The trouble comes when HEIC images leak out of their protective Apple confines, as, for example, when you're experimenting with the format. For the most part, HEIC images are in effect an internal format that gets converted into JPEG when it's time to post a photo to Facebook or email it to your cousin. The Half app lets you convert your iPhone's JPEGs into smaller HEIC files, then delete the JPEGs.Īpple was careful to add safeguards that prevent HEIC compatibility problems and to warn app developers to take similar precautions. It throws other photography advancements into the bargain, too, to help with things like Apple's portrait mode. HEIC is a version of technology called HEIF - High Efficiency Image Format - that needs less storage space than the decades-old JPEG format. The new photo compression technology comes with the HEIC image format Apple built into iOS 11, the iPhone and iPad software that arrived in September. Good news: New tools are emerging to help you avoid the hassles - and to take better advantage of the change.
But it also can bring some complications. Apple's new phone software means your photos take up half the space they used to, and that's great.
