New Goodies for All Our Users: Photo Frames and More!

By , A modern day Johann Zahn ;)

UPDATE: You Can Now Create Before/After Pictures on the Site

It's an exciting day! Starting right now, all our members--whether on the site or in the app--can create the Before/After pics that we rolled out to the app last year. (See the post below for the orginal announcement we made when we brought this feature to the app.)

On desktop, just click on the plus button at the top right of the community feed to make a post. We'll pop up the posting window and you'll see a new option to upload a "Progress Photo." Tap on it, upload two pictures that show your progress, add the date of each photo if you like and post to the Community Feed. It's easy and intuitive. We hope you love it!

Original Post: 


The rumors you’ve heard are true: We launched a new version of SparkPeople Mobile today and there’s something special in this version for you.

Don’t have the newest version yet? Go download it quick by clicking here. We promise to wait. Got it? Great!

This newest version of the app contains the bug fixes and minor improvements you’ve come to expect from each new version we put out, but there are two features that make this version really stand out:  our new Before & After photo frame and our new Collage photo frame. Let’s go through them, shall we?


Say "Hi" to Photo Frames

Before & After: Many of our members use SparkPeople as a way to reach their weight loss goals. Healthfully dropping excess weight is a great way to feel better, more energetic and happier, and we’re thrilled you rely on SparkPeople to help you get there. But sometimes it’s hard to understand how much weight someone has lost until you see a side-by-side comparison of “before” and “after” photos. When you are presented with visual evidence of the wonders of weight loss, well, it just clicks. So we thought, why not make it so our members can show their progression from right in the app?

Using our new Before & After frame, you can pick two pictures and stitch them into a single picture to share in the Community Feed. The frame also allows you to overlay the date the picture was taken and what you weighed at the time. After tinkering with it a little, the end result will look a little something like this:



The picture above is an example of this new frame, using pictures from one of our members, Jon. You can read more about his success here. Way to go, WEWRTFO!

Collage: Sometimes you get so excited about something that one picture just isn’t enough. Maybe you had three awesome meals in one day and you want to share them all at once. Or maybe you’re just so excited about something, the only way you can express yourself is to mash a bunch of pictures together so the end result can capture how you feel. And that’s why we made the Collage frame. :)

With the Collage frame, you can click on the same button you used to share a photo to the Community Feed, but now you can pick more than one picture. Once you’ve picked all the photos you want to include in your collage, hit the checkmark button at the top right and we’ll generate a collage image for you out of those pictures. But if you don’t like how we made it, you can tweak it to your heart’s content. You can pinch to focus in one one of the images, swap image spots so they line up the way you want them to, and more. Give it a try and you’ll see something like this one I made of my kids:

collage_photo_example

And We Have One More Announcement to Slip In

Starting with this version, we'll be asking you a few questions in the app feed. We wanted to ask these questions so we have a better idea of who you are and how we can personalize the app specifically for you.

We know that our articles about maintaining weight might not be helpful to members trying to lose weight, and blog posts about our favorite muffin recipes probably aren't going to be helpful for a member who's trying to control their carbs. If we know a little more about you and your goals, we can make it easier to reach your goals.

You won't see these questions often, but if you do see them pop into your feed please take a second to answer. We really appreciate it and we think you'll notice a difference. 

We hope you love these new frames as much as we loved playing with them while we tested this latest version. If you have any questions about these new frames, please ask in the comments below.

See more: sparkpeople apps