Unsplash for iOS is growing up
We’ve reworked almost everything: discovery, navigation, search, profiles and more.
Last year we decided our iOS app was due for a big update rather than the small improvements we released since its launch in 2018.
We set a goal: make it easier to contribute to Unsplash. To achieve this, we knew we had to change the way to navigate throughout the app. But the design wasn’t completely clear yet, so while we let ideas brew in our heads, we started working on several new screens as well as improvements to a few that were already there.
Halfway through the year, the ideas for the navigation started to take shape. We’ve implemented them, and iterated on them. Then came a long period of bug fixes, improvements, tweaks, and even adding new stuff too.
In the end, it’s almost like we’re launching a new app.
So let’s start with the most obvious change: the navigation. Up until now, it’s been very simple, you had access to everything from one screen: new photos, featured collections, search, and your profile.
Because we wanted to put more emphasis on contributions, we decided to split the navigation into a tab bar. So let me guide you through each tab and present everything that’s new.
Explore
The first tab is where you can delve into our top curated content. Taken from our website, you’ll notice at the top the topics bar, that you can scroll horizontally to browse even more content. Our team’s favourite is Current Events.
In short, the Explore tab showcases what’s best on Unsplash, it’s easy to spend hours browsing and get inspired by all the amazing contributions from our community.
Search
If you’re still looking for more content, you can move to the second tab: Search.
We’ve added filters in the search bar at the top, so you can now find landscape photos that have a dominant teal colour for example.
Oh by the way, as you scroll through, you may notice that photos first appear blurred before they look sharp and clean. You know images can take some time to fetch, so we provide a brief overview while they are retrieved. That’s one of the many improvements we made.
Contribute
We hope that after seeing all the amazing visuals shared by our generous community, you’ll be inspired to contribute too. That’s where the third tab comes in.
If you’re on iOS 14, we’re using the brand new photo picker that Apple provides. It allows you to search through your photo library and albums while respecting your privacy. The application will have access only to the photos you select. We will never see your whole photo library.
We plan to update this tab in the future. Until then, you can check it out every now and then to read the latest articles from our blog.
Profile
The final tab is for your profile, which you’ll want to check after you’ve contributed. You’ll be able to see when your newly submitted photos are in review, or require some verification, as well as which photos you may have set to be hidden from your profile (no one else but you will see them).
But that’s not all here! We’ve added a brand new Stats view, with beautiful graphs and more insights about your photos.
You may have noticed that there’s a natural progression between each tab, kind of like levelling up in a video game.
Oh and I almost forgot! We’ve waved goodbye to the light mode: Unsplash for iOS is now dark mode by default.
Head to the App Store to give this new version a try. And don’t hesitate to send us your feedback at apps@unsplash.com.