While 360-degree photos have been around for awhile, it’s usually required a special camera, and they had to be posted to websites that supported the feature. The latest update to the Facebook app for iOS takes care of all that.
“Along with 360 photos from your friends and family, you can discover stunning new 360 photos on Facebook from public figures, publishers, and other organizations,” writes Facebook product manager Andy Huang in the official release. “360 photos give you the ability to take the stage in front of 100,000 fans with Paul McCartney, get behind-the-scenes access to the Supreme Court via The New York Times, visit the International Space Station with NASA, and more.”
Once you’ve taken a panorama on your iPhone – via the built-in camera app, or a third-party app – simply upload it to Facebook as you would any photo, and Facebook will take care of the rest. Other Facebook users will be able to identify your panorama by a compass icon that will appear in the right-hand side of the photo’s thumbnail.
When viewing the photo on the iPhone, users simply need to turn themself and their iPhone to look around the panorama. Web users just need to click and drag on the photo.
This might not show up immediately in Facebook on your iOS device, so have patience. The feature is rolling out to users right now. (If it makes you feel any better, we aren’t seeing the feature on our iPhone yet…) Get the Facebook for iOS app, free in the App Store. [GET IT HERE]
