New Photo App Showcases a Unique Take on Live Photos

Mobile photography is a big business. From Instagram to VSCO, there are plenty of photography apps for iOS that have a giant user bases and top-name investors behind them. Now enter a new app into the photography application market. It takes the concept of moving photos (similar to Live Photos) and integrates swipe and movement to play and rewind these snippets.

The app, named Polaroid Swing, works similarly to Live Photos but in a different way. It takes a burst of 60 photos and then stitches them together to create a seamless 1-second long playback video. Then adds new functionality in the form of playback: users can either move or swipe their phone in order to play the video.  It even works on the computer too; just swipe the photo with your mouse or trackpad to see it in action. Neat, right?

Polariod Swing is much more than just a Live Photos alternative, though, and wants to help users ”capture the arc of a moment”, according to co-founder Tommy Stadlen. The app has other innovative uses: take 3D selfies, add filters to your living photos with swipes, add tint to profile images, and more. Plus, users can sign up for Polaroid Swing via Facebook or Twitter for easy access to friends.

So which should you use? From a personal standpoint, I’m siding with Live Photos because a) they are created by Apple b) they doesn’t require me to sign up and c) Live Photos are longer. And while the “swing” feature is unique (and slightly similar to what we see in Facebook’s 360 photos), it seems a bit more gimmicky than useful. However, if you do not have one of the latest Apple handsets, this could help fill the absence of Live Photos on your device.

There’s talk of making the app available on Android sometime soon, however Polaroid Swing is available now to iOS users in both the United States and Canada. You can get it from the App Store here.