Fragment

Not your everyday image filtering app

Fragment is an unusual entry into the cornucopia of photo filter apps. Rather than making your images look like they’ve been left in a mouldy biscuit tin for 40 years, it uses a geometric shape to split and duplicate the shot, creating a kind of double exposure.

Flicking up the menu allows you to switch the shape you’re playing with, as well as brightness, contrast, glow colour and even a stereoscopic 3D effect. It’s the sort of thing you could spend hours playing with, and while it will repay the time you invest in it, sometimes the best results come from a simple application of the prism-like shards the app is capable of generating.

The effects are certainly striking, but a lot rests on choosing the right combination of filter and base image. Once you’ve found something that might work, you can zoom and rotate the inset image with your fingers before tapping an arrow to either share your creation or run it back through the app to apply a different filter.

The decision to use a swipe up from the bottom of the screen to open the filter menu is an odd one, as it’s quite possible to open iOS’s Control Center instead. Otherwise, Fragment has an intuitive interface that’s speedy to operate.

New in this version is the ability to edit videos – as long as you’re using iOS 8. This works perfectly smoothly but is perhaps best saved for short sequences rather than a whole wedding video.

Fragment isn’t something you’re going to want to apply to every photo you take. However, with the right image you can certainly create something special with it. Ian Evenden

Fragment is a unique image-editing app that may have limited applications but will always turn up something new.