Google just turned your iPhone into a retro film camera for free

If you're looking to get more out of your iPhone camera then Google may have the answer. No, it's not the image editing tools in Google Photos, but another app that you probably thought was long forgotten.

Apple's iOS has surprisingly become the beneficiary of an updated Snapseed app. The software has a history that runs back well over a decade and at one point was one of the top photo editors you could get for mobile devices. However, it seemed to be in decline over the last five years.

Now it's suddenly reappeared again – and Apple devices get the new version first.

The most recent update to Snapseed takes this photo editor and turns it into a full-fledged retro camera. That means it's now about image capture, as well as image editing. The updated iOS app now has a camera icon in the top right-hand corner to go straight to taking your own snaps.

There are a range of styles – or filters – to change the look of the photos you are taking, based on classic Kodak film stock. That means you can choose the look and start snapping, with nice retro graphics to make everything feel just so.

There are image editing options too, so Snapseed has now become a much more useful tool – with the camera side of things reminiscent of rivals like Hipstamatic.

What's so surprising about this is that Snapseed for Android is just the basic image editing app and it feels like it has been ignored. Perhaps that's because Google wants the software to be a viral hit on social media and it knows that going down the iOS route is probably the way to make that happen.

Back to the iPhone app and you'll get manual adjustments for exposure and focus, with a range of pro settings for ISO, shutter speed a focus with a dial for adjustment. That's going to give something of a realistic feel as you change the settings manually.

The irony of the whole situation is that Snapseed originally launched on iPad in 2011, before being bought by Google in 2012. Since its inception, many of the options that it offers are found in native image editing apps from phone manufacturers.

Is it time for the retro camera to make a comeback? Even if it isn't, it's a fun little app that's loaded with features to try out. And it's free.