Shnap! arrives on the heels of an iOS 5 announcement that has made a lot of photo apps obsolete, or at least close to it. But this sleek, easy-to-use and rather addicting social network of photo sharing has the right stuff to weather the updated iOS storm.
It helps, certainly, that this is an app about photo sharing, not photo taking. The main thrust of Shnap! is that users can upload a photo to the Shnap! network and then have other users rate that photo on a scale that hits one of five points: “LOL,” “Meh,” “WF” “Cool” and “Wow.” The more you rate, the more “$B” you receive, which you can use to upload more photos.
The photo rating is amazingly addictive. It takes just seconds to swipe through a photo, rate it, and move on to the next one. Which means you can do an awful lot of rating in a short amount of time.
The rest of the app works like an extremely well-organized social network. You have a button for the photos you’ve uploaded, a button for your favorite photos, a wall that people can write on to comment on you or your photos and a basic profile that lets other users get to know you. You can even get a healthy “Friends” list going if you want to stay in constant contact with your pals on the app.
Shnap! is not a very insular network, either. Photos can be quickly posted to Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter with the tap of a button. With so many photo apps missing features or just organized haphazardly, it’s almost alarming to use Shnap! and see how well everything fits together. Its design is clearly influenced by the way the Facebook app has segmented its features into a home screen full of useful buttons, and everyone is better because of it.
Even if you only dabble in photography, Shnap! is a fantastic app and well worth checking out. In an age where a cell phone picture can be so damaging, it’s nice to see an app use photos in such a well-thought-out, constructive manner.
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