Unsplash for iOS: Your mobile creative companion is here.
We just launched Unsplash for iOS.
For nearly five years, 78,222 contributors have been building the largest library of freely usable, high-resolution photos anyone can use for anything. On Unsplash.com, over 481,304 photos have been shared and downloaded over 362 million times.
Today, we’re bringing all the freely usable photography on Unsplash to iPad and iPhone. And we’re doing it in a way that focuses not only on photography but on the creative use of it. The Unsplash app is super focused on doing just one thing well: getting great images into creative applications quickly and easily.
It took us a while to launch an app. But this was on purpose.
Unsplash photography is meant to be created with. Yet, most acts of creation still happen on “computers.” The next step after you download an Unsplash photo is likely opening a creative tool like Photoshop or Keynote on a desktop or laptop computer.
But there’s a big shift happening.
Creating on mobile devices is getting really friggin’ good. Apple is accelerating the future with the launch of new iPads, the iOS 11 operating system, and a new focus on empowering creativity. Three of the core functions in iOS 11 are files, multi-tasking and drag & drop. These might not seem like a big deal but they create the fundamental infrastructure for a creative computing movement.
I’ve seen firsthand the big improvements creating on mobile devices has gone through. In five years, I’ve shifted from working exclusively on my desktop to being able to work solely from my phone. And after using an iPad with iOS 11 for a few months, I feel like I’m close to cutting the cord on my desktop completely.
Our intent was not to build another social/photo networking app. Instead, our focus was on creating something useful from what makes Unsplash unique. This meant tailoring an experience specifically for creating with world-class images on a world-class operating system.
The Unsplash app might seem under-featured. There’s no profiles, following, or liking yet. But where we’re light on features, we’re heavy on care.
Apple just laid down an operating system for mobile creation and it’s up to us to build well upon it. Unsplash is a platform for the creation and distribution of raw materials for the next generation of creators who may never touch a “computer.”
Today’s version of Unsplash for iOS is just the start. As with everything we make, we aim to continually improve. But our vision remains unchanged: to push the impact of photography further than ever before by making world-class imagery accessible to creators everywhere.
I’ve been using the Unsplash iPad app for months now. I’m excited by the creative possibilities so many people will now be able to access with Unsplash photography at their fingertips.
Behind-the-scenes: Making of the Unsplash app written by our Head of Mobile Products,
.Other things we made for Unsplash photography:
And we have one open position to join our team: Full-stack engineer
