Instagram released a new app this week called Hyperlapse, an app that makes it simple for users to create seamless time-lapse videos on an iPhone or iPad. Now, Instagram is offering a look at how the app was built from a technical perspective on the Instagram Engineering Blog.

One of Hyperlapse's lead engineers, Alex Karpenko, describes how the team could successfully create time-lapses with a smartphone without needing a steadicam mount.
It requires a good deal of video stabilization. Karpenko developed an image stabilization technology called Cinema, which uses the phone's built-in gyroscope to measure camera movement. An algorithm can then be applied to those measurements to reduce shake and create fluidity.
The algorithm works by sending samples from the gyroscope and frames captured into a stabilizer, which then outputs a new set of "correct" camera orientations. Those orientations are then sent to a stabilization filter, which puts out the steady frame.

This video lets you see how the algorithm crops and zooms footage to create a buffer around the visible area; it also shows very clearly which part of the video is being "captured" as part of the Hyperlapse. This process is known as adaptive zooming, letting Instagram crop and zoom information in a specific region based on how much shake exists in the video.

One of Hyperlapse's coolest features is that you can use a slider to set the time-lapse level for a video. A 6x level means that every sixth frame is plucked out of the video and played back at 30 fps. Thus, your video is now 6 times faster than the original. To do that, however, requires some complicated work on the back end.

Without knowing the technical details behind the app, Hyperlapse was impressive. But that's kicked up a notch after seeing how much work went into creating and refining the algorithms, and the real-time processing necessary to create the speed of the hyper lapse clips. It also makes Instagram's decision to launch the app with iOS support — with hopes for Android support once the APIs are available — make a lot more sense.

Paying no heed to another app with a similar name that’s been around since last year, Instagram has gone ahead and launched the Bolt app. However, the app is available only in New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa as of now and can be downloaded on the Google Play store and Apple App store.

Just like the popular ephemeral app Snapchat, Bolt lets users send one-tap photo and video messages. Talking about the limited availability, an Instagram spokesperson explains, “We decided to start small with Bolt, in just a handful of countries, to make sure we can scale while maintaining a great experience. We expect to roll it out more widely soon.”

Some of the features listed on the app store reveal that Bolt will allow users to take and share photos and videos very quickly. It also allows users to caption their photos and videos, while making it simpler to share content on chats. The app doesn’t require users to subscribe with their email addresses and one can simply sign up with their phone number – similar to WhatsApp.
It is highly believed that after a failed attempt at acquiring Snapchat and then building a Snapchat-inspired app, Facebook is looking at Instagram’s popularity to attract users with a similar offering.

Facebook-owned photo sharing app Instagram, has rolled out v6.0 for Android and iOS. The update brings new photo-editing tools that allow users to adjust the contrast, brightness, saturation and other features of pictures they take with their smartphones. The version 6.0 of Instagram for Android and iOS is available on the Google Play Store and Apple app store, though when the tools will reach the Windows Phone version of the app has not been mentioned in the blog post.

The Instagram filters allows users to enhance photos or add different hues to them, for eg, you can make an image look like it was taken with a Polaroid camera in the 1970s. The new Instagram functionality allows users to fine tune the creative effects of their photos as opposed simply using a filter on top of them, making it a fully-fledged photo-editing app.

The tools are available via a wrench-shaped icon which appears after a filter has been selected. Apart from adding new 'creative tools', existing tools have also been improved including photo and video upload.