Instagram’s 6.0 Update Finally Brings Real Editing Tools to the Social Networking App

Instagram hasn’t really been much of a photography app, lately. When it started off, it was a great way for the average smartphone user to give their photos a vintage Polaroid look. But with how popular it’s gotten, especially after its acquisition by Facebook, Instagram’s been keeping more of a focus on social networking than it has on actual photo editing. Today, a new update just released for the app that might change all that.

The latest update, Instagram 6.0, brings improvements to what’s already there – straightening, cropping, rotating – and then it adds on more. This time, the social networking-focused app is coming with tools that have been essential for any photographer up to this point; with 6.0, we get options to adjust brightness, saturation, contrast, and more. No word yet on how those features compare in quality to their counterparts in apps like Snapseed, VSCO, or Afterlight, but considering it’s one of the fastest growing social networking apps out there, it’s great to see Instagram bringing tools like this to mainstream attention.

Check out the full list of specs after the break. You can update to Instagram 6.0 right now on Google Play or the App Store.

Improved tools

Straighten
Border
Blur/Tilt Shift
Crop
Lux
Rotate
Simplified video uploads on iOS

New tools

Filter strength
Adjust
Brightness
Contrast
Warmth
Saturation
Highlights
Shadows
Vignette
Sharpen

[Via Instagram Blog]