Update (8/12/10 7:30am): True to Apple’s nature, Apple has now removed Camera+ from the App Store. Not for phishing passwords or lewd images. Nope, for using the volume control for something other than volume! Thanks goes to Krapps.com for reporting the bad news.
So a program called Camera+ was approved for the App Store back on June 7, 2010. (The app is currently on sale for $1.99 and is a steal!) It’s a really great camera application for the iPhone that has some great effects by Lisa Bettany (@mostlylisa) and developed by Inventive, Inc. and distributed by tap tap tap.
One of the best features of Camera+ is the ability to focus on one spot of a scene while getting the light sample from a different location in the scene.
The developers recently submitted for approval a new feature that would allow users to use the volume control to snap a picture instead of using the on screen button that we are so used to. The headphone volume control could also be used for the same purpose.
As expected, Apple rejected the update stating that using the volume control for something other than changing the volume on the phone was going against the rules.
Well, apparently, the developers for Camera+ had stuck the code into the current version of Camera+ (1.2.1). It’s disabled by default, but if you enter: camplus://enablevolumesnap into Mobile Safari, Camera+ will launch and the Volume Snap feature will work perfectly. You can disable the feature by entering: camplus://disablevolumesnap into Mobile Safari.
So, once again, Apple’s review process is shown to be completely useless and anyone can sneak in a feature as long as they hide it.
Thank you AppAdvice.com and TiPb for shining a light on this great feature so that we can take advantage of it. I just hope that tap tap tap isn’t banned from the App Store for pulling the wool over Apple’s eyes.
