Ultravisual is an intriguing iOS app for sharing photos and videos
Ultravisual (free) joins a large collection of photo-sharing apps for iOS, but it has some unique features wrapped in an attractive, but at times frustrating, GUI.
The app lets you load photos from your camera roll, and arrange and label them into an attractive presentation. You can also collaborate with others, and you can include videos in your collections. Getting the images in any order is easy with a drag-and-drop interface. You can take photos from within the app, and there are filters that work in real time for things like warming up the color balance, but oddly, those filters don't work after a photo is taken.
Labeling of photos uses very attractive text, and the finished presentation looks very nice. Videos can be edited in-app, and strung together. These are nice capabilities in a free app.
While the UI is beautiful, it is confusing. Even help is buried, and you have to scroll way down in your collections to see the help button. There are some on-screen prompts, but I'd like to see more. You also get some cursory videos, but some of them raised more questions than they answered. I can't imagine a user starting from scratch with this app and getting all the way through to publishing without stumbling quite a lot along the way.
The app allows you to easily share your work, either with people you know, or you can publish to a public collection. When you send to a friend or family member, they get a URL and can click to see your photos or videos, which are server based. The sharing opportunities can be quite powerful, and if you see some things you like, you can follow the creator.
When you first use the app, you sign up for a free account. You can share your material publicly or not share that way.
Ultravisual is a clever, and attractive app. At a price of free, it is worth checking out, and happily there are no in-app purchases to make. I think for people to get more use out of the app, there will need to be more obvious help built in, and an easier-to-understand workflow. None of that is impossible, and I think the app will get a large following on the strength of its features, but easier immersion would be a big plus.
Ultravisual requires iOS 7 or later. It's not a universal app, so it's going to look best on an iPhone or iPod touch.
