Show HN: A photo sharing app that isn't trying to be a TikTok clone

[Fnalsk]

We launched Pidgeon a few weeks ago, and since then we've had a chance to fix a lot of bugs and upgrade the usability a significant amount.

The app is made just for photo sharing. No videos, no NFTs, just pictures, comments, and chats. Each post is ranked like on reddit - a combination of the user upvote/downvotes and the amount of time passed since the post's creation.

We're also trying to stay away from ads, and instead adopt a freemium model. The main reason for this is because people are a lot more concerned with privacy these days, and if we aren't serving ads, then the user knows that we don't have an incentive to steal their data.

There's already a small community of about 1500 on the app, with a lot of them being professional photographers. So the photos going up look really nice (at least in my opinion). But we don't just want to be a community of people who consider themselves photographers - that's a mistake that other platforms like Flickr and VSCO make. To become widespread, you need to make your platform simple to use for the casual person; only catering to professionals will necessarily keep your community smaller than it otherwise would be.

Users have been asking for a desktop client, and while we don't have one yet, we do plan to add it - and it won't take us as long as IG to do it, and neither will it be an afterthought where the UX is intentionally made poor so that you're pushed to use the app instead. But we want to polish the mobile app first before we get there, and there's still a lot of work to do since it's super early days.

If you want to try it out, here's the link:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.pidgeon.pidgeon

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pidgeon-simple-photo-sharing/id1605784768

And please do provide any feedback you have on the app! It really does help us make it better.

[masterchief1s1k]

Instantly downloaded after I see that you have an iPad version unlike IG. Really appreciate it, since I do most of my photo editing on the go with my iPad.

Also gotta say I love the simple and straightforward UI, the dice-rolling thing add a unique touch too.

However, I can see that the app still need a lot of performance tweak, the UX for exiting out of a horizontal image scroll is weird as well, I would prefer to be able to swipe up to exit the view here. Otherwise, cool app thus far!

[Fnalsk]

Also I'm pretty sure you can swipe from the left edge of the screen to exit the view - definitely a lot easier than tapping the back button on a large screen like iPad.

[Fnalsk]

Thanks for the feedback! we're definitely still early so performance and UX are being worked on.

[tompagenet2]

Some hopefully useful thoughts. Well done for launching.

* users of photo sites are justifiably worried about how this business is sustainable (or will everything just get deleted). What's your plan?

* Add Creative Commons licenses

* how do I edit or add a title to a picture after uploading?

* Is there a web version? This is a big deal if not.

[Fnalsk]

Freemium, with non-targetted ads (only if we have to).

Tap on the image within the comments view, and use the three dots icon to the lower right of the overlay that appears.

Web version is coming. So many people have requested this - we're definitely aware that it's a big deal.

[Fnalsk]

And because this community in particular is probably interested in this, the app is made with Flutter. Highly recommend for anyone that hasn't yet tried it.

[itake]

hn community is dead on weekends. I'd repost during the week.

[wingerlang]

> A photo sharing app that isn't trying to be a TikTok clone

Why would it be, TikTok isn't for photo sharing.. Looks exactly like IG though.

[cupofpython]

i believe youve answered your own question. IG has formally moved away from pictures in favor of Reels. This headline might be a direct reference to that

[itake]

> The content you see is determined by people, not a magic algorithm.

Isn't IG's algorithm "determined by the people"? The more engagement (views/likes/comments, etc.) the more the content is shown to other users. Plus its even smarter by customizing the recommendations to your personal preferences (e.g. if you heart a fitness pic, the algorithm will recommend more fitness pics).

Its frustrating to me seeing people being angry at {social media}'s content recommendation engine. The reason why all these companies have this algorithms is cuz they work... At worst, you're re-inventing a less efficient wheel and at best, you do what Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Youtube, etc. all realized is a better user experience (the one you're trying to replace).

[Georgelemental]

The problem with complicated recommendation algorithms is: 1) They aren't transparent—the service could be doing anything behind the scenes, like down-ranking content from competitors and political opponents and up-ranking content from advertisers. Without publicly available rules, there is no way to know 2) The algorithm is designed to get the user to spend as long as possible on the site, so they can see as many ads as possible. But getting the user to spend as many hours as possible on the service isn't necessarily in their best interest; the best thing for the user is to give them the content they are most interested in quickly, in a way that isn't addictive.

[acid303]

I find taking a break from consuming personalized content refreshing. It sometimes feels like I'm missing out on a lot of good stuff simply because the algorithm tries to show me what it thinks I'll like.

[Fnalsk]

The point is that they work...for the company. In most of these cases the business model of the company is ads, which means they want to get as much time on the app as possible, regardless of what that means for the user's mental health or their overall enjoyment. This isn't necessarily what's best for the user.

[londgine]

Is there desktop support? apps have their place, but they are almost always better with desktop support (even Whatsapp added that)

[Fnalsk]

Working on it!

[lienhoangduy]

Actually, your app is more looked like IG than TikTok. Do you have any features or USP that IG's users should switch to yours?

[Fnalsk]

First, we plan to monetize on a freemium model. This means we don't have an incentive to sell your data to advertisers.

Second, we don't plan to add video. This is a platform just for photos, and for someone who wants something like that it's a good thing.

We also run on iPad, and when we get desktop going it won't be an intentionally broken experience to force you to use the app.

And we actually listen to our users. There's a chat room on the app "Pidgeon Nest" where people have asked for certain features and we've gone and added them. We've also done the same when users have reached out over email.

[acid303]

Sounds cool! I've decided to try it, is there a way to share to Pidgeon from the Photos app on iOS?

[Fnalsk]

not yet, that's something we'll need to add

[zeruch]

What if you are less a photographer and more an artist/illustrator?

[Fnalsk]

That's also very welcome, it's more or less a platform for any sort of imagery