Shoto App For Secure, Private Photo Sharing Launched On Android And iOS

Went on a holiday trip with friends and clicked a lot of photos? Once back, everyone starts asking for sharing the bulk of photos via email or a Dropbox link. It's a big hassle. So, here comes to the rescue - a new private photo sharing app called 'Shoto' that as the name suggests lets you share photos with friends privately and securely. It's a free mobile app now available on Android and iOS. How it works is - whenever a user clicks a bunch of photos, it organises them into albums and lets your friends (who are also using the app) discover them. The app makes use of several parameters like the time the photo was clicked, the location and has an algorithm that recognises which friends were with you while taking the pictures.

shoto-app-screenshot-launch ​

Shoto app also tells the user the number of photos he hasn't seen that his friends took and lets him request them with the click of a button. Moreover, the app uses the location where the photo was taken and your contacts to auto-create private photo albums, while also suggesting you to share them with friend via the app.

Since privacy is a major concern, the Shoto app lets you decide with whom the photo gets shared with. You choose who sees your photos and you can unshare at any time. Interestingly, the Shoto app doesnΓ’€™t upload your photos. Instead, it transfers them from your camera roll into the app, where everything stored is encrypted and protected.

The app can be downloaded in 120+ countries and supports several languages including - Hindi, Spanish, French and Mandarin. Indian-origin entrepreneur Sachin Dev Duggal is behind the creation & launch of this app, which was funded by Real Ventures and Kunal Nayyar, the popular TV series "The Big Bang Theory" actor.

Among the several new features on the app, there's 'real time sharing' to tell you which friends are nearby within a few minutes, so you can start seeing their view straight away, then there's 'comment and heart photos' to let you chat on photo comment threads and an 'events' feature that lets you send you a unique code you can send to your friends. When they install Shoto it will show them the photos they have from your event and ask them to send photos back to you.

What are your thoughts about the new Shoto app in town? Share with us in comments below.

Source: #-Link-Snipped-#

Replies

  • Anoop Mathew
    Anoop Mathew
    The name and the concept have got my attention. However, if not for the 'Big Data' how is this otherwise shown as 'Free' App figuring out to make money in the long run? Interested to know more about their business model. 😏
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    #-Link-Snipped-# They won't need a revenue model when they have the backing of their investors. They just burn the investor money and make sure the app has a lot of feature improvements to keep the users hooked. That's how it works.
    I am just guessing here though. πŸ˜€
  • Anoop Mathew
    Anoop Mathew
    Ankita Katdare
    #-Link-Snipped-# They won't need a revenue model when they have the backing of their investors. They just burn the investor money and make sure the app has a lot of feature improvements to keep the users hooked. That's how it works.
    I am just guessing here though. πŸ˜€
    At some point, these investors need Return of Investment [ROI] for their capital. Most Apps try to gain from Big Data (aka User Data).😘

    P.S.: If it's truly secure, they should have kept a price for the app just to make the user 'feel' it. πŸ‘€
  • Sachin Duggal
    Sachin Duggal
    Hi everyone,
    I'm Sachin and wanted to thank you for the comments.

    We have a number of ideas for monetization which include premium features and a recommendation service however all of this makes sense at scale.

    I like the idea of a small charge and I'll bring this up next week in our product meeting maybe a little like what's up and it's $1 charge for the year.

    We do not sell user data and we will never compromise our trust with users. Yes we have investor money but we have also co-invested a significant amount of capital to ensure we have control over things like this.

    Sachin
  • SumanGanesh
    SumanGanesh
    Very poor implementation.. ! Terrible app with lots of bugs. Says launched when its been live for 3 years on the store!! This is funny.. How do product re-launch themselves?
  • Sachin Duggal
    Sachin Duggal
    SumanGanesh
    Very poor implementation.. ! Terrible app with lots of bugs. Says launched when its been live for 3 years on the store!! This is funny.. How do product re-launch themselves?
    Hi Suman,

    We've been in beta - if you are finding any bugs pls can you report them via live help and we will make sure we get to it.

    Much easier to do that then write us off. We've done a lot of work on this iteration.

    Sachin
  • SumanGanesh
    SumanGanesh
    Sachin Duggal
    Hi everyone,
    I'm Sachin and wanted to thank you for the comments.

    We have a number of ideas for monetization which include premium features and a recommendation service however all of this makes sense at scale.

    I like the idea of a small charge and I'll bring this up next week in our product meeting maybe a little like what's up and it's $1 charge for the year.

    We do not sell user data and we will never compromise our trust with users. Yes we have investor money but we have also co-invested a significant amount of capital to ensure we have control over things like this.

    Sachin
    Three years in beta is funny.. You should probably go back to alpha now.. because the product doesn't work
  • Anoop Mathew
    Anoop Mathew
    Sachin Duggal
    Hi everyone,
    I'm Sachin and wanted to thank you for the comments.

    We have a number of ideas for monetization which include premium features and a recommendation service however all of this makes sense at scale.

    I like the idea of a small charge and I'll bring this up next week in our product meeting maybe a little like what's up and it's $1 charge for the year.

    We do not sell user data and we will never compromise our trust with users. Yes we have investor money but we have also co-invested a significant amount of capital to ensure we have control over things like this.

    Sachin
    That was a quick response. All the best for all your ventures and i'll let you know more about your product after I play with it a little more. πŸ‘
  • Sachin Duggal
    Sachin Duggal
    T
    SumanGanesh
    Three years in beta is funny.. You should probably go back to alpha now.. because the product doesn't work
    Thank you for the feedback πŸ˜€
  • Sachin Duggal
    Sachin Duggal
    Anoop Mathew
    That was a quick response. All the best for all your ventures and i'll let you know more about your product after I play with it a little more. πŸ‘
    Many thanks Anoop. Let me know if you head into any problems.
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    Shoto's Co-Founder and Chief Wizard explains what's important to him about the app and why it's unique -


    #-Link-Snipped-# It's great to have you here with us. We wish you the best of luck with your upcoming endeavours with Shoto app.
  • Radhika Deshpande
    Radhika Deshpande
    They also come up with its availability on iOS10 and iMessage.The app leverages Apple’s Messages framework to make all of Shoto discovered photos, albums and trips instantly available to share.

You are reading an archived discussion.

Related Posts

Android 6.0 Marshmallow has been introduced and thousands are excited about the official roll out in India. Today, several blogs are reporting that the the latest iteration of Android may...
Hi everyone, glad to be a part CE's discussion forum, please evaluate my profile for MS in US for Fall 2016. Field of interest- Mechanical/ automobile/ energy systems [please suggest...
Quote: Two things are abundantly clear; average life expectancy is increasing globally as well as healthcare expenditure. However, an aging population should not be viewed as negative in terms of...
Dear Sir, I am a 2014 Batch pass out in Electrical & Electronics Discipline. I have a keen interest in programming and love to code. I have participated in many...
Hi Friends, Need a good catchy name for "Event management" . Purpose of group is to manage activities related to cultural, seminars, conference , debates, ted talk.. etc kindly suggest...