Photo uploading apps

[Scott R]

I'm looking for some recommendations for photo uploading apps. Specifically, I'm looking for the following features:

- Native app (not a web app - but if there's some amazingly great web app, let me know)
- Free online storage service (I'm willing to pay a one-time charge for the app, but don't want any recurring fees). Ideally, I'd like it to be stored on a well-known service (e.g., Picasa, Flickr, etc.) which also has a good desktop web interface.
- Ability to easily upload a photo from my current photo album on my iPhone.

And here's a feature I'm having trouble finding:

- Ability to view the online photo library on my iPhone and grab a URL for the photo so that I can post it in an email or web forum.

So far this morning I've installed several apps, and created accounts at a few online services. Here are my findings thus far...

Flickr
+ Free native iPhone app
+ Easy to use, upload images
+ Well known online photo storage service
+ Ability to search/view/comment on other people's public Flickr photos
+ Can email a photo (with URL)
- Can't easily just grab the online storage URL of the photo for posting to a web forum (the workaround is to tap to send it in an email, then copy the URL out of the email and discard the email)
- Can't download other people's photos (a lame workaround seems to be similar to the above - you can send it via an email, but you'll need to actually send the email to yourself, then grab the photo from your inbox on your desktop and sync back to your iPhone - plus, I'm seeing a possible bug (?) where the email button is sometimes disabled when viewing someone else's photo).

Photobucket
+ Free native iPhone app
+ Easy to use, upload images
- Can't view other people's photobucket photos within the app - it will kick you over to Safari to view their website (and I'm getting an error on that web page)
- Can't email or grab the URL of your photos in any way

Shutterfly
+ Free native iPhone app
+ Easy to use, upload images
+ Can select multiple photos to upload and it will put them in a queue
+ Can do a slideshow of an online photo album
- Can't email or grab the URL of your photos in any way

Cooliris
+ Free native iPhone app
+ Ability to upload photos to Flickr and/or Picasa accounts
+ Ability to search for/view images/videos from a variety of online services
+ Ability to easily download other people's photos to your own photo album
+ Ability to email the URL for a photo
+ Ability to Tweet about a photo (if you're into that sort of thing - I'm not)
- Can't simply copy the URL of an image to post in an online forum - you have to create an email, then copy the URL from that, then discard the email
- Has to be used in landscape mode
- Appears to be a view-only app (no way to upload a photo from the iPhone to your linked Flickr/Picasa accounts)

Pixelpipe
+ Free native iPhone app
+ Ability to upload to numerous online photo sites
- Only good for uploading - No ability to view the online albums?

I'll try out some more apps and post my findings here. Let me know what you know!

 

[Scott R]

Lifepics
+ Free native iPhone app
+ Ability to upload photos to Lifepics.com
+ You can choose to have your photos printed locally, then go pick them up.
- No way to email photos or get the URL to them to post elsewhere.
- The ability to have your photos printed locally, seems to be the only reason you would want to use this app.

 

[Leanna Lofte]

Check out Mobile Fotos. It's not free, but it's the best Flickr application out there in my opinion. It doesn't have direct links to the photo though. Just a link to the flickr page of that photo like that link you tested in the other thread. And you do kind of have to do a work around to get the link by either sharing in an email and copying the link, or opening in Safari and copying the link. I don't think opening it in Safari first is too bad since you're gonna be opening safari anyway to post to a website.

Here's the iTunes link
iTunes Store

 

[Scott R]

Thanks. I'll take a look at that one. But can you actually get a direct link to an image in Flickr via Safari on the iPhone? I can get to a page that lets me copy a direct link to the image URL when I'm using my desktop web browser, but the iPhone-optimized version of the Flickr website doesn't show that option.

 

[Alli]

Try Mobypicture.com too. You can email photos and video directly, and you can get the url of the individual photo if you're trying to use it in a forum.

 

[Leanna Lofte]

Thanks. I'll take a look at that one. But can you actually get a direct link to an image in Flickr via Safari on the iPhone? I can get to a page that lets me copy a direct link to the image URL when I'm using my desktop web browser, but the iPhone-optimized version of the Flickr website doesn't show that option.

Yeah, I'm not seeing a directly link on the mobile version

 

[Scott R]

Alli, I installed Mobypicture and signed up for an account there. The app seemed pretty awful, to be honest. It appears to be similar to Pixelpipe in purpose, letting you upload your photos to various other popular online photo hosting sites. But, like Pixelpipe, it doesn't seem to let you view your online photos or do much else with them. To make matters worse, the app always launches in "take a new photo with the camera" mode.

I was about ready to write it off altogether, but I played around with it some more, and after being frustrated and confused with it, I finally figured out that it actually could work well for the purpose of posting photos to a web forum (like here). Although you can configure it so that it uploads photos to a few different sites (like Flickr), I think using the recently released native app for Flickr works better for that, as you can upload and then view your albums all through the same app.

But if you have a photo on your iPhone that you want to post a link to on a forum, you can use the Moby app to upload it to the Moby website, then use the Moby website (via Safari) to [fairly] quickly grab the direct URL to a medium-sized version of the image, suitable for posting to a website.

 

[Alli]

I don't use the Mobypicture app. I just email the photo/video to my Mobypicture account.

 

[Scott R]

I don't use the Mobypicture app. I just email the photo/video to my Mobypicture account.

Ah, thanks, that's a time-saver. Their native app is pretty poor, but this works well for getting an image uploaded quickly to a place you can fairly quickly grab the URL from to post to an online site.

I'm still surprised, though, after trying so many apps today, that there's no single app that will let me upload photos, grab the URL for the photo, edit the name/basic description of the photo, or create new albums all via the app. That's not a lot to ask for, and there are numerous apps available which seem to be trying to target this market, yet they're all way too basic. In my ideal world, I want an app that allows me to do everything I need to do via the iPhone without ever using the desktop/online component.

 

[DaPeeps]

I think both the Flickr and photobucket apps work great...but the photobuckt one is kinda slow.

 

[ctt1wbw]

I just email pics sometimes straight to my twitpic account. Also, check out [URL="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=328881005&mt=8&at=10l3Vy]Photo Tweet[/URL] and [URL="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=321718584&mt=8&at=10l3Vy]Photo Scatter[/URL] and [URL="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=324621527&mt=8&at=10l3Vy]PicPosterous[/URL].

All good and I use each one. PhotoScatter is great because one price will get you photos uploaded to about 6 different sites.

 

[Alli]

As you all offer photo uploading apps, keep in mind the original point was not to have an app to upload (or a place to upload) photos, rather a way to get the url strictly for the photo so that it can be linked in a forum thread.

 

[Scott R]

Thanks for pointing that out Alli. However, I don't know that I want to limit the discussion in this thread to only those apps that meet that particular requirement. I kept the subject line vague so that we could discuss a variety of options out there. I did link to this thread from the "Post your iPhone photos" thread because I *would* like for us to discuss here what options exist which will meet that need well, but I'm fine with using this thread to discuss the pros/cons of all of the online photo album uploading/downloading apps, even if they don't meet that specific need.

That said, I would appreciate it if the folks participating in this thread would provide more details on the specific apps they're recommending, especially when the app costs money. I have no problem paying for a good app that meets my needs, but I'm not going to buy all of the apps just so that I can test them out (and likely determine that many of them don't meet my needs). So if you're recommending a non-free app, please provide details and/or a mini-review of the app with the various pros/cons of the app. Thanks!

 

[iBoxtaboy]

I posted this in the other forum thread asking for pics from peoples' iPhones, but here's an easy way to upload your pics from your iPhone to a forum thread- Just open an account at a photo hosting site like tinypic.com, and then in your account settings, allow uploads from a mobile phone. Then, all you have to do is email your photo to m@tinypic.com, and they will email you the link to the picture they just hosted for you within seconds, and then you can copy and paste that link into the the board like I am doing now. Voil?!

Of course, it's easier to do this if you have the 3GS, since they come with cut/copy/paste functions.

 

[ladytonya]

Okay, last post here was 9/30/09. Any new info out there? The OP was looking for exactly what I am looking for, a simple way to post pics from an iPhone directly to the forum.

I tried posting a pic and used the Photobucket app, but I had to create an email and then copy and paste the link from the email. There has to be an easier way!

 

[Alli]

Why are you having to email it? Just copy the link, come back here to the full forum (not iPhone) and paste the link between the tags [ IMG ] and [ /IMG ] - take out the spaces.

 

[Scott R]

OK, so I posted this reply/photo with my iPhone (I'll admit to editing the reply from my desktop to insert all of this commentary as I was sitting in front of my laptop anyway and I prefer not to type lengthy replies from my iPhone if I don't have to). Anyways, I used the app Photobucket. For this purpose, it works wonderfully. I haven't put the latest version through its paces nor have I compared it other apps yet, but it works about as well as you could want it to for this purpose. Basically, you can upload photos from your existing "camera roll" or take a fresh photo. Once uploaded, just go into "My Albums", tap on the photo you want to post to the forums, and then tap on the "i" icon in the lower right. From there, just tap on the "IMG" button and it will automatically copy into your clipboard the "[ IMG ] xxx [ / IMG ]" string.

 

[iphonehuger]

Flickr is best