Tap Magnify 1.0

As we downloaded Tap Magnify we kept asking ourselves if we were about to witness another hoax that uses the built-in iSight camera along with some digital zoom to create a bigger pixelated image of the objects in front of the phone.

It’s only natural to think that, since most magnifying glass apps are a hoax. But TapMedia’s Tap Magnify apparently isn’t.

Grainy & pixelated

Take the UI alone and you won’t think much of this app. It’s old, grainy, and meant for 3.5-inch screens. It even crams an ad in there which you can’t remove no matter what, because there are no in-app purchases. Let’s not even mention the unattractive magnifying glass representation that covers much of the screen.

Surprise, surprise

But when you get to actually use it, you suddenly realize there’s more to Tap Magnify than meets the eye. Literally. Use it on your keyboard, and you’ll likely see some food leftovers or hairs that you never knew were there. Zoom in on the writing of a wrapper two feet away, and you’ll likely be able to read all the ingredients.

Look at small electronics, insects, etc., and you’ll discover the world as you never thought possible. It’s not a microscope, and it’s not a telescope either because it probably uses the camera’s power plus some software /digital zoom too. But it gets the job done brilliantly. You can’t get much more from the iPhone’s camera.

Two things

The slider and the pinch-to-zoom features are a little confusing at first, but you’ll get the handle of it. Another thing you might want to look after is your battery life. It kills it (probably more evidence that it uses software tricks to enable that magical zoom). Considering that you’ll probably be very curious to zoom in on a lot of things, we’d suggest putting it down once every few minutes for the sake of your phone’s health.

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