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Sep 29

Flickr Catches Up to Instagram With Android App, Photo Sessions

Posted in: Android, Photos, Software and Operating Systems, Today's Chili

Embarrassingly, it has taken Flickr over a year to make an Instagram rival

Just a year after Instagram stole its lunch, ate it and then moved in with its girlfriend, Flickr has launched a rival mobile application — on Android.

Unlike the plain Jane Flickr app on iOS, which lets you upload vanilla images and view pictures already on Flickr, the Android app has ten filters which can be applied first, just like Instagram. Also like Instagram, you can see where geotagged photos were taken on a Google map, share images on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and so on and see comments.

In short, it’s the closest thing Android users will get to Instagram without Instagram itself, and it’s free.

Also announced by Flickr is Photo Sessions, and it’s pretty damn sweet. Photo Sessions lets you watch slideshows of your photos with friends around the world, in real time. Say you’re on your iPad, and your mom is on her crappy old Mac at home. You can start a session (pick the set of your latest vacation, for example) and then send her the URL. It’ll launch into the same slideshow, and whenever you swipe to the next picture, your mom’s computer does the same.

You can even zoom in and draw on the picture, and this is mimicked almost instantly on others’ machines. And if mom is signed in to her own Flickr account, you can use a chat box in the bottom corner. I’m going to try out this exact same scenario, only I plan to do it alongside a Skype session.

Both Photo Sessions and the new Android app are good examples of what Flickr should have been doing a long time ago. With its huge existing community, it could have out-Instagrammed Instagram. As it is, Instagram has grown to 10 million users in a year, with just six employees, leaving Flickr playing catchup.

Flickr App [Android Market]

In-sync browsing with Photo Session [Flickr]

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