App of the week: ClippyCam review

You spin me right round

I say “almost” because although ClippyCam combines photos taken using both iPhone cameras, it doesn’t shoot both at once. Instead, you take a photo in the normal way, and the app then switches to the FaceTime camera.

You can then pull a daft expression and take another pic, which is overlaid on the first. If you’re feeling a bit David Attenborough, you can hold the shutter to overlay a short video instead, adding riveting commentary or yelling “IT’S ME!” over and over until the timer runs out.

The end result – be it photo or video – by default resembles a stripped-back videochat session. And despite the novelty factor, you might bin this freebie at that point. But don’t, because ClippyCam offers features to aid creativity and – I kid not – enable both oddball selfies and serious photography. At the same time.

Perfect shot

Options for the overlaid shot include adjusting its position, border and shape. Annoyingly, this must be done before you shoot the second image or video – not afterwards. More usefully, ClippyCam saves your full-res image alongside what you concoct in the app itself. So when you upload that masterpiece of you gurning over the top of an amazing shot of the Vatnajökull glacier, said amazing shot will exist in vanilla form in Photos.

Also, you can import existing images, too, as a starting point. Fancy adding a video selfie to a moody still from Game of Thrones? Go for it. Just don’t come crying to Stuff when White Walkers unfriend you on Facebook.

So ClippyCam runs the full gamut from gimmick to useful, and it’s free if you can stomach watermarks on the combination shots – or a reasonable three quid if you can’t. Just avoid snapping food you’re eating and then overlaying a video of you eating it. No-one needs to see that.

ClippyCam is available for iOS