Store your old photos in the cloud with Shoebox

Shoebox by 1000memories is a fast way to scan and archive old paper photos, organise them, and share them with family and friends.

This is what 1000memories, the team behind Shoebox have to say about their app: "Shoebox lets you scan old photos and share them with family and friends. This is the first mobile scanner of its kind—designed specifically to scan and record artefacts from the past. Most of our fondest memories are not online yet—they're hidden away in shoeboxes and tucked away in old photo albums, only to surface on the occasional holiday or family gathering. There are trillions of photos out there, waiting to be shared with friends and family, but getting them online has traditionally been difficult and time-consuming. Today we're changing that. Shoebox puts a scanner in your pocket. Just take a picture of an old paper photo with your iPhone camera, and our Grizzly Labs edge detection and perspective-correction technology will make sure that the paper photographs you scan turn out beautifully. You can record the stories behind the photographs by adding captions, dates, and location as well as tagging your relatives and friends; you can also invite others to view them and share their own photos.

Shoebox gives you many advantages; your photo can instantly be added to 1000memories and shared with friends and family. And it’s preserved forever through our special partnership with the Internet Archive. But what about quality? And that’s the best part of all—the quality of camera phones has increased so fast that your handy iPhone is now as good a scanner as the clunky piece of hardware you have next to your computer, and with none of the wires or drivers. Image quality is measured using resolution (DPI or dots per inch). The new iPhone 4S offers a 2448 x 3264 pixel camera. If you used the camera to scan a typical old 4”x6” photo using Shoebox you would achieve a DPI of almost 600—the same high quality recommended by scanning experts like ScanCafe. Here we use pixels per inch (PPI) which is the digital display equivalent."

Shoebox offers the following features:

• Shoebox’s edge detection and perspective correction capabilities make sure that the paper photographs you scan turn out beautifully.
• Record the stories behind the photographs by adding captions, dates, and place information. 
• Tag your relatives and friends in the photos, and invite others to view them and share their own photos.
• Choose to make photos "private" so only your followers can see them, or make them "public" and archive them forever in partnership with the Internet Archive.
• Share photos instantly on Facebook and Twitter.
• Upload an unlimited number of photos for free.
• Works on any device with a camera and iOS4.1+ or iOS5.

App Store Link: Shoebox; Price: FREE

Editors Comments: This is a nice little app, and one that I've just begun to use. My mum has a number of shoe boxes full of old and not so old photos, and this app is perfect as it is letting me capture and save these memories without the need to take them away.

Comments

[espekayen]

This is a nice app. It's just a shame there's no option to archive private photos.

[Glyn Evans]

The latest update does include a privacy option before uploading.

[espekayen]

My understanding was that private photos are not stored on the 1000memories servers. Only public photos are archived on the website and you have to make your own arrangements to save your private pics. I could be wrong.

[Glyn Evans]

I tested with a private photo, and it does remain private, however just like Facebook you need to set privacy levels with the online service as well.

I need to take another look at the terms of use, and would recommend anyone trying out this app takes a close look as well. Don't just use this app and service just because I have :)

[L.S.]

Does it require an account?

[Glyn Evans]

@LS, yes, but that's free as well.

[R Martin]

Who gets the rights to data? Do you retain the photo rights??

[Deb]

Is there anyway to make folders so you can keep all of the pictures you've uploaded in some sort of organized fashion?