Hydra 1 (Legacy version)

Bug fixes and performance improvements

Maintenance release with minor enhancements & bug fixes.

Maintenance release with minor enhancements & bug fixes.

Fixed black image problem affecting upcoming iOS 14 releases under certain conditions. A big thank you to our users for the diligent feedback.

iOS 14 ENHANCEMENTS
- Hydra 1.8 brings photo library security enhancement for iOS 14. Display of previously shot photos within Hydra gallery now requires the user to explicitly grant photo library access permission. This is an optional feature and is not required for shooting with Hydra. No other use of photos is made beyond in-app display. See our privacy policy for more details.
- Added support for new iPhone (late 2020) screen sizes.

iOS 14 ENHANCEMENTS
- Hydra 1.8 brings photo library security enhancement for iOS 14. Display of previously shot photos within Hydra gallery now requires the user to explicitly grant photo library access permission. This is an optional feature and is not required for shooting with Hydra. No other use of photos is made beyond in-app display. See our privacy policy for more details.

• Modernization for latest OS & bug fixes

Hydra 1.7 brings the following iOS 13 features:
- support for ultra-wide (iPhone 11 / 11 Pro), wide and telephoto cameras in most shooting modes (see below).
- Dark Mode throughout the app.
- improved interaction with the embedded photo gallery with Contextual Menu which replaces Peek and Pop, and that is available on all iPhone and iPad models.
- tuned visuals in the embedded photo gallery (SF Symbols).

Hydra 1.7 adds support for ultra-wide angle camera of iPhone 11 / iPhone 11 Pro for the following capture modes: Hi-Res, HDR, Lo-Light. For all iPhone with multiple back cameras, the cameras are now all exposed in the following modes Hi-Res, HDR, Lo-Light; in Zoom mode, the telephoto camera is automatically used if available.

Hydra is the perfect companion to mobile photography in general because of the limited sensors (they're small), and even more so for ultra-wide and telephoto cameras. Ultra-wide lenses are typically best suited to shoot scenery or architecture, and both HDR and Hi-Res bring additional capabilities that are useful in these situations. Moreover, telephoto and ultra-wide cameras have less sensitive sensors due to physics constraints that Hydra will gladly help overcome, typically with Lo-Light mode, thanks to its image fusion core.

Fixed a crash that could occur when saving photos or videos to Photo Album on devices running iOS 13.

Enhancements
- Fixed incorrect date in video metadata that could occur under certain conditions

Minor enhancements & bug fixes.

Updated for the new iPad Pro
- Handling of new iPad Pro display sizes (11" and 12.9")

- Updated for new iPhone sizes (including iPhone XS Max and more).
- Updated for Apple Watch Series 4.
- Fixed a bug affecting the insertion date in Photos app.

Hydra 1.5 now supports the telephoto camera in Zoom mode on iPhone with double lenses as well as the front camera in HDR & Lo-Light modes. Hydra can now take selfies, with much improved quality in poor lighting conditions, and Zoom mode can also go up to 8x from now on.

- Added support for the telephoto lens in Zoom Mode.
- Added support for the front camera to take selfies in HDR and Lo-light modes.
- Improved translation.
- Hydra 1.5 now requires iOS 10.0.

- Updated the crash reports framework.

Apple Watch App Improvements
- Modernised Hydra Watch app to support watchOS 4. Watch app is now faster and more reliable than before.
- New haptic feedback when shooting completes and when autoshoot timer advances.
- Requires an Apple Watch with watchOS 2.2 or more recent.

- Fixed an issue causing a lack of audio in recorded videos.

- Updated to support iPhone X.
- Improved Volume button shutter handling.

Updated to support new iPhone display size.

- Fixed an issue preventing the Watch app from loading.
- Other minor enhancements / modernization of the application interface.

Fixed issues affecting adventurous users:
- Fixed image capture hang.
- Fixed image gallery problems (hangs, lack of image).

Other improvements:
- Improvements with handling pictures in iCloud Photo Library (download of pictures that are not currently available on device).
- Better and simpler photo file naming scheme, when accessing files directly.
- iOS 9 is now required.

- Fixed an issue with camera focus indicator that could behave erratically under specific conditions.

- Fixed an issue with iPhone 7 / iPhone 7 Plus that could produce black image under extreme lighting conditions (HDR mode).

- Removed Haptic Feedback when taking picture.

- Fixed crash on launch on iOS 8.
- Updated French localization.

- Added 3D Touch Peek & Pop to preview or execute actions on last taken picture.
- Haptic feedback for iPhone 7: shooting progress and completion, mode selection.
- Maximized color fidelity by reducing strength of system-applied True Tone shift.
- Improvement of iPad experience.
- Optimized for iOS 10.

- Optimized application icon for the iPad Pro.
- Fixed a problem that could occur while zooming in the image gallery.
- Minor bug fixes.

NEW FEATURE(S)
- Added URL scheme to launch Hydra in a specific mode. (ie hydra://capturemode/hdr, or lolight, hires, zoom, hdrvideo)

BUG FIXES
- Fixed a rare launch-time crash when invoking 3D Touch shortcuts.

iPhone 6s / 6s+:
- Support for iPhone 6s / 6s+ camera sensor size, with new output resolutions (Hi-Res: 18MP - 24MP - 32MP)

iOS 9 Support:
- Support for iOS 9 Quick Actions on iPhone 6s / 6s+ to select capture mode from home screen when starting Hydra.
- Better support for iOS 9 San Francisco font throughout the app.
- Fixed a problem related to iPad split screen.

- Fixed permission requests on first launch. We've improved the permission requests workflow based on the feedback of a few users that needed to go to the settings pane under some circumstances. This should not be necessary anymore.
- Minor UI enhancements.
- Fixed iOS 9-related crashes.

Enhancements & Bug Fixes
- Updated Norwegian localization
- Better background state handling, in particular when communicating with Apple Watch. Fixes possible background crashes.

Support for Apple Watch:
- Hydra can be remotely controlled by Apple Watch: capture mode can be changed, and photo/video capture initiated from Apple Watch.
- Live-stream preview of iPhone camera is displayed on Apple Watch.
- 3-second delayed capture mode.
- Handoff support: Starting Hydra on Apple Watch displays Hydra icon on iPhone lock screen for easier launch.

Remote Capture:
- Support for bluetooth capture (shutter trigger) device like Muku
- Volume button shutter trigger

Other:
- Image gallery support for older devices with less than 512MB (iPhone 4S, etc.). Images are displayed at a possibly smaller size to fit device memory.
- Added Original & Digitized Time(s) EXIF metadata to saved photos.
- Minor bug fixes and enhancements.

Localizations
- Hydra has been localized to 5 new languages: Chinese (S, T), Korean, Turkish, Arabic, and Japanese

Bug Fixes & Enhancements:
- Fixed gallery glitches.
- Better handling of remote data that must be downloaded in the gallery (iCloud photo library).
- Fixed crashes linked to background state.
- Fixed other rare crashes.
- Fixed a problem where original image wouldn't be saved even if option was enabled.

Video recording improvements:
- Hydra will now autofocus before the video recording starts, but it becomes a manual process during the recording. This avoid focus shakes during capture. (thanks Allen B. for feedback)

Photo improvements:
- 12MP HDR on iPhone & 8MP on iPad are sharper (bug fix).

Permission update:
- As per user request, and even though Hydra only uses microphone to record sound for videos, Hydra will now work without microphone access (if you refuse access in first launch). In that case, recorded video will be silent. You can enable microphone at any time from global Privacy settings.
- Location & Microphone access (optional) are now better explained when authorisation is requested.

Bug fixes & enhancement:
- GPS coordinate fix for West and South hemispheres.
- Silence switch is now observed for all photo modes. Video mode still emits start/stop sound because of a limitation of iOS. (we could remove it altogether, let us now what you prefer).
- Fixed a crash affecting photo gallery / metadata viewer.
- Fixed a crash that affect HDR photo saving.
- Fixed crashes that could occur while recording videos.
- Lowered memory requirement & possible crash when exporting 32MP photos & videos (mail, etc.)
- Fixed a crash in Help viewer.
- Fixed minor interface glitches.
- Gallery access is now on the left for more coherence with Apple's Camera app.

We receive a lot of support requests, and make our best efforts to fulfil those. Please keep in mind that Hydra is about capturing photos in specific conditions as it requires long exposure, and it is therefore not suited to moving objects or camera. It's complementary to other photo apps that perform well for regular shooting in everyday conditions, it's not a replacement. Thank you for your understanding, and thank you all for your extensive feedback on Hydra.