App for journalists: iGrab, for multimedia reporting

What is it? An app that lets you create slideshows and multimedia packages, mixing photos, videos, audio and text notes.

Cost: Free, but videos are exported with an iGrab credit at the end

Devices: iOS

How is it of use to journalists? If you're looking for an app to create simple video packages and slideshows from material on your phone, iGrab will help.

And if you need a place to file interviews, notes and other visuals from the scene of a story, you can use iGrab as an organiser as well.

It even geotags the material you create within the app, and allows you to favourite content to make your files easier to find.


Screenshot of the iGrab main menu (left); screenshot of 'my selection', favourite audio notes recorded with iGrab (right).

iGrab, produced by Utopix, can be described as a "Swiss Knife type iPhone application," as Utopix CEO Octavian Dibrov said in an email to Journalism.co.uk.

The app lets you create projects from materials both recorded through the app or imported from your device, and could technically work as one-stop tool for multimedia packages.

Through iGrab, you can take photos and shoot video, add a voiceover and text to an image slideshow, and stitch together a multimedia package.

While the app itself works in portrait mode, it supports both vertical video and horizontal shots – and can export videos in both styles.

It's worth mentioning, however, that while iGrab might export a video shot vertically as a horizontal package, it's best if you work with the same orientation throughout the entire process to avoid losing some of the details in the shot.

Once you have put together a project, you can upload it straight to YouTube or Facebook, or share it via email.


Screenshots of iGrab's video exporting options.

iGrab can also be a handy organiser. Text notes and audio interviews or memos can be filed away and later used in slideshows or simply for reference.

iGrab's search feature makes it easy to find content inside the app, and saving important files to 'my selection' by tapping on the heart makes finding files even quicker.

The app has other features too – for example, you can also edit photos with iGrab.

With so many features at hand, trial and error is a good way to figure out if it is a tool that should be in your pocket at all times.

And as with all new apps, make sure the trials take place at home or in the office before a big assignment to make the most of your time with the interview and the technology you have at hand.

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