11 Alternative apps to Instagram. For those who jumped the Instagram ship but still want to share pictures

by Paul Wilks Apr 10, 2012 10:53 AM – 1 Comment

So, Instagram just got snapped up by Facebook huh? That was quite a surprise to be fair, and not everyone is particularly happy about it. It’s actually been a rollercoaster of a week for Instagram. It began with them launching their popular service onto the Android platform which was met with howls of joy. Then Android users realised it was, by all accounts, pretty poor, ourselves included. And then iPhone users got all offended and many opened up a vitrolic attack on Instagram for letting Android users into “their” network (which is a tad arrogant considering even the latest iPhone is far behind the curve of the top Android devices). And then along comes Facebook and thumps $1 billion dollars on the table (I’m sure it would have been a careful bank transfer of funds via automated accounts and stock options but hey, it’s much more fun to imagine it was real cash on a real table!).

To suggest this would be taken well by both the Android and Apple communities would be a gross misunderstanding. Searching Twitter for #instagram hashtags indicated more of a mass exodus from the service than welcoming the Facebook involvement. What will happen next? Will your pictures now include adverts down the side? Will there be colossal privacy concerns now that Zuckerberg can probably use your Instagram content for his own profit? Will you have to log into Instagram using your Facebook account in the future? All these worries have caused many people to jump ship, but where to? You’ve got all that creative juice inside you, how will you share your pictures now? Here are 11 popular alternative apps with download links all more than capable of filling that void of Instagram…

Snapseed

Snapseed Free Snapseed is the popular new photo editing app from Nik Software Inc. The application is quite fashionable at the moment for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was hugely popular on iOS and, if the initial popularity of Instagram and Temple Run are anything to go by, Android users like to snap up apps that have also been popular on Apple’s ecosystem. Secondly, Snapseed was recently purchased by Google and this app was soon released. However, one area where the Google Play Store is heaving with options is photo editing, so how good is Snapseed?

Streamzoo

Streamzoo Free Streamzoo is a fully featured, photo-and-video-sharing social network that comes with photo enhancement functionality and a growing number of interactive users. Seemingly sat at the busy crossroads of Facebook, Twitter and Flickr; Streamzoo- much like picplz, harnesses some of the finer elements of these social networks into a comprehensive photo-sharing application.

Streamzoo is another awesome alternative that even looks a little like Instagram, only with lots more features. You can add filters, borders and tilt-shift effects to your pictures and upload them to the busy site or share them to other social networks. There is a strong community feel to Streamzoo and popular photos can earn you points. Your points are tallied together and you might even get onto the weekly leaderboard! It’s also easy to use and navigate. We initially reviewed this one a while ago, but have given it an update to reflect the many improvements the app has had in recent months.

Picplz

picplz Free picplz: Snap a pic. Apply an effect. Share with friends everywhere and 100% Free! picplz is a fun way to share your life through photos. Features: give your photos that retro camera look. Use picplz to style your photos with effects like vintage 70′s, black & white, toy camera, etc. Similar to Instagram, Hipstamatic, Vignette, plus more! Easy sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Posterous & Foursquare. Instantly save your photos to your Dropbox account.

picplz is another perennial favourite and one of the first photo sharing apps available on Android. There is a good community element to the app and it’s easy to use. The UI is also pretty cool and is very smooth to use. Not only can you share your pictures with friends and followers on the platform itself, the app also lets you share it on Facebook, Twitter, Posterous, FourSquare and Tumblr.

Hipster

Hipster Free description: Hipster is a cool picture postcard creator and sharing app. Simply take a snap or upload from your gallery. Add text, edit and add a cool filter and share! You can share across your Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr and Foursquare. Simple to use and with some very cool effects, Hipster is a neat way to share postcards and picture messages on your Android device.

Hipster is a cool picture postcard creator and sharing app. Simply take a snap or upload from your gallery. Add text, edit and add a cool filter and share! You can share across your Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr and Foursquare. Simple to use and with some very cool effects, Hipster is a neat way to share postcards and picture messages on your Android device.

Minus

Minus Free Minus for Android Phones and Tablets is the easiest and simplest way to share and upload files from your Android device, directly from the app or from the share menu. The Minus app keeps a history of uploaded files for the galleries for easy sharing. You can also sign in to your Minus account to access and preview media and files. The app, and service in general, has undergone a huge overhaul is now infinitely improved. In this updated review, check out all the new features and functionality in our run-down below.

Minus is a very cool app indeed. Not only can you share your pictures within the sociable app itself, you can also edit it in a variety of ways using the Avairy plug-in. This is all within a slick and rich user interface which is a joy to use. It also serves other purposes too as you can share video, documents and music files. Check out our review here, and their cool video below.

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LiveShare

LiveShare Free It’s photo sharing made simple. LiveShare makes it easy for groups to share photos live — privately or publicly. Get everyone’s photos, all in one place. ✔ Start a photo stream for any occasion ✔ Invite friends to share photos to your stream ✔ Then watch everyone’s photos flow in live

LiveShare is developed by Cooliris, and lets you share your pictures through their service via the use of streams. These can be public or private, meaning friends and strangers can contribute to a stream with a specific focus, like a concert or a holiday. There’s not much in the way of editing features or filters within LiveShare but if the sharing part of Instagram was your favourite element, this is definitely worth a look.

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Now, I would refer to the above as ‘sharing platforms’, they host your pictures and allow you to share them both on their own site, but also via other social networks. If you think you can live without that kind of ‘platform’ but still like photo editing, then why not check out this lot:

Pixlr-o-matic

Pixlr-o-matic Free Pixlr-o-matic is a powerful image editing tool that provides a huge range of color filters, lighting effects and frames to choose from. There are so many filters and effects available, the app boasts a total of 25,000 different possible finishes in total. So, if you’re into your Android photography- this is definitely worth a look! The app also features smooth UI, intuitive ease-of-use plus the ability to share your pics to a variety of places.

Pixlr-o-matic is a powerful and very user friendly photo editing suite which has proved massively popular on the Android platform. You can add all kind of cool filters and effects in a carefully designed app that kind of looks like a photo processing darkroom. You can also do exactly the same thing via their web service and it’s just incredibly extensive and fun to use.

FX Photo Editor

FX Photo Editor Free, $3.99 FX Photo Editor is an incredibly comprehensive picture editing tool. Whereas so many photo sharing and photo editing tools plump for a number of filters, some frames, a cropping tool etc, FX Photo Editor offers this and a whole lot more. Intuitive, resourceful and packed full of features, it’s the perfect app if you like to tweak your snaps.

FX Photo Editor is another app we reviewed quite recently. Whereas so many photo sharing and photo editing tools plump for a number of filters, some frames, a cropping tool. etc., FX Photo Editor offers this and a whole lot more. Intuitive, resourceful and packed full of features, it’s the perfect app if you like to tweak your snaps.

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Camera360 Ultimate

Camera360 Ultimate Free Camera360 Ultimate is a cool camera and photo editor for Android. While it has been around for a while it has recently received a comprehensive update that has improved UI, options and functionality across the entire application. If you like adding fiters, manipulating and sharing images- this is an awesome app to check out.

Another fine little photo editing suite is Camera360 Ultimate which we reviewed a few weeks ago. While it has been around for a while Camera360 Ultimate has recently received a comprehensive update that has improved UI, options and functionality across the entire application. If you like adding fiters, manipulating and sharing images- this is an awesome app to check out.

Paper Camera

Paper Camera $1.99 Paper Camera is a fantastic little photography application for adding cool filters to your photos and videos. While this is nothing new, Paper Camera does this in real time, so when you look through your Android’s view finder, you can immediately see the effects in action, before you take the shot.

Paper Camera is an awesome little application that adds extremely cool filters to your pictures and videos in real-time. This means you can really see how the images will look. Plus we have it on sale in our Android app store!

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Camera Zoom FX

Camera Zoom FX $2.99 Camera ZOOM FX. Highest rated camera for Android! Features: Circular zoom wheel (4x digital), Iris animation with free skin packs, Save, delete, share, Fullscreen shutter. Rotate zoom wheel to zoom, tap to shoot.

Finally, Camera Zoom FX is a bona fide camera replacement app in its own right, one which I know many Android users employ instead of their own native cameras. However, it also lets you import your own gallery images and edit them in a wide number of ways. There is everything you’d expect and more in this feature-rich app which you can also download additional plugins for. The app has been around forever, so check out our review of it.

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Honorable mention is the now gone from Google Play, Lightbox Photos

Lightbox Photos

Lightbox Photos Free Lightbox Photos is an exciting photo sharing tool for Android. Similar in many ways to Instagram on the iPhone and other Android apps such as picplz and Streamzoo, the app lets you take pictures, add filters and post to your Lightbox account. It also presents pictures from your social networks streams. The app has been gradually updating and receiving a number of new features.

Lightbox Photos is one of my favourite photo sharing apps and for good reason. It comes with a smorgasbord of filters and the UI is melt-in-your-mouth buttery. It lets you share your pictures with Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Tumblr. It will also save your edited creations to SD card so you can share to any other social network via your gallery. It’s lots of fun and feels amazing to use- the aesthetics alone will wow you enough to take your mind of Instagram.

So there you have it; a veritable feast of options to gorge on if you’ve given up the Instagram. From dedicated community platforms to intuitive and useful photo editing tools that allow you to tweak and enhance as much as you like. Definitely check a few out and see what you think! Also, if we’ve missed a belter- tell us about it in the comments below.

Tags: Camera ZOOM FX, Hipster, Instagram, Lightbox, LiveShare, Minus, Paper Camera, photo, Photo Sharing, photographs, picplz, Pixlr-o-matic, Streamzoo

Categorised in: Apps Blog, Featured, News

1 Comment

By Christos on December 24, 2012 at 12:07 pm:

snapseed

Reply