The iPhone Camera App Is About To Get A Lot Better

Apple announced numerous new iPhone features during its WWDC conference yesterday, and we're now beginning to learn more about the increased functionality in the iPhone's Camera app.

So what's new?

Instead of maintaining its closed stance on integrating third-party app functionality into its in-house applications such as Camera, Apple's reveal of iOS 8 means that your Camera app can now be utilized to its full potential. AppleInsider reports that Camera now supports timed photos (three and ten second delays) and users can tweak focus and exposure, too, all by just tapping the screen.

Another big new feature to the Camera app is the ability to take time-lapse photos simply by swiping to the left and pressing record-your iPhone will then capture individual frames and splice them together.

Apple is clearly opening up both user and developer access to its first-party apps in iOS 8, and PhotoKit, another new feature, enables photo manipulation from third-party apps. Instead of having to tweak a photo by opening it up inside another app, Apple is allowing direct editing while perusing your Camera Roll or Photos collection.

You'll have to wait until the fall to utilize the new iOS 8 Camera features, but if you need more depth in your iPhone camera in the meantime, there's plenty of third-party apps that will do the trick.