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

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Top Rated Comments

pmau Avatar
157 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
157 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
157 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
157 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
157 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
157 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)