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Exify – Tools for Photos ($1.99) by The Iconfactory is the latest app from the developers behind popular apps like Twitterrific and Astronut. If you’re a fan of The Iconfactory and have any interest at all in your photography, then Exify is an app worth taking a look at.

Ever since the iPhone 4 (arguably the most significant turning point of iPhone photography), I have abandoned traditional digital cameras and just rely on my iPhone for all of my photo taking, whether it’s every day moments, special occasions, or new adventures. I don’t consider myself a professional, of course, but I just enjoy taking photos as a hobby in my spare time. Still, I’m always curious about the metadata that can be found in my photo files, despite not having professional lenses and whatnot. So when The Iconfactory released Exify, I was intrigued enough to give it a spin for myself. If you’re a photography nerd, then this app is a great companion.

Like other apps from The Iconfactory, Exify features a simple and clean aesthetic that is pleasing to the eye while also being intuitive to use. The app features a black background so that your photos are the primary focus, and the light green icons contrast nicely with the overall color theme. The colors in the RGB graphs are rich and vibrant, so you get a clear idea of the color levels in the image you’re viewing. Each image will have multiple “pages” of data that you can view, and they’re all just a swipe away. The magnification tool is also easy to use so you can make sure you don’t miss out on any details, and Exify also has a handy iOS editing extension that lets you do several actions directly from the Photo Library. Once again, The Iconfactory has done a great job with pushing out these slick, minimalistic pixels. Exify is packed full of informative metadata for your photos but it still looks great.

Once Exify gains access to your Photo Library, you’ll see your entire Camera Roll on the main screen, from descending order with most recent at the top. Unfortunately, Exify doesn’t have a way for you to quickly jump to a certain time frame in your Camera Roll, so if you have a large collection of photos (my Camera Roll is over 2300 images at the moment), it may take you a while to find what you’re looking for.

Fortunately, though, the app seems to handle large libraries fine and the scrolling remains smooth, not jerky like other apps I’ve used, and I did not experience crashing while scrolling. The only time I had a crash was when I went to my Photos app to delete some unwanted images and then came right back to Exify — the deleted images caused the app to crash, but it was fine after I launched it again.

When you find the photo you want to view data for, just tap on it. The first page of information features the Overview, which tells you the type of image file it is, size, dimensions, megapixels, ratio, and exposure and lens detail. The thumbnail will also point out the point of focus on the image, and if you tap on the thumbnail, you get a larger view with magnification, so you can zoom in (1x) on specific areas to see the fine details of your photos. If you want to zoom in more, just double-tap for 2x magnification. Tapping on the eyeball button will let you check the color and shadow or highlight level of sections that you pick with the crosshair.

While one may think that the Overview already has plenty of data, there’s much more available. Just swipe horizontally to go through each of the other sections, which include Histogram, Geolocation, EXIF data, GPS, and even TIFF. The Histogram section lets you check out the peak and median in midtones, and you can check the RGB and Luminosity levels. Location has exact coordinates of where the image was taken and shows you on the map, which is provided by Apple. The EXIF, GPS, and TIFF data all include a ton of detailed bits, and you can even copy all of the text in these sections to the clipboard in order to share with others.

The best part about Exify are the iOS extensions that are included. With the action extension, users can show image information, magnify, or duplicate the image without having to go into the app itself. If you prefer to edit images directly within the Photos app, there’s also another additional feature of Exify: the option to add a watermark to your images. With the watermark, you can have white or black (with a partly transparent white background strip) text, and have the watermark be strong or light (more subtle). Other things you can do with the editing extension is remove location data for privacy, or even add GPS data from another image.

I only downloaded Exify yesterday, but I’m finding it to be a pretty nice tool to have in my photography app collection, especially for the easy way to add a watermark to images. More serious photographers will definitely get a kick out of all the photo metadata that is revealed in the app too, and everything is just super easy to use. The only change I would want to see is a way to quickly jump to a certain point of time in your Camera Roll, rather than scroll through everything, which would certainly be helpful for bigger libraries like mine.

I recommend checking out Exify if you’re into photography at all, whether it’s just iPhone photography or if you like to import professional images taken with a DSLR to edit on your iOS device. Exify – Tools for Photos is available on the App Store as a universal download for just $1.99.

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Modern Atlas Travel Guide & City Maps — nearby places in Wikipedia & Wikivoyage ($0.99) by Eric Wolfe is a beautiful app for helping you plan and make the most of your next adventure. If you love to travel, or even just explore the world and take time to plan your dream vacation, then this app is a must-have on your iOS device.

It’s officially summer time, and that means that many of us are doing some traveling, or are planning to. Or, if you’re like me, you probably can’t afford to travel the world whenever, and just take vacations whenever you’re able to. Either way, going out and exploring the world is a great thing and something that everyone should do multiple times in their life. However, with so many possible destinations out there, it can be a little overwhelming when it comes to planning everything out for your dream vacation. Fortunately, Modern Atlas is a fresh new take on the travel guide, making the process of preparing your trip easy and simple.

In terms of visual user interface design, Modern Atlas is gorgeous. It goes for a simple and clean aesthetic that fits in well with iOS overall, and it’s just great to look at. Modern Atlas also places a heavy emphasis on visuals, including gorgeous photography that are shots from actual travelers, which is rather inspiring and a great way to get familiar with how places and landmarks look, even when you’ve never been there before. Even if you aren’t planning a vacation soon, it’s fun to just go through the app because of the pop-up detail boxes, insanely detailed maps, fast search, and exploring the spots that you have to add to the “bucket list.”

All of the various spots and businesses are color-coded as well, so it’s easy to find what you’re looking for. The chosen Avenir typeface also means that everything is super legible and easy-to-read, which just tops off the overall experience. Modern Atlas also has some rather subtle animations as you transition between different views and details, but everything is smooth and fluid. I did not experience much lag on my iPhone 6s Plus as I was navigating through the app and even going through a 3D map. Overall, I think the developer did an excellent job with how Modern Atlas looks and feels while in use.

On the initial launch of Modern Atlas, users will be greeted with a few introductory screens that shows the basics of the app. Once you go through those intro screens (or just skip them), the app will also walk you through the process of creating your first map guide. It’s a rather simple process, and lets you get creative and personalize your trip much more than a typical travel guide will.

The first step to creating a map is to find the place you want to explore. Just type in the city or landmark, and Modern Atlas will quickly find the results you’re looking for. Since all of the data that Modern Atlas pulls from is from Wikivoyage and Wikitravel, there are over 21,000 guides that it is referring to. These guides are created by independent travelers and will let you know what the best places are to see, eat, and sleep. And with all of this available data on hand, you’ll always be able to find the spot you’re looking for when you create a new guide.

Once you have picked a point of interest, Modern Atlas takes you to that spot on the map (using Apple Maps) and you will see spots start populating on the map. If this is the destination you want, you can quickly save it by tapping on the “star” icon. As far as the map goes, you can pan around using intuitive multitouch gestures, enable 3D Flyover mode (where available) to take a virtual tour, re-center the map, or see where you are right now in relation to what you want to see.

As far as putting your own guide together, it’s rather easy. Since the map will be populated with a bunch of colored icons of possible things you may want to visit, it may be a bit overwhelming, depending on the location. You can use the filter tools in the upper right corner to view: Your Bookmarks, See, Do, Buy, Eat, Drink, and Sleep. Choosing one of these will get rid of the other points of interest, so that it’s much easier to go through and find what you want. Zooming in on the map will let you see the names of each spot, and tapping on the icon brings up a popup box that gives you a brief summary of that destination. If that small bit of information isn’t enough to sate your appetite, just tap the entire box to view the full Wikipedia article.

While the real magic with Modern Atlas, at least for me, is the fact that you can quickly and efficiently make your own guide of things you want to see and do, there are also “Practical Travel Guides” included in the app. To view these, just tap on the floating button towards the top of the map. These guides will change to reflect the area that you are in on the map, and give you a brief introduction to the area, how to get in and around, what to see, do, buy, eat, drink, sleep, and stay safe. The data for these practical guides is put together by the independent travelers of Wikivoyage, so it’s always current, up-to-date, and full of popular spots that everyone considers a must. If you’re stuck on finding things to check out on your trip, I think these are a great way to find some inspiration.

I may not be going anywhere far this summer, but I have dream spots that I would love to visit someday. I have only spent a brief amount of time with Modern Atlas so far, but I’m loving every second of it when I am using it. The app itself looks incredible, it’s fairly intuitive to use, and the practical guides give you a great springboard of inspiration for planning your next vacation.

The only problem is the fact that the app does require a data connection in order to view things like images and Wikipedia articles, which may be a problem for those who don’t want to have to pay for an expensive data plan overseas. There is also the fact that the app uses Apple’s Maps data rather than Google Maps, which some people may not be too fond of. Perhaps this can be a setting in the future, so that people have options.

Still, Modern Atlas is a solid new way companion app to have while you’re traveling, or just want to start planning your next trip. It also works as a way to help you explore and be more knowledgable about the world while you’re at home.

I recommend giving Modern Atlas a try if you are a frequent traveler or want a slick app to help you create your own travel guides. You can find Modern Atlas on the App Store as a universal download for just $0.99. The price is 80 percent off the normal $4.99 price for a limited time only.

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