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This app capitalizes on one of the best hidden iPhone features you’re not using
Millions of users are trying to guess the daily word on the website that quickly went viral, Wordle. With seemingly everybody doing it, here’s how safely play and avoid fakes. But that isn’t the only mobile application that has skyrocketed in popularity.
Some are more into photos than words, driving a new iPhone app to the top of the download charts. This is for you if you have ever wanted an app that can send pictures directly to your friends’ home screens.
Read on to see how the free Locket Widget app works and what you can do with it.
Here’s the backstory
It’s incredibly refreshing when talented individuals develop new applications rather than large corporations. The latest smash hit, Locket Widget, was created by a former Apple Worldwide Developer Conference student scholarship winner.
Matt Moss, who graduated from the University of California in Santa Barbara, set out to create an app that allows sharing images between him and his girlfriend. Several apps out there can do this, but Moss had something completely different in mind.
In a TikTok video that now has more than 400,000 views, Moss’s girlfriend explains that he created the app for her birthday last summer. “When either of us sends a picture, it appears on the other’s home screen. We’ve used it every day since,” she said.
The first version of Locket Widget was uploaded to Apple’s App Store in late December. But what exactly is it?
What you can do about it
The app was developed so the couple could send each other images without having to go through various chat apps. The biggest drawcard for users is where the photos are displayed.
Locket Widget sits on your Home Screen. After you have added up to five friends, you can send them live photos. The photos will instantly show up on their Home Screen widget.
“Locket is a widget that shows you live pictures from your friends, right on your Home Screen. It’s like a portal to the people you care about — a little glimpse at what they’re up to throughout the day,” reads the app’s description.
To reply to them, you simply tap on the widget, snap your photo and send it. Moss’s partner explained in the TikTok video that when it first launched in the App Store, it broke because too many people signed up.
“It’s been so cool to see millions of people use an app that just started out as a birthday present,” his partner mentions in the TikTok video.
Just a word of caution, as we believe it is important to mention any privacy concerns to our readers. For the widget to work correctly, it must collect personal information like your mobile phone number and access your contacts.
But the biggest concern that we have about Locket is that any photos you send to friends will be kept on the widget’s servers. There is no way to delete iPhone photos from the server or after they have been sent.
This would be an easy thing to miss. It isn’t mentioned in the App Store description and only vaguely hinted at in Locket’s privacy policy. But if that doesn’t worry you, snap on and have some fun.
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Tags: Apple, Apple iPhone, apps, live photos, personal information, privacy, server, TikTok, Wordle
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