Lux Optics has released a loose product roadmap for its next big iPhone photo app, Halide 3.0 (which it's calling Halide Mark III). After being more candid than usual in its development kino video appwhich was recently Awarded iPhone App of the Year for 2024 By Apple, Lux is giving the next version of its popular Photos app a touch of Steam indie dev treatment.
Not only is Lux already hyped about major upcoming features a blog post by co-founder Ben Sandofsky, but it also plans to open up the development process through a discord serverWhere users can leave feedback after starting to try Halide Mark III.
So far, Lux has detailed three upcoming features for the Halide Mark III that customers will be able to try out early: color grades, HDR photos, and an app redesign. Color grades will operate much like they do in Kino, users will be able to instantly load an aesthetic look/color palette based on Lux's own creations, film stock, and imported recipes cooked up by other users. In addition to Lux's opinion on Fujifilm's film emulation, the Halide Mark III will also include the developer's opinion on HDR photos – now iOS 18's Adaptive HDR feature is making it easier to view HDR images on more platforms.
Not much has been revealed so far about Halide 3.0's redesigned interface, but Sandofsky said in a blog post that form follows function, and “If Halide's version of Instant Grade becomes as intuitive As much as we think, we'll make the grade – like Kino, making selection central in the UI.
Sandofsky's blog post did not provide further details about when the Halide Mark III would be shipped beyond sometime in 2025, and it also did not say how much the Halide Mark III would cost. But @halideapp account on threads prompted a commentator The Mark III will be included for Mark II users, and an upgrade will be included for v1 users.