Can’t Use Apple’s Panoramic Feature On Your iPhone? Try Out These Alternatives

One of the new features of iOS 6 is Camera with Panorama. Unfortunately, this only works on the iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, and iPod touch (fifth generation). But don’t worry, there are some alternative apps that will get the job done on older iOS devices. In fact, it's possible to take 360 degree photos which are even better than the results you'd get from Apple's own product. In other words, these apps work great on any iOS device.

360 Panorama

One of the most popular apps for this purpose remains 360 Panorama, which burst onto the scene in 2010 soon after Apple’s introduction of the iPhone 4. Priced at $0.99, the universal app automatically stitches together photos giving you a GPS-tagged panorama. As its title suggests, the app offers 360-degree views of the world. On this point, the folks at Occipital have Apple beat since Camera with Panorama only offers up to 240-degree views. Features include:

Unbeatable speed: Taps into the raw power of your device to stitch panoramas in realtime.

Magical gyro viewing: Use your gyroscope to interact — look around in 360 degrees.

Never forget a location: Every panorama is GPS tagged, complete with a compass heading.

Share online: Shared panoramas can be viewed on any computer or device. App not required!

Post on Facebook: Post 360 views on your wall or send to a photo album — all from the app.

Tweet in 360: Share jaw-dropping scenes your friends can view anywhere, even inside their Twitter app.

Email 360 views: Say “wish you were here” in a whole new way.

Compatible with: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (fourth generation), iPod touch (fifth generation), iPad 2 Wi-Fi, iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G, iPad (third generation) and iPad Wi-Fi + 4G. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

Panorama 360 Camera

: Panorama 360

Created by Go2Share, the $0.99 Panorama 360 Camera app is universal. Best of all, panoramic photos are taken with only one shot, thanks to the use of the iOS device's gyroscope auto shutter feature. Like 360 Panorama, this app includes 360-degree photo-taking. Features include:

Adjusting the lans curvature.

White Balance/Brightness Lock to reduce difference for frames

Good for both INDOOR and OUTDOOR

Fast/Auto shutter, easy and Quick

Accelerometer supported

Gyroscope auto shutter (iPhone4/iPhone4s/iPad2/The New iPad only)

Very high resolution (360/High Resolution mode: 11453x1920 for The New iPad, 11453x1280

for IP4/IP4s/iPad2, 5720x640 for IP 3GS)

Recommended shooting distance: >2M

Recommended avoid large areas of walls and sky(Low contrast background)

Flash Light(iPhone4 and iPhone4s only) Supported

3D view interface

Landscape and Portrait supported

Universal supported (ipad2 and New iPad tested)

Compatible with: iPhone, iPod touch (fourth generation), iPod touch (fifth generation), iPad 2 Wi-Fi, iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G, iPad (third generation) and iPad Wi-Fi + 4G. Requires iOS 4.1 or later.

Photosynth

Microsoft’s Photosynth app remains one of the most popular in the App Store and for good reason. The free app includes interactive capture and full-sphere panoramas. You can also view other panoramas through the Best of Bing Maps feature. Besides, it is so easy to use -- just point your camera and start panning slowly. You are not just limited to left and right -- you can pan up and down as well to capture the entire scene. You can crop and share your panoramic creation from right inside the app, or save it to your camera roll. Features include:

See your panoramas take shape as you capture them with INTERACTIVE CAPTURE

Look and capture in all directions with FULL-SPHERE PANORAMAS

See the final panorama right away with fast ON-DEVICE PROCESSING

Sharp, seamless results with the ADVANCED IMAGE STITCHING ENGINE

Panoramas are always available to view and share from the ON-DEVICE LIBRARY

Explore the world’s best panoramas every day with BEST OF BING MAPS

Zoom, pan, and rotate your panorama in any direction with our IMMERSIVE VIEWER

Save your panoramas to the cloud and view them online at PHOTOSYNTH.NET

Sharing:

Share to Facebook or Twitter with images or interactive panoramas

Share to Bing Maps to see your panoramas throughout Bing

Share to Email to send images of your panoramas directly to friends

Your panorama images are available to any app from the Camera Roll

Best of Bing Maps – See the very best panoramas from around the world (and share your own!)

Compatible with: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (fourth generation), iPod touch (fifth generation), iPad 2 Wi-Fi, iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G, iPad (third generation) and iPad Wi-Fi + 4G. Requires iOS 4.2 or later.

AutoStitch Panorama

Recently updated for iOS 6, the $1.99 AutoStitch Panorama app generates wide-angle panoramas of up to 18 megapixels, with no visible seams. Plus, you can stitch photos in any order or arrangement, including vertical, horizontal, or mixed. Features include:

Simple and intuitive interface. Just snap overlapping images and tap "Stitch"

Highest quality and resolution available on the app store (up to 18 megapixels!)

Stitch any number from 2 to 40 or more images, in any arrangement

Stitch photos that were taken with any camera app

Crop the result with automatic or manual cropping

Share your creations via email, Facebook, or Twitter

Compatible with: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. While you can't go wrong with any of these choices, we highly recommend 360 Panorama and Panorama 360 Camera since they both offer 360-degree functionality. You should also check out two previous reports, Best Panoramic Photos Apps and How To Use Panorama Camera Mode.