Does it sometimes feel like your phone is less of a storage device, and more of a black hole? You take photo after photo, and unless you share them to Instagram or Facebook, they're eventually forgotten. For day-to-day snaps, it's not such a big deal. But when you've got a couple dozen gorgeous photos from your best friend's wedding or a vacation, you may actually want to remember those.
Luckily, there are a number of apps and services that are trying to make it easier for you to find memorable photos from your phone's camera roll — and turn them into something else equally memorable. Whether you want to compile your pictures and videos into a nostalgic movie trailer, print them out to hang on your wall, or simply have the ability to find them again with a simple search, these apps let you do it.
Read on for our favorite creative — and useful — ways to deal with the photos sitting inside your phone.
Moving Images
Sometimes you want something more than a photo, but you don't want to record a full video. If you don't have a phone capable of taking Live Photos, Polaroid Swing is the next best thing. The app captures a one-second video instead of just a photo when you snap the shutter button. The image comes to life when you tap it, or when you swing your phone. It's perfect for capturing a subtle, but beautiful moment.
Photo: Courtesy Kodak.
With the $150 Prynt case attached, you can actually print out photos that you snap with your phone. Even better: Paired with Prynt's app, when you use your phone's camera to peer at the photos you've printed out, the photos come to life on-screen. When you snap a photo, it's actually capturing a short video clip, so in the end, you get a tangible form of the memory, and a longer video of it, too.
Photo: Courtesy Prynt.
Prints
What if you'd like to see that beautiful sunset or landscape turned into a painting? With the $5 Brushstroke app, you can turn any image into a painting by using of one of its many filters, canvas styles, color palettes, and more. You can share your creation on social media, or have it printed and shipped.
Photo: Courtesy Brushstroke.
Whether you want to print a dozen of your favorite Instagrams to create a collage on your bedroom wall, or blow up a gorgeous photo to turn into a poster, Social Print Studio can make it happen. You can also turn photos into magnets, buttons, or photo books, among other options. The pricing is totally reasonable, starting at $10 for a metal print of an image (with free shipping on purchases over $50).
Photo: Courtesy Social Print Studio.
Custom Items
Cheesy? Maybe. Useful? Definitely! With this app, you can choose a photo and a message and have them printed on a mug. If your office is anything like ours, you can never have too many coffee mugs. And with your face — or that of a loved one's — printed on the front, maybe, just maybe, it won't get stolen.
Photo: Courtesy Zippi.
In Shutterfly's iOS or Android app, you can paste a scenic or loving photo on just about anything, from a mug, to a pillow, or even a blanket. There are tons of designs and customization options to choose from to ensure that your image has the right feel. Right now, the app is also offering free 4-by-6 and 4-by-4 prints, so you may as well hop on that before the offer ends.
Photo: Courtesy Shutterfly.
GIFs
GIFYme is one of the newest GIF-making apps on the market, and it's quickly proving to be one of the best. The app makes it incredibly easy to record a GIF that you can then share to Instagram or other social networks, or with your friends. You can create time-lapse and slow-motion GIFs, add a filter, or record other styles of GIFs.
Photo: Courtesy GIFYme.
If you want to get a little sillier with your GIF-making ( why yes, a GIF of your friend dancing would look good with giant pizzas floating in the background), then GIPHY Cam should be your go-to. The GIFs you create in this iOS app may not drum up relaxing waves of nostalgia, but they will be unforgettable.
Photo: Courtesy GIPHY.
Videos
Quik, as its name suggests, helps you create memorable videos in no time. It analyzes your photos and videos (you can upload up to 200) for the best clips, then automatically adds effects and transitions between them. It even detects faces and colors in your photos so that cuts between shots flow smoothly. You can choose from 28 free video styles, and of course, customize and edit your creations to your heart's content.
Photo: Courtesy GoPro.
iMovie is the gold standard when it comes to turning iPhone photos and videos into memorable (short) movies. The $5 app is worth the download. It has a variety of preset trailer templates, which let you fill in the blanks on videos so you have perfect pacing — and can elicit specific moods. iMovie is the perfect time-killer for a long flight back once your vacation is done.
Photo: Courtesy Apple.
Collages
This free Android app lets you combine multiple photos in fun ways using a variety of preset templates. With over 200 layouts to choose from, you can organize a bunch of photos into grids or bubbles, or highlight one or two photos in more of a greeting-card style. The app features a ton of built-in editing features.
Photo: Courtesy Fotoable.
If your primary end goal is sharing a unique photo to Instagram, Layout app does a great job of letting you customize and create geometric grids of photos. You simply select the photos you want to include, swipe through to choose the layout you like best, and then tap to rearrange the order of the photos, mirror images, or flip them for cool effects. Then you can share it straight to the Instagram app (or anywhere else).
Photo: Courtesy Instagram.
Storage
Maybe you don't want to print or share all your photos, but you would like to be able to find them and browse them easily in the future. For that, Google Photos is particularly handy. You can set it up so every photo you take gets backed up to the app, making them easily accessible no matter what device you're on (and freeing up much-needed storage on your phone). Then, you can search them by what's actually in the photo. If you want to find a photo of your dog on the beach, just search "dog on beach."
Photo: Courtesy Google.
Similarly to Google Photos, Flickr also lets you store your photos in the cloud for easy cross-device access. You can search your photos by what's in them, or browse by category, such as People, or the Animals subcategory, Cats. You're also able to edit photos in the app, if you want to tweak an image's brightness or add a filter. You get 1,000 GB for free (it'll take a while to use that up).
Photo: Courtesy Flickr.
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