TripUp
End-to-end encrypted photo sharing
TripUp is now live on the Apple App Store! Also launched on ProductHunt!
https://tripup.app
https://producthunt.com/posts/tripup
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tripup-private-photo-sharing/id1420176032
TripUp is a privacy-focused, full resolution photo sharing app. It consolidates your shared and personal albums into one, enabling you to collaborate on an album with others whilst still being personalised. It's cloud-synced and end-to-end encrypted for total privacy.
Why another photo sharing app? Because it's 2020 and we deserve better.
Most people use WhatsApp/Instant Messaging group chats to share photos. Photos shared this way are compressed, missing metadata, ordered incorrectly and you end up with multiple copies of some photos. Few use Apple's and Google's solutions and they both have their limitations anyway – both degrade photo quality, iCloud isn't cross-platform and Google Photos are a bad choice for users who care about privacy.
It's somewhat prophetic that my app is called TripUp – developing the service in itself has been a Trip, worthy of a write Up! (Get it?) The things you learn from a technical, business, marketing, and most importantly, user POV is incredible. But doing so as an IndieHacker is in itself a wholly new experience – you learn a lot about yourself and the world around you.
So here's to a (hopefully) successful launch but also to more learning and the journey ahead 🖖
After months of spit-shine and testing in the field (before Covid-19 struck), I've finally completed the last version of TripUp before its official App Store Release!
This is complete with a new website, screenshots, privacy policy and paperwork sorted, ready for the full release, which is to be initiated once Apple clear the App for Beta Review (this last update includes some last minute touch-ups).
Hoping the current situation doesn't slow down the review process too much. 2020 hasn't been a great year so far, but I'm optimistic – it's hard to be down when you finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Here's to good times ahead! 🥂
-
2
Good luck Vinoth!
Actually a great time to launch something that's a trip down memory lane!
I have to be honest and say that I didn't "get it" from your landing page.
I understand the "feeling" but not the "how".
Hope this helps,
Jonathan-
2
Thanks Jonathan! Bit worried about the timing as people aren't exactly meeting up for group events, but true about it being a good time to reflect on good times 😄
Thanks for the feedback – you're not the only one who's been a bit perplexed. People seem to only get it after they've used it, specifically when they've used it with a group, which I admit is a major barrier to adoption. It's different to the way people go about sharing photos right now.
Perhaps an animated image on the landing page would work better 🤔 In any case, i'm glad you got the feeling at least, and your feedback is really appreciated 🙂
-
2
Sure thing!
If you feel like chatting about it a bit, I'm doing 30-min free consults for the community.
Feel free to book me - https://calendly.com/jonathanoron
-
-
I know I know, I shouldn't have waited this long and should have worked on establishing product-market fit. I did do an early TestFlight public launch on Reddits /r/startups "Share your startup" post this month, but I couldn't in good conscious, truly market TripUp as being a superior product to its competitors with the internals in such a state.
So after an extensive rewrite of the core of the app I finally reached a point where I was confident that it would work well and be adaptable for future updates.
This was an important milestone for me as it signalled the first time I've completed a full software project from scratch all the way to an actual usable product. I took a few days off at this point to celebrate my professional and personal win. 🎉
Finally finished the main feature set and decided to start by running a small, private beta test with select friends. There was still a lot to do but at least i'd reached a stage where it was usable. UI was a lot better but there was a lot of cruft under those iOS storyboards. Fellow devs, you know how it is; beautify the external whilst hiding the embarrassing code base 😂
TripUp was originally meant to be TravelMinion, an app for travellers to use on group holidays as a sort of all-in-one utility app. Eventually, I realised that I needed to narrow focus as I was losing time to feature creep and the app had a poor user experience. The photo sharing feature was the most functional aspect of the app, so I decided to spin it off as a standalone product.
Do one thing well instead of many things poorly.
Existing photo sharing solutions still require creating intermediary shared albums or group chats, don't share in full quality and aren't truly private, relying on symmetric encryption and storing the keys for you. The idea of TripUp came from my own desire to do things properly and a dose of psychedelic inspiration.
Here's hoping the rest of the trip goes well! 🥂
1 Comment
Vinoth, nice to know that you are focusing on privacy. Have you considered https://blockstack.org to build for privacy?