'Horizon' Allows iPhone Users to Always Shoot Horizontal Video

Monday January 20, 2014 3:22 PM PST by Jordan Golson
Horizon AppA new videography app called Horizon uses the iPhone's gyroscope to automatically "level out" iPhone videos so they are always shot in landscape mode, avoiding the so-called vertical video problem.

By automatically rotating video so that it is always horizontal, the app ensures that video is always kept in the default format for televisions and Apple's newer computer screens, but that it is always kept straight -- something that Instagram and other apps can do for photos -- but a feature that is unique for video.

The biggest downside is that the app effectively crops video, reducing total resolution, in order to keep the video horizontal and steady. But, as many videos get reduced in quality when posted online anyway, it may not matter to the average user.
Horizon lets you record horizontal videos no matter how you hold your device. Hold it upright, sideways or even keep rotating it while capturing, the video will always stay horizontal! You can add filters, shoot with the back or front camera and share your creations!

Ever felt you had to rotate your device while recording a video? Do you often end up with vertical videos or videos in wrong orientation? Enter Horizon!

Horizon works like magic! It auto-levels your videos while recording, using your device’s gyroscope. The orientation of the resulting video is corrected so that it always stays parallel to the ground.

Horizon is temporarily available for $0.99 from the App Store, with the price rising to $1.99 sometime after launch. [Direct Link]

41 comments


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AngerDanger
66 months ago
It must be lovely to see the quality increase as the phone is rotated from portrait to actual landscape. :rolleyes:
My alternative solution is better and free: HOLD YOUR PHONE CORRECTLY!

i mad bro
Rating: 15 Votes
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ArcaneDevice
66 months ago

Just don't shoot in portrait, and you won't have to buy an app. This is just encouraging people to shoot vertical video, but it's just cropped.


It's an app designed to appeal to the forever stupid. If you can't learn when and when not to use a portrait orientation then you should be spending more time reading books and taking some basic lessons in common sense.

This is a case that requires one verbal lesson to solve.

"You are holding it wrong."
Rating: 11 Votes
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ddelapp
66 months ago
Just don't shoot in portrait, and you won't have to buy an app. This is just encouraging people to shoot vertical video, but it's just cropped.

Vertical Video Syndrome
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt9zSfinwFA
Rating: 7 Votes
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nagromme
66 months ago
This is ingenious.

But... if you know you have this problem, why not just turn the phone the right way?

And if you don't know there's a problem, you won't seek an app to solve it.

(I can see entirely other uses, where you're shooting video from an unpredictable base like a rocking boat, if the leveling is smooth and fast enough to help.)
Rating: 5 Votes
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Corrode
66 months ago
I would love it if they could keep the native resolution. And then if Apple would implement it. Having to watch vertical video is on the top of my first-world problems list.
Rating: 4 Votes
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MacFly123
66 months ago

Why didn't I think of this?! Arg!


This is one big mistake Apple made with the iPhone. They should have locked video recording to landscape from the beginning!

Huge pet peeve of mine as a video producer!!!
Rating: 4 Votes
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aristokrat
66 months ago
I'm wondering why this must correlate to a decrease in resolution. I know the sample picture would mean less resolution, but I'm now wondering what the actual image sensor in the phone looks like. Is it actually rectangular like the aspect ratio of the pictures taken?

It would be even cooler to have a circular image sensor that you could combine with a gyroscope to allow for perfect landscape video regardless of camera/phone orientation.
Rating: 3 Votes
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goobot
66 months ago
Now make this a default in iOS so i never have to watch a portrait video again.
Rating: 3 Votes
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JayLenochiniMac
66 months ago
Down with soccer mom videos!
Rating: 2 Votes
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mdelvecchio
66 months ago

It's an app designed to appeal to the forever stupid. If you can't learn when and when not to use a portrait orientation then you should be spending more time reading books and taking some basic lessons in common sense.

This is a case that requires one verbal lesson to solve.

"You are holding it wrong."


if the world were that simple we wouldn't need seatbelts and airbags, would we? just don't drive wrong. eh?

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This is one big mistake Apple made with the iPhone. They should have locked video recording to landscape from the beginning!

Huge pet peeve of mine as a video producer!!!


why? what if your intended video recipient is on phone, not a tv? video phone to phone just feels better when portrait.

Apple couldn't force it because they can't know your final intended output device.

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Why would people even shoot in portrait in the first place?


it's easier to hold. imagine an ice cream sandwich or candy bar -- why do you hold it vertically instead of horizontally, even tho you could certainly eat it that way? just easier to hold.
Rating: 2 Votes
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