Welcome to JOE’s weekly TechXplanation, where we take the most talked about pieces of tech/apps and give you the knowledge.
This week we’ll be looking at Facebook’s new photo-editing feature, available to users of the Facebook app on iOS devices.
So what is it?
A way for iPhone users to add text, filters or Facebook stickers to their photo uploads.
Facebook is incorporating its entire Sticker catalogue into its new photo-editing feature, allowing its users to pose with HamCat, Power Rangers, and the ever-popular Pusheen in their picture uploads.
Furthermore, text and emojis can be emblazoned across profile photos using Facebook’s own photo-editing software, where users may have previously been screen-shooting Snapchat photos in order to achieve this effect.
Why should I be using it?
If you’re an iPhone user, there’s simply no reason not to. Facebook allows for Snapchat-style expression on new image uploads, without the drawback of the images’ disappearance within ten seconds.
Facebook failed in a 2013 attempt to buy Snapchat, so it makes a lot of sense that it would tweak its own software to incorporate some of the photo-messaging app’s most appealing features.
This feature provides for a wider array of stickers and decorations than Snapchat has, and allows for greater collaboration between apps than Snapchat does. Whereas photos taken in Camera can’t be sent via Snapchat, iPhone users can now take a photo in Instagram, pretty it up, and then slap a Jurassic Park scene on a #sunrise before uploading it to Facebook.
Cost:
Free, as long as you’re an iPhone user – though Facebook are likely to make this feature available to Android devices soon.
Whats the alternative?
While Facebook may offer a comprehensive array of filters, Instagram’s range of photo-enhancing tools is far wider. While some sunset-sharers will be willing to sacrifice quality for convenience, some purists will surely reserve their photo editing for Instagram.
As for Snapchat, Facebook’s new features are, thus far, limited to Timeline uploads – so they can’t be used on Messenger. This means that Snapchat maintains its advantage of being a photo-editing app as well as an instant messenger.
One would assume, however, that if Facebook’s first foray into photo editing proves popular, it won’t be long before photos can be edited in Messenger – meaning that the only people who need to stick with Snapchat are those who explicitly want their photos to disappear.
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