I love using Instagram and share most of my photos using that app. I used to get really frustrated when I’d open pictures in Instagram and would find that they were cropped in a weird way or I wished that I could show more of the picture. The app Squaready quickly become one of my favorite apps for my iPhone and iPad because it makes it so I can control how I want my image to appear before I open it in Instagram. Did I mention it’s FREE? That makes it even better!
When you launch Squaready, tap the folder icon in the upper left-hand corner of the screen (or you can tape the camera icon to take a picture using the app).
Select the image you’d like to edit and then choose your cropping option. This first option is one of my favorites for photos that were taken as a portrait (5×7 as opposed to 7×5). Notice that a white border is added around the image so that the finally picture is a square and your original photo maintains its dimensions so nothing is cut off.
Alternatively, you can choose the first cropping option which expands the image to fill the square. This is similar to the traditional Instagram crop, however, you can drag the image around with your finger to choose how to the final image will appear (unlike in Instagram which just auto crops your image).
The final cropping option centers your image vertically and horizontally. I don’t typically use this option because I’d rather have the larger vertical image then add extra white space to the top or bottom.
One of my favorite features about this app is that you can choose the background color that surrounds your image. 9 times out of 10 I typically pick white because Instagram uses a white background so I want my image to blend in with their background, but I love that they have so many color options to choose from.
Once you’ve finished editing your image, you can share it instantly to Instagram by tapping the folder with the arrow icon in the upper right-hand corner of the app. There’s also other options like just saving it to your Camera roll or picking another app to share the image with. I always pick the highest format to share it with in case I decide to print the image later (this way you can print it in a larger size).
So that’s a quick walk through of the Squaready app for iPhone or iPad! Do you use Squaready? Which apps do you share your images with? Please share in the comments!