If we eat with our eyes, Steller is an all you can eat photo buffet! This free iOS application turns your camera roll into a storyteller in minutes. Use text, photos, and videos to create a visually pleasing creation everyone can pass around and enjoy. View that night out on the town with friends or your week long family vacation from a whole different perspective. I’ve been using Steller since the middle of February and I knew from the start it had potential to be a phenomenal application. There were a few modifications it needed to make in order to gain some traction though. Before I get into what those were, let me get you up to speed on exactly what Steller allows you to do.

Think of all the pictures and videos you have in your camera roll on one of your iOS devices. Whipping out our iPhones to capture tons of photos and videos is extremely easy. With Steller you can finally organize those photos and videos into a truly unique visual story. In order to do this, users choose to display a page with text, photos, or video. Next up, decide between many different layout options. Text can be added over photos or placed into text boxes, but some functions are only available within certain design layouts. Some users design stories that are very text heavy, whereas others like to use a lot of photos with limited text. For my visual stories, additions are made depending on what my photos and/or videos are able to communicate to viewers on their own and additions are made from there.  It’s your story though, design it however you want.

Putting together a story can be time consuming depending on how much editing your creation requires. Your iPhone is capable of taking great photos, but third party applications are where your photos begin to shine. If you’re not importing some of your pictures into photo editing applications, you really need to start. I don’t just mean Instagram, I’m talking about Camera+, Tadaa SLR, Mextures, etc. You’re able to create some very unique photos by using third party editing applications. Sometimes I like to take a photo I just edited in one application and import it into another to see how it looks when I add features the other editing application doesn’t have. I’d be lying if I said they looked great every time, but sometimes I’m happy with the results. Once you have all the photos you want to use ready, start putting together your visual story. Depending on the amount of text, photos, and videos you add it could take you as little as 10 minutes to create your first story. Most of my creations take about forty-five minutes to an hour to finish, but bear in mind I do a lot of editing to my photos which adds a bit of time.

The many ways Steller is being put to use is really amazing. Food bloggers are able to actively show step-by-step instructions for some of their recipes, which gets me hungry every time. Photographers are using it to showcase some of their work and drive traffic to their website. Travel bloggers are showing how little of the world I’ve seen in some of their amazing stories. During the 2014 Winter Olympics, there were some awesome pictures and stories that weren’t part of the media coverage. These photos were coming from those experiencing everything first hand. You could feel the pride, energy, and excitement in their visual stories.

Let me come back to something I mentioned earlier. There were updates Steller needed to make in order to continue its success. Originally, when you signed in with a Facebook or Twitter account, it automatically imported profile photos from that account and made these photos your default profile photos in Steller. This has since changed and users are still able to sign in with their Facebook or Twitter account, but can now upload their own profile photos. Secondly, finding people in Steller was extremely difficult if not impossible. With a recent update, you are now able to find other users very quickly through a search function. Another great addition Steller added was if you connect your Twitter and Facebook accounts, you’ll receive a notification when anyone you’re connected with also connects their social media accounts. Now you can instantly follow your friends so you don’t miss a thing. Another update was made allowing you to follow other users very easily. At the end of a story, they’ve added a follow button you can quickly select. Sharing your visual stories with others is amazingly easy within Steller. Simply select the share button in the top right hand corner of a story you’ve created or currently viewing and you can share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest. Need more options? Steller allows you to send stories via email and SMS. These updates have made interacting with Steller a lot easier and now I’m always trying to think of what my next story will be.

Steller provides iOS users a way to create something truly unique. How many times have you taken a bunch of pictures or videos on a trip or a night out on the town and flipped through them with friends while trying to describe each one? Well, now you never have to do that again. Turn your photos and videos into a Steller story and just let your iPhone make its way around the room while everyone remarks how amazingly creative you are.

More About Jeremy

Jeremy “the Critic” writes for and owns iOS Etc (http://iosetc.com). He’s a United States Air Force veteran, an air traffic controller, and an Apple fanboy. One day he hopes to expose the world to a groundbreaking iOS application from an unknown independent developer. In his mind, it’s important we share someones hard work with the world if it deserves the recognition. You can follow iOS Etc on Twitter as well as Facebook and read more about him here. Want to connect with Jeremy? Feel free to send him an e-mail or add him on LinkedIn.

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