Saturday 13 July 2013

Take your social self back in time with Timehop [Review]














Sometimes you wonder exactly what you were up to a year or two ago. Well, Timehop is a social networking app from DOUBLEDUB INC that allows you to find out just that.By linking up your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr and Foursquare accounts, Timehop allows you to see exactly where you were and what you were doing on this exact date in previous years by showing you what you shared. As well as adding social networks, you can also give the application permission to access your iPhone camera roll, Dropbox photos and even photos stored on your desktop computer through its Timehop Sync software for Mac and PC.

You can then share these moments again with your friends on the app’s shared stories page as well as through Facebook and Twitter.It’s pretty easy to get started with the app, it simply prompts you to log in to what services you wish to include and within seconds you’re into “Today’s Timehop”. This is where the app will bring together old tweets, status updates and photos from this date previous years. The more networks you add, the better your results will be.The app is really well designed with a well polished and thought out user interface and cute dancing dinosaur character that appears from time to time. It’s really smooth and if you’ve spent any time using social networking apps before, you’ll have no problems using Timehop. There’s also a web version of the app that is entirely consistent with the iOS app and is just as usable.

As usable and well-designed as the app is, I have problems assessing just how useful it is. As it stands, I have only one other friend that uses the app which makes the shared stories page a tad boring. I imagine if I had a few more friends on the network this would be a much more interesting prospect.I’m also not one to share too much on social networks so on most days the app won’t be able to pull up much about me, a problem that some users may face and others may not. Furthermore, the app doesn’t allow users to cycle through other days’ content – you can only view shared moments from this exact date in previous years.I also don’t really need or have room for another social networking app in my life and as interesting as it can be to find out exactly what you were doing in previous years, this is not something I’d find myself wondering every day.

If you are someone who is intrigued by the thought of your previously shared moments, Timehop is a well designed app that fits the bill perfectly, especially if you have friends that are also similarly intrigued. It’s an original idea that has been implemented well.For me, Timehop doesn’t fulfil a need and, while mildly interesting, I can’t see myself using it on more than a handful of occasions. But, for the socialite with lots of friends, and addiction to twitter and a massive library of Instagram images, it can be hard to remember all the awesome stuff you were doing this time last year (or the year before… and so on.)

Tags: app review, Apps, iOS, iPhone, Social Networking, Timehop


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