Apple Announces LivePhotosKit API for Embedding Live Photos in Websites

[MacRumors]

Apple today announced the launch of a new LivePhotosKit JavaScript-based API that's designed to make it easy to embed Live Photos taken with Apple's latest iPhones into websites.

This new JavaScript-based API makes it easy to embed Live Photos on your websites. In addition to enabling Live Photos on iOS and macOS, you can now let users display their Live Photos on the web.

Introduced alongside the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus in 2015, Live Photos are designed to add life and vitality to the standard still photo by adding a bit of motion. A Live Photo captures an extra 1.5 seconds of movement before and after a shot, animating an image with movement and sound.

Live Photos can be captured using the iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, SE, 7, and 7 Plus, and can be viewed on all devices running iOS 9, OS X El Capitan, and watchOS 2 or later.

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Though Live Photos have been around since 2015, few social networks support them, and there have been limited ways for non-Apple users to view them. The addition of a LivePhotosKit API may help make Live Photos more popular.

Article Link: Apple Announces LivePhotosKit API for Embedding Live Photos in Websites

 

[Sefstah]

Live photos, probably the most gimmick of an iPhone feature ever.

 

[2010mini]

Don't GIFs already exist?

 

[Jessica Lares]

Nice that they finally did an API of their own.

 

[konqerror]

Live photos, probably the most gimmick of an iPhone feature ever.

How else will you be able to see the ground or people's feet in scenic locations?

 

[jasonklee]

Live photos, probably the most gimmick of an iPhone feature ever.

My girlfriend took photos of her newborn nephew and was showing them off to family members and they were adoring the photos. Then she 3D Touched one photo and the baby boy came to "life" with sounds of him babbling and someone actually wowed and said that was amazing.

I couldn't have rolled my eyes any harder. I told my girlfriend she can keep 3D Touch and Live Photos, I'll stick to my superior OLED display.

 

[twocents]

Live photos, probably the most gimmick of an iPhone feature ever.

For the most part, but you gotta love the way they turn out with pet photos

 

[Dilster3k]

Glorified GIFs.

inb4; mwawaha imbedded .movs superior mwah

 

[jasonklee]

Another one: My father passed away last summer and recently I visited my brother and we got to talking about our old man and how much I missed him and I still have dreams of him and I wake up feeling sad. My brother showed me a photo he took of him shortly before he died, on the sofa, looking out the window. Then my brother 3D Touched it and in the Live Photo my father turns, notices the camera, and waves and smiles.

I looked up at my brother and sighed and told him what a gimmick Live Photos are and how Apple needs to think of better uses of their technology.

 

[surfingarbo]

Live photos, probably the most gimmick of an iPhone feature ever.

I beg to differ. I once accidentally sneezed whilst taking a selfie. That Live Photo made my evening!

 

[nrose101]

All I see are negative comments about live photos. Guess what you don't like them. DONT USE THEM. I personally love the feature!

 

[maflynn]

I think its mostly a gimmick, with really no actual usage. The only time my wife uses live photos is because she accidently turned it on

 

[D.T.]

My girlfriend took photos of her newborn nephew and was showing them off to family members and they were adoring the photos. Then she 3D Touched one photo and the baby boy came to "life" with sounds of him babbling and someone actually wowed and said that was amazing.

I couldn't have rolled my eyes any harder. I told my girlfriend she can keep 3D Touch and Live Photos, I'll stick to my superior OLED display.

So a family member had a better experience due to the technology, but you rolled your eyes and said some display hardware was better ... I see.

 

[jasonklee]

So a family member had a better experience due to the technology, but you rolled your eyes and said some display hardware was better ... I see.

Well, I don't get it. I think it's pretentious that Apple tries to "humanize" technology. Like health and activity tracking. I question the pragmatic usefulness. What's the point of Live Photos? My brother and my girlfriend have a bunch of them. By far the dumbest photo is one where my dad is craddling my infant son, but in the Live Photo it shows my dad humming a lullaby to my him. Disgusting sentimental crap and not to mention, completely useless.

My girlfriend's father also passed around the same time as my father from the same cancer, and she has a Live Photo of her dad playing the guitar as her wallpaper and once in a while she'll 3D Touch the Lock screen to play the wallpaper. How is this USEFUL technology? A show of hands will reveal that most people find Live Photos are, indeed, a gimmick.

A REAL file system, a live weather widget, and a bigger battery are all way more important innovations than Live Photos.

 

[nrose101]

Well, I don't get it. I think it's pretentious that Apple tries to "humanize" technology. Like health and activity tracking. I question the pragmatic usefulness. What's the point of Live Photos? My brother and my girlfriend have a bunch of them. By far the dumbest photo is one where my dad is craddling my infant son, but in the Live Photo it shows my dad humming a lullaby to my him. Disgusting sentimental crap and not to mention, completely useless.

My girlfriend's father also passed around the same time as my father from the same cancer, and she has a Live Photo of her dad playing the guitar as her wallpaper and once in a while she'll 3D Touch the Lock screen to play the wallpaper. How is this USEFUL technology? A show of hands will reveal that most people find Live Photos are, indeed, a gimmick.

A REAL file system, a live weather widget, and a bigger battery are all way more important innovations than Live Photos.

I am hoping that is all sarcasm. Personally, I would love to see a video of a love that one passed away than a still picture If it wasn't sarcasm I guess you are just a cold hearted individual.


BTW I could care less about a Live weather widget. You have eyes go look outside.

 

[D.T.]

Well, I don't get it. I think it's pretentious that Apple tries to "humanize" technology. Like health and activity tracking. I question the pragmatic usefulness. What's the point of Live Photos? My brother and my girlfriend have a bunch of them. By far the dumbest photo is one where my dad is craddling my infant son, but in the Live Photo it shows my dad humming a lullaby to my him. Disgusting sentimental crap and not to mention, completely useless.

My girlfriend's father also passed around the same time as my father from the same cancer, and she has a Live Photo of her dad playing the guitar as her wallpaper and once in a while she'll 3D Touch the Lock screen to play the wallpaper. How is this USEFUL technology? A show of hands will reveal that most people find Live Photos are, indeed, a gimmick.

A REAL file system, a live weather widget, and a bigger battery are all way more important innovations than Live Photos.

Something doesn't have to be "functionally useful" to not be a gimmick, that seems an odd, and limiting definition[?] Is music a gimmick?

Anyway, that photo she saved of her Dad sounds pretty special, and it sounds like the little extra experience she gets from the movement was worth it.

Technical side note: iOS does have a "real filesystem", in fact, it just got "more real" with the release of APFS (I guess you're trying to suggest user access to it)

I personally love the feature!

I dig on them too, it's a "free" extra little engagement with the photo. I can't count the times some photo of our little G was made a bit better seeing the lead up to the static image (where I wasn't prepared to shoot video).

I guess YMMV (see above )

 

[CaTOAGU]

Well, I don't get it. I think it's pretentious that Apple tries to "humanize" technology. Like health and activity tracking. I question the pragmatic usefulness. What's the point of Live Photos? My brother and my girlfriend have a bunch of them. By far the dumbest photo is one where my dad is craddling my infant son, but in the Live Photo it shows my dad humming a lullaby to my him. Disgusting sentimental crap and not to mention, completely useless.

My girlfriend's father also passed around the same time as my father from the same cancer, and she has a Live Photo of her dad playing the guitar as her wallpaper and once in a while she'll 3D Touch the Lock screen to play the wallpaper. How is this USEFUL technology? A show of hands will reveal that most people find Live Photos are, indeed, a gimmick.

A REAL file system, a live weather widget, and a bigger battery are all way more important innovations than Live Photos.

The sarcasm is strong with this one. (Or at least I think it is)

Personally I think Live Photos are great.

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

Well, I don't get it. I think it's pretentious that Apple tries to "humanize" technology.

That is the ultimate goal.

I question the pragmatic usefulness.

Ok...

What's the point of Live Photos?

To "humanize" technology.

My brother and my girlfriend have a bunch of them. By far the dumbest photo is one where my dad is craddling my infant son, but in the Live Photo it shows my dad humming a lullaby to my him. Disgusting sentimental crap and not to mention, completely useless.

There is example 1 from your own post of its pragmatic usefulness.
(Your sounds like a wonderful brother/son)

My girlfriend's father also passed around the same time as my father from the same cancer, and she has a Live Photo of her dad playing the guitar as her wallpaper and once in a while she'll 3D Touch the Lock screen to play the wallpaper.

There is example 2 from your own post of its pragmatic usefulness.
(Your girlfriend sounds like a lucky woman)

How is this USEFUL technology?

See your own post. Above.

A show of hands will reveal that most people find Live Photos are, indeed, a gimmick.

Hrm. Because out of the 3 (you, brother, girlfriend) people in your story, 2/3 (brother/girlfriend) have found Live Photos **extremely** useful. 66%. How is that for "pragmatism"???

A REAL file system, a live weather widget, and a bigger battery are all way more important innovations than Live Photos.

Would a "real' file system sell more phones? Nope.
Would a "live" weather widget sell more phones? Nope.
Would a "bigger battery" sell more phones? Probably not.

 

[Sefstah]

Another one: My father passed away last summer and recently I visited my brother and we got to talking about our old man and how much I missed him and I still have dreams of him and I wake up feeling sad. My brother showed me a photo he took of him shortly before he died on the sofa, looking out the window. Then my brother 3D Touched it and in the Live Photo my father turns, notices the camera, and waves and smiles.

I looked up at my brother and sighed and told him what a gimmick Live Photos are and how Apple needs to think of better uses of their technology.

Sounds like your brother took a video like every other camera can do. Not a "live photo" that's exclusive to idevices.

 

[hagar]

I think Live Photos are great but as with many things Apple makes, the execution is too limited. They could have done more with it in 2 years.

Just like they didn't take Airplay, 3D Touch or Siri to the next level. It happens over and over: they introduce something intriguing but not quite there yet. And then they let it linger.

 

[btrach144]

I'm shocked at how many people think live photos are worthless.

My child is constantly on the move, and live photos helps to capture how active she is. Considering our family members live far away, this neat feature helps to bring the pictures to life.

To each their own

 

[jasonklee]

Sounds like your brother took a video like every other camera can do. Not a "live photo" that's exclusive to idevices.

Exactly. It's not a static photograph of a baby frozen in time that suddenly comes to life that animates with the look and feeling of a memory. What's the point of that? Live Photos and good ol' videos are aesthetically and qualitatively and emotionally the same thing.

 

[Fzang]

Just came back from a vacation, and I must say that the convenience of Live Photos captures the beautiful still scenery and bustle of the city better than a lot of photos and cutting up videos. I also don't have to time photos for specific elements, because I know they'll be captured in the extra few seconds I'm given, rather than 1/16th of a second.

Initially I was also quite sceptical, especially since the feature was quite beta. But with updated frame rate and photo edits that carry over in the video segment, it's a genuinely useful feature now.

 

[btrach144]

I think Live Photos are great but as with many things Apple makes, the execution is too limited. They could have done more with it in 2 years.

Just like they didn't take Airplay, 3D Touch or Siri to the next level. It happens over and over: they introduce something intriguing but not quite there yet. And then they let it linger.

Airplay was originally announced to be an open source technology. Apple quickly became silent on it though and like you said, they let it linger.

I had hopes of being able to officially airplay my PCs to my Apple TV.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Don't GIFs already exist?

GIFs are very low quality and never meant for photos. They have a very limited color profile and look like trash in most cases.
[doublepost=1492718134][/doublepost]

Airplay was originally announced to be an open source technology. Apple quickly became silent on it though and like you said, they let it linger.

I had hopes of being able to officially airplay my PCs to my Apple TV.

Facetime was build on open standards and Apple was going to open it up to others. It sure would be nice if I could FaceTime with those that don't have iPhones also.