How to Use Flipagram, an Addictive App for Sharing Photo Slideshows That Hit #1 in the App Store
Remember what Don Draper said when he pitched the Carousel “photo wheel” to Kodak? “Nostalgia. It’s delicate but potent. Switch it on.”
That’s exactly what a popular new app called Flipagram does. It organizes your photos (from various places on your phone and social feeds) and combines them into a slideshow set to music of your choice. You’re then able to share the video via email and/or various social platforms.
In other words, it gathers all those disjointed memories floating around in cycberspace and makes some sort of warm and fuzzy sense out of them.
Other apps, like HTC’s Zoe, perform similar magic with your photos and video. But Flipagram has caught on in a big way and currently ranks as the most popular free app on iTunes charts at the moment.
It’s your life summarized in a feel-good home movie. Who can resist?
Here’s how you use it:
1. Download the app on iOS or Android.
2. Open the app on your Home screen.
3. Press the Start button.
4. Flipagram will ask for permission to access photos from your iPhone library. Allow it. You can always go to Settings > Privacy > Photos to disable the access.
5. From there you can allow the app access to the other photo banks of your social accounts by clicking the different icons.
6. For each account that you add, you’ll have to log in.
7. Then authorize Flipagram to access info in the other app.
8. When you’re done connecting accounts, choose which photo bank from which account you’d like to create a slideshow. (You can add photos from a mix of different places, but that comes later.) This screen will pop up. Look at all those Instagrams.
9. Tap the photos you’d like to include. You’ll know you’ve made a selection when you see a blue frame around the photo. As far as I can tell, there’s no limit to how many photos you can choose (I selected more than 300 at one try and didn’t run into any problems.) When you’re satisfied with what you’ve picked, tap the checkmark in the upper-right corner of the screen.
10. From there you can review your choices and opt to delete selections by tapping the X in the top-right corner of a photo or edit individual photos by tapping the pen in their bottom-right corner. You can also add photos by tapping the big blue + Add button at the bottom of the screen. Or, if you hate what you just picked, press the big X in the upper-left corner of the screen. You’ll only get up to 30 seconds of music for each video, so don’t choose too many photos.
11. You can also arrange the order that your photos will show up in the slideshow by tapping on the arrow next to the horizontal lines. The frame in the bottom-right corner allows you to crop images as well, but you won’t have to worry about that if you’re using only square Instagram photos.
12. You have the option to arrange your “moments” chronologically or to make them random.
13. When you’re all done adjusting your photos, tap the arrow button at the upper-right corner of the screen.
14. Yay, we’ve made it to the fun part. This is where you can preview your slideshow and add a snippet of a song by tapping Add Music.
(That’s me with a real-life pager. Hi!)
15. From there you’ll be given the option to either use music from your library or Find Music in Flipagram’s selection. You can get a 30-second preview of new music for free or actually buy the song. I want to use something from the new Beyoncé album, so I’m going to pick something from my own library. You can choose how you want to search with the guides below.
16. Once you’ve picked your song, you’ll be brought back to the preview screen. If you own the song, you can choose what snippet to use by moving the vertical bar overlayed on the track.
17. I’d recommend leaving the auto-timer on, as it aligns the photos to the music in a pleasant way. And if you want to make the slideshow compatible for Instagram, choose the 15-second snippet. Otherwise go longer.
18. Finally, you can add a title and customize its font and color.
19. There’s also an option to remove the Flipagram watermark on the video, but that requires a $1.99 in-app purchase (see below).
20. If you don’t want to pay, then press Cancel and scroll up to the top of the screen. Tap the checkmark to finalize your Flipagram. You’ll be asked to confirm that this is indeed what you want to do. Tap Yes.
21. It’ll think for little bit and then bring you to a screen displaying all your options for where to share your new creation. You can either choose to offer your adorable memories to the public world, send them to someone via email or just leave them in the app.
Full disclosure: Flipagram makes it look like I have way more fun than I actually do in real life. These guys are on to something …
You can download Flipagram for iOS and Android.
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