Skip to main content

Instagram’s new Hyperlapse app lets you create super-smooth time-lapse videos

Instagram on Tuesday launched a new app that makes it easy for iDevice owners (sorry, no Android version yet) to create their own time-lapse videos.

The free app, which requires no account to get started, is quick to set up and simple to use.

Recommended Videos

After recording your content – up to 45 minutes is possible – just choose a playback speed of anywhere between 1x and 12x, review your video with stabilization applied, and you’re done.

Then it’s simply a case of saving it to your camera roll and sharing it with friends, or posting it on Instagram from within the app, in which case you’ll have to choose a 15-second segment as that’s the maximum length the media-sharing service allows.

Related: Microsoft stabilization technology does great job of creating silky smooth videos

“From documenting your whole commute in seconds or the preparation of your dinner from start to finish, to capturing an entire sunset as it unfolds, we’re thrilled about the creative possibilities Hyperlapse unlocks,” Instagram said in a blog post announcing its new product.

If you choose the right content, the results can be pretty impressive (check out the examples in the video above). The bottom line is that the new app gives users the opportunity to create smooth, dynamic and visually exciting time-lapse videos that before were much harder to achieve without first investing in some expensive and possibly unwieldy photographic equipment.

Microsoft is also working on similar time-lapse technology, as we reported earlier this month. Researchers developing the software are keen to incorporate their work into a Windows Phone app to offer something along the lines of Hyperlapse from Instagram.

Hyperlapse is the second standalone app from Facebook-owned Instagram. The first, Bolt – a Snapchat-like app that lets users send photo and video messages to friends – landed on iOS and Android last month,

The Hyperlapse app, which requires iOS 7.0 or later, is available now from Apple’s App Store.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
WhatsApp now lets you send self-destructing voice messages
WhatsApp logo on a phone.

If you’re on WhatsApp and regularly make use of the view once feature for photo and video messages, then you might be interested to learn that the feature has now been expanded to voice messages.

WhatsApp’s view once feature does what it says, deleting a message after it’s been viewed a single time. It’s been available for photos and videos since 2021, but now you can also send voice messages that can only be played once before they, too, disappear from the app.

Read more
You should probably stay away from the Instagram Wrapped app
Render of the Wrapped for Instagram app on an iPhone.

I’ll keep it simple. Stay away from the Wrapped for Instagram trend. The app has been making rounds in the App Store’s top bracket for the past few days, and the premise is a little too lucrative to ignore in the first place.

You may see your friends online showing off their Wrapped stats, but before you go and join in the "fun" for yourself, please consider the following first.
What is the Wrapped for Instagram app?

Read more
Lapse app: what you need to know about the new Instagram killer
Mockuups showing someone holding an iPhone with a screen shot of the Lapse app on the display.

It seems like new apps don't create much excitement nowadays, but one app has caught people's attention recently. It's called Lapse, and it's a photo-sharing app that is currently only available through invitation.

The app was created to allow you to share photos with friends, not with followers, in fun new ways. Friends versus followers might seem a bit confusing, but it becomes clearer once you understand how the app operates.

Read more