Microsoft Launches New iOS Camera App 'Sprinkles' With Machine Learning Features

Microsoft recently debuted a new iOS app called "Sprinkles - Camera with Fun Ideas" [Direct Link], which launches alongside the recent explosion of camera-centric application updates that offer various filters, emojis, lenses, and captions for users to mess around with. The app officially launched on April 1, suggesting the company intended it as an April Fools' prank, but it's only recently begun to be noticed online, and as of writing remains on the App Store's "New apps we love" section.

Sprinkles has a slight advantage above its competitors from Facebook and Snapchat thanks to Microsoft's AI and machine learning abilities, which can "do things like detect faces, determine the photo subject’s age and emotion, figure out your celebrity look-a-like, suggest captions, and more" (via TechCrunch). The app can tell when a subject is frowning, for example, and automatically input a relevant caption, like "turn that frown upside down."

Similar to Snapchat, Sprinkles will include filters and emojis related to the day of the week or the time of day that will surface on their own each time the user opens the app. Sprinkles acts in a similar vein to Apple's recently announced app "Clips," in that it isn't a social network itself, but allows users to create images and videos and share them elsewhere on Facebook, Twitter, text, or email.

Sprinkles is a camera with fun ideas. Snap a pic and automatically get new ideas for witty captions or add your own quip. Captions are unique to what's in the picture, so try different things such as coffee, food, pets, and selfies! Have fun with face-detecting Smart Stickers that fit your face perfectly. Choose from hundreds of Emojis and stickers and find even more with a quick web search. New captions and Smart Stickers are added frequently, because fresh fun is the best fun.

Microsoft is known to create apps specifically tailored for iOS devices, last year having launched "Microsoft Pix" on the App Store as a way for users to automatically adjust their photos using smart AI. In November, the company even debuted its classic Solitaire game for PCs as a standalone iOS and Android app that included Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid, and Tripeaks.