Best new apps of the week: Hyperlapse from Instagram and Contact Center
Every week, our staff will handpick an app from the past two weeks that we believe is a must-have download for your iPhone or iPad. These apps will always be from various categories, but they are chosen because our own staff members love it and have been using them daily. So here are this week’s picks! Enjoy!
Hyperlapse from Instagram
The easiest and fastest way to create time lapse video is here in our App of the Week!
In the mood for a fast and easy way to create stunning time lapse videos and share them instantly with your friends? Then you should check out our App of the Week: Hyperlapse from Instagram.
This was a surprise release from Instagram, which is now owned by Facebook. Despite these facts, Hyperlapse has little connection with either network, despite being in the name and having them as sharing options and nothing more. Hyperlapse features no ads and is even optimized for both the iPhone and iPad. And the best part? Hyperlapse does not limit you to a square aspect ratio.
To get started in Hyperlapse, all you need to do is launch the app and then tap on the record button (both portrait and landscape mode are supported) to start recording your time lapse. There will be two time tickers on the screen as you record: one tells you how long you’ve been recording, and the other is the resulting length of the video. When you’re done capturing footage, there is a slider that allows users to make the final result up to 12 times faster, in case you need a little speed boost. The video can then be exported or saved in Hyperlapse for further editing.
Even though iOS 8 is coming later this month, our staff believe that Hyperlapse is a better solution to time lapse than what Apple will be bringing in the next iteration of iOS. It’s fast, simple, and powerful. You should check out Hyperlapse from Instagram for yourself — it’s available on the App Store as a universal download for free.
For a closer comparison of Hyperlapse against iOS 8’s Time Lapse feature, check out our full review.
Honorable Mention Contact Center
Keeping in touch with your favorites is made easy with Contact Center.
In search of a faster solution to getting in touch with your favorite people? Then you need to check out our Honorable Mention, Contact Center. This is a stripped down version of Launch Center Pro for the people who just want a fast and sleek speed dialer.
Contact Center features a simple grid-based interface, just like LCP. However, gone are all of the URL schemes and manual app actions — this is an app that is stripped down to be made just for fast access to contacts. The app does have three themes that you can choose from within the settings: Classic, Dark, and Light. If you’ve used LCP, the design of the app should be familiar; if not, the app is incredibly intuitive to use.
By default, when you grant it access to your contacts, you can then select a few favorites to create “Contact Folders” on the grid. There are also other default actions included, but you can edit anything at any time. To edit or add new shortcuts, just tap on the pencil icon, and you can do one of three things: add shortcut, create folder, or a folder from contact. My favorite action is the last one, because you just pick a contact and it makes a folder with their photo as the icon, and it comes bundled with useful preset actions.
The actions that users can do in Contact Center include: group email, message GIF, group message, call number, new message, call contact, and you can also set predefined canned messages, such as “On my way!” so you can send it with a tap. We have found these to be useful in day-to-day use, and makes contacting people easier than ever before.
Contact Center is free, and gives users a 4×3 grid. However, there is an ad banner at the bottom, but you can pay $2.99 to remove it and gain access to an extra row.
We’ve been getting a lot of use out of this app over the past few days, and it’s definitely one you shouldn’t miss out on. You can get it on the App Store for the iPhone for free.
For a closer look at Contact Center, don’t miss my original review.