Snappy - Interactive Camera

Shoots by itself: sound, movement, brightness, distance, heading, what's in frame, or a gesture. A peace sign or raised arms takes the group photo from across the room.

A camera that shoots without you pressing the shutter.

Sound, movement, brightness, heading, what's in frame — Snappy watches the sensors and releases the shutter the moment the condition you set is met. Use it with the phone on a tripod or a table, from a distance, when your hands are busy, or when you want to be in the picture yourself.

The shutter button still works, of course. It's an ordinary camera too.

■ Eight trigger conditions

• Shake — shoots when you shake the phone • Sound — shoots when it hears a loud noise • Motion — shoots when something moves in frame • Brightness — shoots when it gets brighter • Distance — shoots when something comes closer than the distance you set, using LiDAR or TrueDepth • Compass — shoots when the phone faces a heading you choose • Object — shoots when something you picked appears in frame, from 77 kinds including people, cats, dogs, birds, animals and cars • Gesture — shoots on a peace sign held up to the camera, or on both arms raised, which reads from right across a room

Most conditions can be flipped to shoot when the value falls instead. When it goes quiet, when it gets dark, when the movement stops — the reverse works too.

■ Set the threshold with your finger

The indicator just above the preview shows what the sensor is feeling right now. Drag the white line and the threshold moves with it, while you watch the frame. No need to open Settings.

■ Two trigger modes

• Continuous — keeps shooting for as long as the condition stays met • Standby — shoots once, then waits until the condition is no longer met before it will shoot again

Choose Standby when the situation holds steady — someone standing still, a room that stays bright — so you don't end up with a hundred of the same photo.

■ Features

• Shot count (unlimited, or 1–100) • Interval Time between shots, from 0.0 to 99.9 seconds • Delay Time before the shot, from 0.0 to 99.9 seconds, with a countdown ring around the shutter button • A sound when the condition is met, so you know it noticed even from behind the camera • Automatic capture lock — the sensors keep watching, but nothing is taken • Grid (thirds / center) • Inclinometer showing side-to-side and front-to-back tilt at once • Aspect ratio (default / square) • Saved size (full / 1:2 / 1:4) • Add location • Capture review • Disable Auto-Lock, so a long session isn't cut short by the screen turning off • Front and back camera

Photos are saved to the iOS Photos library, with what triggered the shot written into the file's EXIF.

■ Some ways to use it

• Leave it by the door or in the garden and catch whoever — or whatever — turns up • Clap your hands to take the shot from across the room • Raise both arms from across the room and be in the photo yourself • Catch fireworks and lightning on brightness • Put it beside a path and shoot whatever comes within a metre • Shake the phone to shoot • Shoot when the phone faces a particular direction

Open the Quick Guide from Description in Settings. It includes recipes like these.

This app shows ads. An in-app purchase removes them.