Two Instagram engineers team up to bring a 360-degree camera

When two former Instagram engineers join forces to develop a camera, its app also naturally becomes a crucial part of the process.

That’s where Rylo, a new 360-degree camera, created by two former Instagram engineers, shines. After two years in the development stage, the camera was launched this week.

The pocket-sized camera doesn’t look any different from other 360-degree cameras. It is capable of shooting 18MP photos and take 4K videos at 30fps. It has everything you would expect from a $499 camera.

But wait, that’s not all. The real magic happens when you pair the camera with its companion iPhone app which automatically imports your videos enable you to control almost every aspect of the video after you are done shooting it, directly from the phone.

The app offers a ‘follow’ feature that allows you to choose a part of the video you want to focus on, and Rylo's app adjusts to focus on following the subject, something we’ve already seen on the GoPro's 360-degree Fusion camera.

The ‘frontback’ feature captures a sort of picture-in-picture shot to show what’s behind and front of the camera at the same time.

To top it all, the app has a ‘points’ feature, which allows you to focus on different part of the video just by tapping on the screen. The app works in the background to stabilized the shot and change the perspective so only the shots you chose make it to the final output.

Users can also turn raw footage into a stabilised time-lapse video or opt to share the full 360-degree video.