Update leaves Instagram with a new filter, changes to the camera and more

Instagram updated its iOS and Android apps on Monday, adding a new photo filter, a new camera interface and more. The camera interface includes a new shutter and shutter release button and a preview of your most recent Instagram picture will appear on your camera roll. The image news feed now offers larger images and the user profile page has infinite scrolling. New Foursquare integration allows those who geotag their shots to click to a venue page inside the Foursquare app that provides the user with more information about the location. And there is a new filter named "Willow" which is "a monochrome filter with subtle purple tones and a translucent glowing white border."

The camera has been improved to bring a more realistic depth-of-field rendering thanks to a better tilt-shift functionality. As Instagram said on its blog, "In the past, there had been vast differences in the effective strength of the blur between the preview screen and the output in your feed and camera roll. With this update the blur you see is now the blur you'll get!" There is now an optional grid guide for live photos and a permanent grid guide for the "Scale and Crop" page. There is also a new Welcome Screen, and on iOS, filtered pictures are sent to a separate portion of your camera roll called Instagram.

This all comes ahead of Twitter's expected update that will add photo filters to the messaging service. Starting this past weekend, Instagram disabled its support for Twitter cards and no longer shows Instagram pictures in the Twitter stream as the two former friends become the app version of Apple and Samsung. The Instagram app is available for free from the Apple App Store (version 3.2) and from the Google Play Store (version 3.3).

source: Instagram via AllThingsD