Magic Hour

Of all the Instagram-like photo apps, Kiwiple’s Magic Hour is definitely one of my favourites.
This iPhone app lets you either shoot new photos or edit existing ones, it has a strong set of filters and you can either edit them or download more from a free market. I really like most of the app’s filters: the textures are mild and don’t take over the photo, which is something I usually appreciate.

The image output is square, no other formats are supported. Resolution is pretty good, though: on my iPhone 4s it gets to 2448×2448 pixels.
I tried to open several bigger images shot with my Canon Camera, and the app crashed: not sure if bigger formats are simply not supported, or it’s just a temporary bug. If you import images from a camera, I suggest you resize it before editing it in Magic Hour.

The camera is complete with zoom and mute settings:

Importing existing photos:

The filter section:

Tilt Shift options (which allows you to blur part of the image) are quite good, definitely more powerful than the current, basic, Instagram implementation:

You can share the image directly to several services (Cyworld and me2day can be also activated in the settings):

All in all, my opinion is that Magic Hour is one of the strongest Instagram alternatives around. The results are often quite pleasant to my eye and I love most of the filters available, expecially the ones with warmer tones.

One thing I miss from Instagram is that impressive Lux button that can produce some pretty cool HDR-like effects. In same cases I ended up shooting and editing with Magic Hour and sending the photo to Instagram, just in order to add the Lux effect.

PROS: Easy to use, great filters, free downloadable content, customizable, integration with several services, high resolution
CONS: Limited to square format
Check also: Instagram, Vintique, Hipstamatic

Compatibility	iPhone
Price	1.99$
Free/Light version?	Yes
Developer	Kiwiple
Resolution	2448 px – Square only
My Rating	8/10