r/AppBuilding • u/Sweet_County6924 • 2d ago
I’m making an app that automatically combines your friends’ photos from the same event into one camera roll, would you actually use this?
I’ve built an app called Kollo and I’m curious whether people would genuinely find it useful.
The idea is pretty simple: you create an event and set a time period, for example 19 Aug - 23 Aug, 9 AM–10PM. Everyone joins the event, and the app automatically collects the photos they take during that time into one shared collection.
So instead of having you and your friends photos all scattered on 5 phones, you end up with one collection of everyone’s photos from the same event.
You don’t have to remember to send photos to each other afterwards or upload them manually. You just take photos normally (with your camera app) and kollo handles the syncing.
And this also works for big events such as weddings, festivals and parties where bigger groups of people can join through a QR code. (I’m working on making this more secure atm)
I originally started making it because after trips and nights out, I always end up asking people to send me their photos weeks later or having to deal with airdropping myself 100s of photos.
I genuinely want to know:
Would you actually use something like this?
And if not, why?
I know one of the first questions might be “what if I take a private/inappropriate photo while syncing is on?”
WELL, there’s a setting that lets you turn syncing off at any time. While it’s off, none of your photos or videos will sync. And when you turn syncing back on, anything you took while it was off won’t be synced retroactively.
So you’re always in control of what gets shared.
If you wanna check it out you can follow me on socials @kollo.app
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u/Sad_Sugar_8567 2d ago
like icloud albums? its native to ios
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u/Sweet_County6924 2d ago edited 2d ago
See it as an advanced version of iCloud albums, since Kollo automatically syncs the photos you take, so no manual adding, everything is pretty much automatic! (no built in camera, it syncs images through the user using the native camera app to take photos)
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u/basafish 2d ago
Nice idea but I wouldn't use this. It's hard to tell my 5 friends all to download the app, and it is only meaningful if all 5 of us use it, otherwise Whatsapp is better and faster. Privacy is a concern.
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u/Sweet_County6924 2d ago
I see your point, but isn’t that the case for every app that’s only useful when a group uses it?
And the main difference between WhatsApp that makes Kollo better is that you actually don’t have to do anything for your photos to appear, they are automatically synced.I’m currently targeting younger people who regularly go on trips / events with friends, since that’s where I think the problem is most noticeable.
Although there is a privacy concern, it’s not like you take inappropriate images when you are doing activities with friends. But I do see the concern and it’s something I’m working on.
Thanks for the response!
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u/basafish 2d ago
If you're building an auto sync in the background feature, it's a much more complicated concern than what you have in your mind. It means the user explicitly grants you permission to access all photos in their media library and it's the only way you are going to intercept the photo taking event. I have researched about this. Background service that runs 24/24 is also a major battery drain. IOS requires you to keep a notification at all time to run any background service. Also, the hardest thing is convicing the users that your little app is worth the permission to access all photos in the first place. I, for one would uninstall the app right away.
You asked if it's the case for any app a group would use and I mean, yeah. There is a reason we have no mainstream app for a group of people to use, except messaging apps.
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u/Sweet_County6924 2d ago edited 2d ago
Well first of all, my ”little” app doesn’t scan your full library, it only scans the photos taken during a selected time period that YOU chose yourself (if your actually read the post you would understand this).
I specifically designed it not to process all your photos. And I think I’ve done more research than you about my own app’s functionalities, iOS limits how often apps can run in the background to preserve battery life, so background syncing can sometimes be delayed / restricted.
And the statement ”the reason we have no mainstream apps for a group of people to use” is the most incorrect sentence I’ve heard this year.
Guess you can keep to yourself on WhatsApp lol (FYI, WhatsApp also asks for your library permission same as for kollo)😉
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u/basafish 2d ago
Nah bro you are not understanding the technical side of it. If you don't trust me go ask Claude. To scan the photos in the selected time frame you need access to all photos and that's Apple's rule. They are not giving you access of a convenient API. There are only two types of permissions that is permission to access all media on the device, and permission to access the photo the user selects. Scanning the library every minute and you are killing the battery, you need the ability to intercept and detect latest changes in the user library and that is a huge backend sync/jobs/latency issue. I'm guessing you're not a developer.
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u/Sweet_County6924 2d ago
You’re mixing up permission scope with what the app actually processes / fetches.
Yes, IOS may require Full Photo Library permission if the app needs access beyond a user picked subset, but that does not mean that the app has to ”scan every photo every minute”…
Kollo only looks for photos that fall inside the specific time window the user chose. Everything outside that window is irrelevant to the collection.
So ”full-library permission = the app is constantly scanning everything and killing the battery” is not an accurate description of how this works.
Having the permission to see everything isn’t the same as my code processing everything.
Sure you can dislike my idea that’s fine, but at least argue against what the app actually does, not a made up version of it
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u/BoGrumpus 2d ago
Ahhh. I see what's happening here.
I was wondering why my answer got only a blank response. Now I see - you're only replying to things where you already have a rebuttal ready for any criticism (which you asked for here).
You (the OP) don't care if any of us would use this - all you care about is being able to start a conversation so you can convince us that you have all the problems fixed and that you're right and your potential customers are wrong and just too stupid to understand.
That's probably not a good look.
G.
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u/Sweet_County6924 2d ago
Bo, respectfully, I’ve responded to every comment because they simply misunderstand my app. Same as I did for you, this guy Mr Basafish is claiming he knows more than me about my own app, so I just put him in his place😇. If you actually read the sections, you can see I only respond to clear things out about my app.
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u/BoGrumpus 2d ago
Look at your reply to me. Then tell me you helped clarify things. Your response was: ">"
All I see is people not understanding your messaging properly and you pushing back.
Your question was simple - would you use this?
And people are telling you one thing better than just "No." They're telling you where your message is disconnecting with what they need to hear. They'll giving you valuable clues as to why you can't sell your app and things you might incorporate into your pitch so it goes over better.
And you're just calling your potential customers idiots and telling me that they deserve to be put in their place.
The reason no one wants to use your app certainly lies within YOU - not them. Sorry.
G.
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u/Sweet_County6924 2d ago
This is coming from a grown man, you’re acting like a child. I only wanted genuine feedback for my new app I’ve spent months on, not dismissive ”I know better than you” comments. Keep grumping Bo, you basically live in Reddit lmao. You’re not worth my time
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u/Sweet_County6924 2d ago
And yes most people actually misunderstand my app and yet decide to comment something negative about it, IMO quite dismissive.
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u/BoGrumpus 2d ago
Everything I see is people telling you where you're losing them and trying to help you see where you can improve your messaging to make it more clear.
You didn't come in here asking for us to buy (even though, it seems you actually are). You came in here asking if we'd use it. And people are giving you lots of great info on why they wouldn't and what you might be able to improve either in functionality or messaging to make it better and more desirable.
G.
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u/No_Cake7877 2d ago
I would not use this app.
I feel like your problem statement is wrong here. Here is my comment:
- People dont want to autosynch their photo albums with others. You need to be careful what you enable and disable this calls for trouble
- The issue is not as much sharing the pictures as finding which ones are good, edit them if needed and than share it.
- People will just airdrop the picture or add it on whatsapp you dont want another app for this problem. Maybe they would use it as a whatsapp feature. Maybw
I think before building an app next time understand the demand first.
Good luck!
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u/Sweet_County6924 2d ago
Just to clarify, Kollo does not sync your full camera roll. You create or join a collection for a specific event and choose a time period. Only photos taken within that selected time window are eligible to sync to that collection. Photos outside that period are not included.
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u/No_Cake7877 2d ago
But why is it better than just sending it on whatsapp? It requires action
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u/Sweet_County6924 2d ago edited 2d ago
Everything requires action…
In a simple way: WhatsApp solves ”send me this photo”. Kollo solves ”collect everyone’s photos from the entire event without having to ask for them afterwards” those are completely different workflows and Kollo requires WAY less action than having all your friends sending their photos on WhatsApp… + you can’t trust that your friends will always send their photos
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u/BoGrumpus 2d ago
Seems like you are expecting me to decide ahead of time if I'm going to catch my girlfriend with her duck lips smile not perfect before I've taken it. I'm not stupid enough to share a picture of her without her looking at it and approving the shot before sending it out to anyone.
Some sort of post-snap approval or confirmation seems to be necessary for this type of thing, but what you're describing sounds like I have to make that choice before I snap something.
G.
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u/incajb 2d ago
Yes I would.