iOS 5 to debut photo filters, question Instagram's raison d'être

iOS 5 beta 5 rolled out to developers over the weekend with some relatively minor updates and bug fixes, but an interesting addition we heard about back at WWDC, went a bit under the radar – the inclusion of photo filters. Currently, you can apply filters to your photographs via applications like Instagram and Camera+, which are booming in popularity, but beta 5 revealed heaps of filters and effects getting quietly implemented in the platform. So when the final iOS 5 launches, you can expect to see Core Image filters built in the photo app.

The following list detailing the effects (where CI stands for Core Image) appeared on BGR's full list of updates in beta 5:

Several filters have been added since beta 1. The current list now includes the following filters: CIAdditionCompositing, CIAffineTransform, CICheckerboardGenerator, CIColorBlendMode, CIColorBurnBlendMode, CIColorControls, CIColorCube, CIColorDodgeBlendMode, CIColorInvert,CIColorMatrix, CIColorMonochrome, CIConstantColorGenerator, CICrop, CIDarkenBlendMode, CIDifferenceBlendMode, CIExclusionBlendMode, CIExposureAdjust, CIFalseColor, CIGammaAdjust,CIGaussianGradient, CIHardLightBlendMode, CIHighlightShadowAdjust, CIHueAdjust, CIHueBlendMode, CILightenBlendMode, CILinearGradient, CILuminosityBlendMode,CIMaximumCompositing, CIMinimumCompositing, CIMultiplyBlendMode, CIMultiplyCompositing, CIOverlayBlendMode, CIRadialGradient, CISaturationBlendMode, CIScreenBlendMode,CISepiaTone, CISoftLightBlendMode, CISourceAtopCompositing, CISourceInCompositing, CISourceOutCompositing, CISourceOverCompositing, CIStraightenFilter, CIStripesGenerator,CITemperatureAndTint, CIToneCurve, CIVibrance, CIVignette, and CIWhitePointAdjust.

CIColorCube

It's not yet confirmed whether some of the filters would be applicable for videos as well, but image filtering seems a lock.

The existence of built-in filters brings some big questions regarding the future of apps like Instagram which has managed to grow to 150 million shared photos in just 9 months due to its catchy effects. If iOS 5 effects offer the versatility of Instagram's filters, we may well see a decline in that particular niche, as the services would mimic each other for a large part.

Either way, this will only contribute to the iPhone's popularity as a camera. Currently, the iPhone is the most popular camera on Flickr, and with an 8-megapixel camera sensor rumored for the next-gen version of the handset, it could only up the game in terms of quality.

source: BGR, TechCrunch