Psuedo-Photoshop
I was interested when I heard about a new photo edit/share app, however, it's not really what I expected. Instants is more of a psuedo-Photoshop app. You have options for a text overlay with various banners and you have a few more options once you've selected a theme. I'm not the biggest fan of the themes as many of them do cover a large portion of your photo. Even the other options don't offer a great deal of help in that regard. The themes all come with animations and the animations are big. The options you are given are limited with a free account, the rest hidden behind the premium subscription. Instants essentially turns your photo into a .gif to accommodate the animation. On the main animation page, you have the Instants logo and link in the upper right corner, and an additional pane added at the end for Instants as well. These cannot be removed unless you have the premium subscription. You can change the color of the backgrounds and text within the editing options, and again, there are some colors behind the premium subscription as well. Also within the editing options, you have the ability to crop your photo. My biggest gripe with Instants is the presets, you really only get to play with the presets. You are not given options to adjust the presets in terms of banner height, text size, etc., so you're essentially stuck with the presets as they are and their preset options.
The sharing, on the other hand, is a nice feature. You can link your Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts to Instants. With that, you are able to directly share to those platforms right from the app. This also leads into the feature that probably makes the premium subscription worth it. That feature is called Insights. You have to give Insights permission to interact with your social media accounts, but Insights will track your photos posted with Instants. This will allow you to see the difference Instants makes with your likes and all that fun stuff. I'm not really into the social media posting that much so I don't have the premium subscription. That premium subscription comes in at $29.99 per year so it's something you have to be sure you really want. Insights, however, is also designed as a marketing tool to help you boost your social media presence. This can be particularly useful for companies, bloggers, or really just anyone looking to have their account noticed more. So if that's something that interests you, I would definitely recommend at least looking at the premium subscription.
The Good
The Bad
Conclusion
While I'm not the biggest fan of Instants as it is, I can see great potential for this app in the future. As it is right now, it is still a really neat app with some the great ability to track your posts if you have the subscription. So it's really a personal call on this app whether you think it's the subscription or not. Just keep in mind that it is fairly limited without a subscription. You can find Instants on the App Store right here. I recommend you take a look at it for yourself and see if it's something you'd like. Instants is free to download and use.
I was interested when I heard about a new photo edit/share app, however, it's not really what I expected. Instants is more of a psuedo-Photoshop app. You have options for a text overlay with various banners and you have a few more options once you've selected a theme. I'm not the biggest fan of the themes as many of them do cover a large portion of your photo. Even the other options don't offer a great deal of help in that regard. The themes all come with animations and the animations are big. The options you are given are limited with a free account, the rest hidden behind the premium subscription. Instants essentially turns your photo into a .gif to accommodate the animation. On the main animation page, you have the Instants logo and link in the upper right corner, and an additional pane added at the end for Instants as well. These cannot be removed unless you have the premium subscription. You can change the color of the backgrounds and text within the editing options, and again, there are some colors behind the premium subscription as well. Also within the editing options, you have the ability to crop your photo. My biggest gripe with Instants is the presets, you really only get to play with the presets. You are not given options to adjust the presets in terms of banner height, text size, etc., so you're essentially stuck with the presets as they are and their preset options.
The sharing, on the other hand, is a nice feature. You can link your Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts to Instants. With that, you are able to directly share to those platforms right from the app. This also leads into the feature that probably makes the premium subscription worth it. That feature is called Insights. You have to give Insights permission to interact with your social media accounts, but Insights will track your photos posted with Instants. This will allow you to see the difference Instants makes with your likes and all that fun stuff. I'm not really into the social media posting that much so I don't have the premium subscription. That premium subscription comes in at $29.99 per year so it's something you have to be sure you really want. Insights, however, is also designed as a marketing tool to help you boost your social media presence. This can be particularly useful for companies, bloggers, or really just anyone looking to have their account noticed more. So if that's something that interests you, I would definitely recommend at least looking at the premium subscription.
The Good
- Easy sharing
- Easy editing options
- Intuitive interface
The Bad
- Limited without subscription
- Limited to app presets
- Unable to adjust banners
Conclusion
While I'm not the biggest fan of Instants as it is, I can see great potential for this app in the future. As it is right now, it is still a really neat app with some the great ability to track your posts if you have the subscription. So it's really a personal call on this app whether you think it's the subscription or not. Just keep in mind that it is fairly limited without a subscription. You can find Instants on the App Store right here. I recommend you take a look at it for yourself and see if it's something you'd like. Instants is free to download and use.
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