[NewsPoster]

Every so often we come across an app that fills a niche we didn't even know existed -- but once we find out about it, we wonder how we lived without it before. One such app is Blurify, an app that aims at helping you create esthetically-pleasing images with just a single shake. Blurify does one thing, and it does it incredibly well -- analyze photos to create an attractive, iOS 7-styled wallpaper. The app is designed to be utterly foolproof, requiring minimal input from the user while still creating a visually-appealing result.

To get started, all you have to do is either take a picture from the app, or access one from the Camera Roll. No, seriously, that's it: the app does the rest. The app will analyze the picture for brightness, contrast, and color, then creates a balanced, blurry wallpaper. If you're not a fan of the results, shaking the device will reanalyze the photo and create a different result.

We were pleasantly surprised with our results for most of the images we used, and if we didn't like them, a quick shake or two allowed us to get a result that we thought looked nice. We do, however, have a few tips to offer users just starting out. Pick an image with colors that you absolutely love, and don't really worry about quality or composition of the image itself. We found, in fact, that poorly-taken photos with a good color balance often yielded better results than images that were well-composed but lacked dynamic colors.

Does Blurify fit a niche, rather than cater to the whole? Maybe, but we think that's one of the wonderful things about it. While not every user will find Blurify particularly useful, we think that there are likely quite a few people who will absolutely love it. Blurify is available for iPhone and iPad, costs $2.

Who can make use of Blurify:
If you're interested in giving your iPhone or iPad a personalized blurry background, this is the perfect app for you.

Who can't make use of Blurify:
If you're not someone who spends a lot of time worrying about how to customize your phone, then don't worry about this app.

[PJL500]

Can a Blurified image be re-constituted? (privacy)

[Charles Martin]

I'll check with Michelle about that, but I believe the answer is "no" once the blurred image has been saved as its own file. The original image is of course untouched by this app, since you're working on a copy, and can be reverted prior to saving the results.