Instagram rolls out collage app

 

 

Facebook-owned Instagram is aiming to be your mobile one-stop photo spot by offering a new collage app.

 

Dubbed "Layout," the new app is initially available for Apple mobile devices running iOS, with a version for devices running Google's Android expected soon.

 

"Instagram's newest app lets you create fun, one-of-a-kind layouts by remixing your own photos and sharing them with your friends," said the description on the App Store.

Click here to visit Layout from Instagram on iTunes.
 

Users can choose photos from their camera roll or use the built-in Photo Booth to "take spur-of-the-moment shots—and instantly see them laid out in various combinations."

 

They can then select the layout they like, then edit it.

 

Layout claims a "smooth, intuitive process gives you complete creative control."

 

"Tap to mirror, flip or replace images, hold and drag to swap them, pinch to zoom in or out, or pull the handles to resize. You're the editor, so get creative—tell a story, show off an outfit or just splice, dice and change the look of your regular photos to convey a mood or theme," it said.

 

Layout allows users to re-mix up to nine photos at a time and features a Faces tab to quickly find photos with people in them.

 

It then allows them to save layouts to their camera rolls and share them to Instagram or other networks.

 

A separate report on tech site Mashable said an Android version is expected in the next few months.

 

It noted the collage app comes at a time about one in five active users or some 60 million people use third-party mobile apps like Diptic, Moldiv and Stitch for collages.

 

"Simply put, a standalone collage app keeps users engaged with Instagram features and services for longer periods of time a standalone collage app keeps users engaged with Instagram features and services for longer periods of time. It also lowers the odds of Instagram users checking out photo apps from competitors," it said.

 

Mashable also noted Layout is the second companion app from Instagram, after Hyperlapse that lets users create image-stabilized, time lapse videos.

 

"We really wanted to keep the main Instagram flow simple, and adding a bunch of these features would probably make it more complicated," Instagram product designer Joshua Dickens told Mashable. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News