Tumblr is the first social network to support Live Photo sharing thanks to iOS app update

By Saqib Shah December 11, 2015

How to get Tumblr followers — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Tumblr has rolled out an update for its iOS app that introduces two major new features; the ability to share Live Photos and 3D-touch-enabled functionality.

The move marks the first time a major social network has integrated the Live Photos feature — currently only available on the Apple iPhone 6S and 6S Plus — reports 9to5Mac. Additional updates include live messaging, which was originally rolled out to selected users last month.

It’s a positive indication for Apple’s Live Photos feature that a major social network has embraced it, and could pave the way for further third-party integration. At present, Live Photos can only be shared through other Apple software, including iMessage, AirDrop and iCloud Photo Sharing.

For anyone who doesn’t own an iPhone 6S or 6S Plus, Live Photos are animated images that capture movement and sound just before and after a photo is taken (precisely 1.5 seconds). Apple itself doesn’t refer to them as videos, and your iPhone will not save them as such. Live Photos make a good fit for an audio-visual platform such as Tumblr. At present the blogging platform is home to all forms of GIFs, memes, and videos.

Tumblr users can add Live Photos to their posts in the same way that they would any other photo — once posted they will carry a special icon when appearing in other users’ feeds. A Live Photo can be viewed (and heard) on an iPhone 6S by using 3D Touch (deep pressing the display), users of older iPhone models can also view the images by tapping and holding them. At present, Live Photos will only display as stills on Android devices and on the Web.

Tumblr was purchased by Yahoo for $1.1 billion in 2013. Currently, the social blogging network contains over 267 million blogs and sees an average of 58.3 million user posts per day.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Saqib Shah is a Twitter addict and film fan with an obsessive interest in pop culture trends. In his spare time he can be…

Mobile

New Apple iOS 15 features emerge in Tips app in advance of iPhone 13 launch

One week ahead of Apple’s “California Streaming” event, Apple iPhone users are getting a peek at what the future holds for iOS 15. The Tips app began pushing notifications officially announcing upcoming iOS 15 features that are likely to roll out alongside the iPhone 13, which is widely expected to be unveiled at the September 14 event.

The full preview of iOS 15 is displayed in the Collections section of the Tips app, alongside the preview for iOS 14 and other iPhone guides. We've already done a deep dive into key iOS 15 beta features, but Apple has revealed some new information.

Audio / Video

Netflix begins rolling out support for spatial audio, starting with iOS devices

Person listening to spatial audio using Apple AirPods Max headphones.

Apple's spatial audio feature, which works with the company's AirPods Pro earbuds and AirPods Max headphones, offers a pretty cool way to get immersive audio from both music and movies. Support for spatial audio, however, is far from universal when it comes to streaming video services, with the most notable holdout being Netflix. But that's about to change, aswe've had confirmation from Netflix that the streaming giant has begun to roll out spatial audio support to iOS devices.

Spatial audio, in Apple's world, works in two different ways. If you're listening to Apple Music on an iOS device (and soon, Android devices, too), you can use any set of headphones or earbuds to experience tracks that have been recorded in Dolby Atmos Music the way they were meant to be heard. Spatial audio provides that wide and airy 3D-like sound that typifies Dolby Atmos Music.

Mobile

How to share iPhone photos with Android devices

Photography feature image.

Photo sharing is a universal activity regardless of whether your mobile device follows the Apple or Android persuasion. But it sure doesn't feel that way much of the time. In fact, it can be a challenge to share a simple photo or photoshoot cross-platform -- complex, but not impossible. We show you how it's done in iOS 14.6.
Reconcile photo platforms
While JPEG and H.264 are widely viewed as universal photo and video formats, since iOS 11, Apple's newest operating systems have updated them with even more highly compressed HEIF (High-Efficiency Image File Format) and HEVC (High-Efficiency Video Coding). The newer Apple formats are not proprietary, but they are less popular, and some Android devices may have trouble translating them. You can rectify that by switching formats on your iPhone so that it records JPEG stills and H.264 video instead of the newer highly compressed formats.

Go to Settings > Camera > Formats and choose Most Compatible. The resulting images will be of equal quality, take up more space on your device, and be compatible with all Android devices. Then, go to Settings > Photos > Transfer to Mac or PC and tap Automatic to ensure photos and videos get sent using the JPEG and H.264 formats.
Sharing options
Now that the formats are compatible, you can now decide how to share them -- email, text message, or via apps like WhatsApp, Google Drive, Dropbox, Twitter, or any other app that allows attachments or lets you upload and download files and folders, or access links. Below are a few different ways to accomplish this.