once opened), each designated by its corresponding icon: Feed, Popular, Share, News and Profile.

The Feed:

One of the great things about Instagram is that it isn't just for snapping and creatively editing photos and adding neat filters. It's also a fun social network. Much like the feed in your Facebook or Twitter apps, the Instagram feed will let you see the photos of fellow Instagram users you have chosen to follow. Users familiar with Facebook will enjoy the "Like" and "Comment" features available for photos in the feed.

Popular:

Designated by a heart-shaped icon, this option allows the Instagram user to view a daily-updated collection of photos receiving high amounts of viewer traffic. These photos tend to have high numbers of likes and comments as well. It's a great way to see what fellow users are uploading and, who knows, you may decide to follow someone based on their amazing photos.

Share:

This feature is the heart and soul of the Instagram app and is represented by a camera-shaped icon. Tapping here will connect the app to your iPhone's camera and you will have the option of snapping a photo or uploading one from your device's photo album. Once you have taken or selected a picture, Instagram will present you with a collection of custom designed filters and borders you can apply to your photo, from Inkwell, Early Bird and Lomo-fi to Sutro, Toaster, and Nashville. The app additionally includes linear and radial tilt-shift blur effects for "extra depth of field," according to the app's description in the Apple iPhone App Store. After customizing your photo and sharing it via the Instagram network, the edited version of the photo is automatically saved to your iPhone's photo album library, without any change occurring to the original.

Instagram also includes great share features. Users can post their photos to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Foresquare, Flickr and Posterous.

News:

The app's News feature updates users on recent activity by their friends and even lets you know if one of your Facebook friends has started using Instagram. Should someone "like" one of your photos or post a comment on a photo, you will be notified here as well. In many ways, it is similar the notifications feature in your Facebook app.

Profile:

Finally, your profile icon (located to the far right at the bottom of the app), will grant you access to your Instagram account information: including options to find friends, invite friends, search Instagram, view your photo library and photos you have liked, edit your profile information, edit share settings, change your profile picture and log out. You can also adjust your photo's privacy settings here.

Overall, the Instagram app is a fun and simple way to share your life or just your day through creative, customizable photographs, and to do so with several social networking and share options. As many longtime iPhone users are aware, an average camera phone picture is rarely anything special or appealing. But with Instagram, you have the ability to transform any photo into a unique and attractive memory that will last forever. As with most simple apps, it can become quite addictive, so I suggest you use it with caution.