Escape from Instagram?
Scroll through your social media and sure enough you’ll soon find a bunch of photographers really cross with Instagram. I mean really cross indeed, and with good reason. Instagram used to be the place to share your photographs and hang out with other photographers. Not anymore. Nowadays, with its algorithmically driven mix of ‘reels’, memes, influencers and endless adverts, it’s not what it used to be. Let’s be honest, they’re chasing a different audience now. And, I’m sorry to break it to you, their current target audience is definitely not photographers and their photographs. Throw into the mix that it’s a Meta product so there’s the many dubious Zuckerburg ownership issues to deal with.
So if you are one of the many who are fed up with Instagram and you’re wondering if there’s anything else out there? Well maybe there is…
I’m going to point you in the direction of the Foto app, a photo sharing app that launched publicly a few months ago. And although it’s early days there is much here to like.
(Disclaimer. I joined Foto as an ambassador as I wanted to support the project. Please note: The ambassador scheme is now closed.)
Ok, so what do you get if you download the app…
- It runs on Android, iOS and iPad. A desktop version and a browser version are said to be on the way.
- There is a high-quality free tier and optional paid Pro accounts for when the portfolio feature launches which I believe is imminent.
- It has a chronological driven feed, there is no algorithm. I know what you’re thinking, how will we cope without the algorithm? You need to cherish the lack of the dreaded algorithm.
- Instagram ‘influencers’ and Reels fans please look away now. There are no videos or ads allowed. At all. Thank you Foto.
- All of your images are uncropped. So say goodbye to Instagram cropping change rage.
So what’s it like to use?
Really easy. A lot easier than I find using Instagram I can tell you. Below you can see what my profile page looks like, nice and clean.
Choose an image, add text, a couple of tags then you’re done.The Tag selection page allows you to save your favourite tags for easy reuse. To find people to follow you can search by tag, and by ‘mutuals’, that is who the people that you follow are following and ‘fav tags’ which shows you photos related to your selected favourite tags.
Upcoming Pro and Pro+ account features.
- Portfolios – Pro accounts will have eight portfolios, Pro + accounts will have an unlimited amount of portfolios. (Free accounts will have, I think, one portfolio.)
- An online shop, directly within your profile in the app, to sell your work. Sounds cool.
- Print fulfilment – integrated with your online shop
- Paid Subscriber Area – apparently, a bit like Substack or Patreon.
- A Post scheduler
- And Hi-res Cloud storage
There’s a lot of potential in this app and the photos look really good. The guys behind foto are busy adding more functionality and are very communicative about progress or issues. So, is Foto a replacement for Instagram? Well, if you’re looking for something a bit like Instagram was in the old days but better and if you want less noise and more beautiful photographs then give it a try and see.
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