New APIs in iOS 7 Allow Developers to Detect Blinking and Smiling in Photos

In addition to a complete redesign and a slew of new features, Apple's iOS 7 offers a number of APIs for developers, including several camera improvements like zoom capabilities for video.

According to 9to5Mac, iOS 7 beta 2, which debuted yesterday, added a new function that allows developers to access image detectors to locate facial expressions within photos.

While face recognition was originally introduced with iOS 5, the new APIs can detect distinct expressions like smiles and blinking, functionality that is found in several basic point-and-shoot cameras.

newapis
Since the iPhone's debut, Apple has worked hard to improve both the camera hardware and software of its devices, so it is no surprise that iOS 7 will offer multiple camera enhancements for developers. Each iteration of iOS has included new features, such as the volume shutter controls that debuted with iOS 5 and the panorama capabilities added with iOS 6.

Apple's camera expansion efforts have largely paid off, with the iPhone 4, 4S, and 5 ranked as the three most popular cameras on photo sharing site Flickr. The iPhone's camera was also the highlight of a recent Apple advertising campaign.

Along with software improvements in iOS 7, Apple's next generation iPhone is also expected to feature several photo-focused enhancements. The iPhone 5S is rumored to have a higher megapixel camera and a dual LED flash that was revealed in device photos earlier this week.

Related Forum: iOS 7

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...

Top Rated Comments

pmau Avatar
150 months ago
WarpCore API

*/
CF_EXPORT
CFWarpDriveRef CFWarpDriveCreate(CFSpaceTimeRef dimension, const void **darkness, const void **eternity, CFIndex numHops, const CFWarpCallBacks *warpCallBacks, const CFSpeedCallBacks *speedCallBacks);

Look, I found a new Warp Drive API in CoreFoundation, near WarpCore.
You can create a EWarpDrive instance, define the dimension, darkness and eternity parameters and the number of hops you want to travel.

Each hop will cause a warpCallback into your App and the speedCallbacks let you place pins on the new 3D galaxy map API.

Use carefully.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Frisco Avatar
150 months ago
I don't know how I lived my 50 years of life without this technology. It makes my 50 years seem meaningless.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lotzosushi Avatar
150 months ago
Well as long as they don't pull an S4 gimmick and market eye-tracking as a huge feature. Cause it's not.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tbrinkma Avatar
150 months ago
The code says something about a minimum OS X requirement. More artificial limitations? "The older iMac cannot provide the processing power required for blink detection." ;)

Yep. God forbid they add a new feature to new versions of their OSs without backporting them all to the older versions. :rolleyes:

I suppose you want them to backport Grand Central Dispatch and Intel processor support all the way back to Puma, too?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xcodeaddict Avatar
150 months ago
Are you saying that the HTC implementation of this sucked? Is this based on personal experience on your part?

Or are you saying the Apple version is Gods gift to photography? Again, based on your usage?

You or I don't have a CLUE what Apple's version is like... but I guess a fanboi is a fanboi and it does not matter whether it REALLY is good, if it says Apple it MUST be good.
It's simple - Apple's implementations of things may take longer, but are generally FAR better, and that's not something I wish to debate really - it's obvious by mere observation and common sense.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Stack Overflow Avatar
150 months ago
The code says something about a minimum OS X requirement. More artificial limitations? "The older iMac cannot provide the processing power required for blink detection." ;)
It's not limiting it based on the hardware, it's limiting it based on the APIs the version of OS X contains. Only 10.9 has this (according to the code snippet).

You can't use a software feature that isn't contained in the software in question.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)