Categories: Mobile

Scan old photographs effortlessly with new Shoebox mobile app

A new mobile app, Shoebox, lets you scan and archive old photographs using your phone’s built-in camera. The app has been released by 1000memories, a service that allows users to collect and share memories online.

Shoebox, however, is not just a simple photo-sharing service. When scanning old photographs with your device’s camera, the app detects edges and corrects perspective automatically. After scanning, users can crop, straighten or rotate images, as well as add written annotations like captions, dates and tags to record the often hidden stories behind old photographs.

A copy of each scan is stored on the user’s device, but also uploaded to 1000memories where they can be shared with family and friends. A partnership with the Internet Archive all but guarantees digitised material will be stored forever on 1000memories.

The app’s makers want old hidden memories to be celebrated online,

“Our mission is to bring the albums, scrapbooks, and photo-filled “shoeboxes” of our lives out of the closet and into an online, shareable space where they can be remembered and celebrated, together in one place”.

What about image quality? Images scanned on devices with 8-megapixel cameras, like the new iPhone 4S, are comparable to results achieved using dedicated and clunky hardware scanners.

Both the Shoebox app and the 1000memories service are completely free. Shoebox for iPhone launched last week, with an Android version in the works.

Albizu Garcia

Albizu Garcia is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gain -- a marketing technology company that automates the social media and content publishing workflow for agencies and social media managers, their clients and anyone working in teams.

View Comments

  • This app is awesome! It reminds folks to preserve and share the memories that have been sitting around collecting dust for years. Why not leave scanning to the pros! GoPhoto is available in the U.S. and is risk-free, as you only pay for the scans you keep and they are set up in online albums.

  • This app is awesome! It reminds folks to preserve and share the memories that have been sitting around collecting dust for years. Why not leave scanning to the pros! GoPhoto is available in the U.S. and is risk-free, as you only pay for the scans you keep and they are set up in online albums.

  • This app is awesome! It reminds folks to preserve and share the memories that have been sitting around collecting dust for years. Why not leave scanning to the pros! GoPhoto is available in the U.S. and is risk-free, as you only pay for the scans you keep and they are set up in online albums.

  • This app is awesome! It reminds folks to preserve and share the memories that have been sitting around collecting dust for years. Why not leave scanning to the pros! GoPhoto is available in the U.S. and is risk-free, as you only pay for the scans you keep and they are set up in online albums.

Recent Posts

Bridging Traditional Venture Capital and the Masses: Democratizing Startup and Private Market Investments

Article by Luis X Barrios, CEO of Arkangeles For far too long, venture capital has…

12 hours ago

WEF scrubs ‘Valuing Nature’s Assets’ session from Sustainable Development Impact Meetings

The World Economic Forum (WEF) deletes a session entitled, "Valuing Nature's Assets," from its Sustainable…

2 days ago

Horasis India Meeting 2024: Here’s look at 10 key speakers this week in Athens

The theme of the 2024 Horasis India Meeting is cooperation, impact investing, and sustainable growth…

4 days ago

UN Summit of the Future Global Call: World leaders advocate Agenda 2030, UN reform

World leaders gather on the UN Summit of the Future Global Call to advocate for…

1 week ago

A Look Into AI and the Risks to Elections

Image via: Freepik When an entire nation devotes its attention to Vice President Kamala Harris…

1 week ago

5 ‘interconnected shifts’ are driving ‘profound systemic transformation’: Klaus Schwab, WEF report

World Economic Forum (WEF) founder Klaus Schwab says that the world is undergoing profound systemic…

1 week ago