Is it possible to live in the moment and post about it later? Well now with “Lapse” you can.
Brothers and developers: Dan and Ben Silvertown developed an app titled “Journal by Lapse” back in 2021, which recently rebranded as an “in the moment” photo sharing app named “Lapse” in August of 2023, which quickly jumped to the top of charts because users are required to invite their friends before creating an account.
Unlike other popular social media apps, “Lapse” requires users to send out five unique invitations via text, email, or other. After sending out invitations to join the thousands of photo-sharers, users can complete their account by uploading a profile picture, attaching a short description about themselves with other relevant details, and a “film strip” which consists of up to 36 photos selected from their camera roll and a snippet of a song to create a quick slideshow like montage.
Social media enthusiast and Sultana High School (SHS) junior, Eric Ruiz said, “It felt weird [inviting], they gotta ask me what it’s about, and I say it makes me do this, it’s just awkward”. However, SHS junior Alex Gamez claimed, “It’s a good way to get people on the app”.
With “Lapse”, after taking a photo, there is no review or editing period. At a maximum of 36 shots per 24-hours, the photo is taken and then unviewable for one to three hours to mimic the process of getting film developed at a lab. After the photo has “developed” there is a vintage filter applied to the photo, and users can choose to store it in a journal for personal viewing only or post to the Instagram style feed, where users can interact with publicly posted photos.
Even though there is controversy regarding how the app hit number one in the Apple Store, the app’s content is not much different from past apps. Dozens of distinct apps have been developed over the years including “Dispo Retro Disposable Camera”, “Indisposable: Film Photography”, “Disposable camera filter app”, along with other apps of similar names. This begs the question: What makes this app any different?
The point of this app as quoted by developers Dan and Ben, “We designed Lapse as a camera to encourage living in the moment and sharing memories pressure-free”. As inspired by a trip, when the only available camera was a point and shoot, film camera.
When asked about the point of using “Lapse” SHS senior, Brandy Bantau said, “I think that it’s because of the disposable camera aspect, it makes it interesting almost like an Instagram meets VSCO collab so it’s really fun to use”.
