Picit - Real-time photos with expiration time for Windows Phone

[aenbacka]

Hello,

This will be the official forum thread for the Picit for Windows Phone application, which provides real-time photos with an expiration time attached. Picit is available for Windows Phone 7.x/8, and can be downloaded from the Windows Phone Store, the URL is as follows:

Picit | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)

Currently, Picit allows the user to send photos (so called picits) to other Picit users; these photos have an attached viewing time limit (currently between 1 and 15 seconds), after which the photo disappears from the recipient's phone. The user can apply custom effects to the picit before sending it off, such as text, filters, stickers etc. (courtesy of Aviary).

As soon as the recipient has retrieved the photo for viewing, it is also permanently removed from the backend server (i.e., nothing is preserved on the service side). The picits are also stored using strong encryption on the service backend.

Picit also supports the Unification notification center, which allows you to easily manage your Picit notifications (in addition to standard push notifications (toasts and live tile)).

This forum thread is intended for feedback, questions, and comments regarding Picit for Windows Phone; all feedback is welcome! Below you'll find some screenshots from the current Picit version.

 

[Jazmac]

Sound entertaining as hell. I could see jokers sending "the finger" across the net for a 15 second blast across the bow. lol. "supports Unification notification" Hey, I like that.
Question, seems the idea of a momentary image could be defeated with a screen shot. Does this app disable the screen shot functionality while the image is on screen?

 

[aenbacka]

Sound entertaining as hell. I could see jokers sending "the finger" across the net for a 15 second blast across the bow. lol. "supports Unification notification" Hey, I like that.
Question, seems the idea of a momentary image could be defeated with a screen shot. Does this app disable the screen shot functionality while the image is on screen?

Thanks a lot for your comments The screenshot functionality (on WP8) cannot currently be disabled; however, I am looking into alternative methods for making screenshot taking difficult in forthcoming updates. In WP7, screenshots cannot be taken at all (without a dev-unlocked unit).

 

[hamzie11]

So pretty much a SnapChat app for wp users?
is the app exclusive to wp or do ios android have it too

 

[aenbacka]

So pretty much a SnapChat app for wp users?
is the app exclusive to wp or do ios android have it too

Yes you coud say so I do hope to add some additional features in upcoming versions. Currently the app is WP exclusive, but it is possible that it will be ported to other OSs as well (e.g., Android). My goal was to try to fill a current gap in the Windows Phone app ecosystem Thanks for the feedback!

 

[PLenjoy]

Love this app.

 

[rockstarzzz]

I will wait till a no screenshot version hits the store! Sounds incredibly tempting app!

 

[aenbacka]

Thanks for the feedback, very much appreciated I am looking into ways to prevent screenshot taking / making screenshots more difficult to capture at the moment. On WP7, screenshots can only be taken using a special app on a dev-unlocked phone. However, on WP8 screenshots can be taken; currently this is managed on OS level when the specific hardware key combination is detected. Unfortunately, this key combination cannot be intercepted in any way to prevent screenshots, and the OS does not provide any notification to the app that a screenshot was captured. Therefore, I need to look into other possible ways to get around this problem.

 

[PippinTook]

Any chance you could port to Blackberry 10 to void the gap?

 

[rockstarzzz]

Thanks for the feedback, very much appreciated I am looking into ways to prevent screenshot taking / making screenshots more difficult to capture at the moment. On WP7, screenshots can only be taken using a special app on a dev-unlocked phone. However, on WP8 screenshots can be taken; currently this is managed on OS level when the specific hardware key combination is detected. Unfortunately, this key combination cannot be intercepted in any way to prevent screenshots, and the OS does not provide any notification to the app that a screenshot was captured. Therefore, I need to look into other possible ways to get around this problem.

Anyway to introduce a massive watermark on screenshot screen with the app name or user name?

 

[aenbacka]

Anyway to introduce a massive watermark on screenshot screen with the app name or user name?

Well that could be one possibility to investigate. The main issue is to get the notification when the user invokes the screen capture function (so e.g., the watermark could be displayed on top of the image, or the image could be completely hidden). I really hope some solution could be found for this issue

 

[aenbacka]

Any chance you could port to Blackberry 10 to void the gap?

Other platforms are under consideration, BB10 could be a good candidate for porting

 

[aenbacka]

In case you have suggestions / comments how Picit could be developed further, feel free to write in this thread. I will look into the suggestions, and see what can be done in forthcoming updates.

 

[Flagz]

How about a Random option? I have NO ONE added and posted in the review sections for adds but no go.

 

[aenbacka]

How about a Random option? I have NO ONE added and posted in the review sections for adds but no go.

Yes, I think that sounds like a good idea I have considered a search function, so that you could search for users using different conditions such as distance etc

 

[PLenjoy]

Hi,
Could it be possible to choose multiple receivers in one pic in a future version?

 

[aenbacka]

Hi,
Could it be possible to choose multiple receivers in one pic in a future version?

Yes, multiple recipients are planned for a future update

 

[aenbacka]

A minor update (1.1) has been submitted to WP Store, hopefully will show up soon (bug fixes,e.g. fixes some UI alignment issue on 720p devices).

Also, I have been looking at methods for preventing screenshot taking on WP8 for a forthcoming version. As it is not currently possible at all to disable screenshots, or even to get a notification that a screenshot has been taken, I have considered a solution as follows. The picit sender can optionally set a flag to enable a special "do not touch" mode, which means that the recipient needs to keep the phone still on a flat surface while viewing the picit. Moving the device (e.g, trying to capture a screenshot) will cause the picture to be hidden, and return only when phone back into still state. I have done preliminary tests with multiple devices, and it seems to work ok (i.e., I was not able to capture screenshot of picit, only black screen). The recipient will see an indication in the received picits list when "do not touch" is enabled for a picit, and an informative popup will explain the concept (so that user possibly can cancel and postpone to later moment in case it is not possible to put phone at a suitable surface). This do not touch mode would not be enabled by default (and it is possible to send picits normally with only the expiration time limit).

 

[aenbacka]

An update to Picit (1.1) is now available for download from WP Store. This update fixes a UI misalignment issue on 720p devices, and introduces misc. bug fixes.

 

[Localhorst86]

Yes you coud say so I do hope to add some additional features in upcoming versions. Currently the app is WP exclusive, but it is possible that it will be ported to other OSs as well (e.g., Android). My goal was to try to fill a current gap in the Windows Phone app ecosystem Thanks for the feedback!

While I appreciate independent developers trying to fill such gaps, I believe that making social apps (like picit) available as WP exclusive will not help us fill that gap or be part of the whole trend/experience. I still can't communicate/SnapChat with iPhone or Android users considerably limitting the audience for my picit activities.

Hope you will release an Android/iOS Version soon

EDIT: In regards to the screenshots: Don't iOS and Android suffer from the same issue? According to Wikipedia, you have to leave your finger on the touchscreen to show the image. Maybe you can implement that as well.