Skip to main content

What’s your best photo? A new app called The Roll thinks it can find it

The Roll - Organize your camera roll & find your best photos
The iPhone is capable of storing thousands of photos, and while iOS updates have improved the camera roll’s organization, there’s still a lot left to desire. That’s what the developers behind the app called The Roll are looking to change. Using computer vision and image recognition, the new iOS app, from EyeEm, automatically assigns keywords and even ratings to every image on the iPhone.

Organizing photos and tagging them with keywords isn’t a new concept, but the Roll uses EyeEm’s Vision technology to automate everything. Keywords, from seasons to what’s in the photos, are automatically added to each photo, making the entire camera roll easily searchable. The technology is similar in concept to what Google has employed in Google Photos, to help users organize and better locate the large amounts of photos.

Recommended Videos

But arguably the most interesting feature from the app is the programing that rates each photo. The platform will recognize similar photos and group them together – putting the “best” photo on top. The rating system is also used to suggest what photos to keep and share.

So how can a computer decide what a “good” photograph is, when “good” is largely subjective?

Appu Shaji, head of research and development at EyeEm, says he believes two factors contribute to the success of a photograph: the story behind it and the way that story is told.

“While it’s difficult for a computer to answer a philosophical question (although it might be interesting to hear what they would say), we can attempt to transfer the details of a human mental process to a computer, and ask the computer to recreate it,” Shaji wrote.

To create the program, EyeEm developers worked closely with researchers and photo curators, selecting “good” photos to train the software to recognize them. Rather than sticking only with technical concepts, like exposure and the Rule of Thirds, the group also looked for images that had strong stories.

With the information, the team at EyeEm developed an algorithm to help identify strong images automatically.

“Of course, technology can never replace your personal taste and judgments,” Shajj said. “But we sincerely believe that we are entering a fascinating stage in which technology can power curation, enabling human stories to be discovered within the firehose of photographic data–starting with your very own camera roll.”

The Roll is available for iOS only, but is currently free in the App Store.

Hillary K. Grigonis
Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…
2025 iPhones and iPads might have new Apple chips in them
Home Screen of the M4 iPad Pro.

For many years, Apple has been committed to replacing third-party parts in its products with those it manufactures itself. A notable instance is when Apple moved away from Intel-based processors for its Macs and replaced them with in-house Apple M series chips. It now appears that more Apple-made parts may be incorporated into some of its mobile products as soon as next year.

According to DigiTimes, Apple plans to use its own Wi-Fi chips in the 2025 iPads and the following year's iPhone 18 series. The upcoming iPhone SE 4 could also be the first iPhone equipped with an Apple-branded 5G chip, with the iPhone 17 series expected to follow suit later in the same year.

Read more
Apple just launched the iOS 18.1 public beta. Here’s how it’ll change your iPhone
Someone holding an iPhone 15 Pro Max outside on a patio, showing the back of the Natural Titanium color.

This week is quickly shaping up to be a huge one for Apple fans. On Monday, Apple officially released iOS 18, watchOS 11, and macOS 15 to the general public. Tomorrow, regular sales begin for the new iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, and Apple Watch Series 10. As if that weren't enough, Apple is now rolling out its first public betas with Apple Intelligence features.

Starting today, September 19, the public betas for iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS 15.1 are available for anyone to download. The main draw to these public betas is that they all include Apple Intelligence features, which were previously locked to the developer betas for these software versions.

Read more
Google’s Find My Device app is copying a helpful iPhone feature
Someone using Find My with an iPhone 15.

Google's Find My Device network is still a work in progress, with features being added slowly. According to 9to5Google, an important feature that could arrive soon has proven crucial to its chief competitor, Apple, with the Find My app on the iPhone.

In the latest version of the Find My Device app for Android, v3.1.148, Google has set what’s being called a “foundation” for a compass feature -- just like Apple's Precision Finding tool.

Read more