UK-based app developers Ustwo, the same folk behind hits such as Whale Trail, have just launched the Android version of its Rando app, almost a month after it first landed on iOS.
Just to recap, Rando is touted as an “experimental photo exchange platform” for those with a penchant for photography. You send photos, or ‘Randos’, to other users, and you don’t find out who receives them. But to offset that ‘well, what now?’ feeling you’ll get, you also receive a random photo in return from another user, with the only information offered being the location of where that photo was snapped.
Rando gets random on Android
As with the iOS incarnation, Rando for Android is the very antitheses of what you understand a social network to be. You cannot like photos, comment on them, favourite them or even share them with others.
When you first launch the app, you’ll see nothing but a round button in the middle. Tap that, take a picture, and click the ‘submit’ icon.
Your work-of-art will then arrive in someone else’s Rando app, and then you’ll be notified – via a color-changing dot – that a new photo has arrived for you. You swipe down to reveal the photo, then tap on it to see a map of the location.
It’s such a bonkers idea it may actually gain traction. Indeed, since the original iOS app launch, it has been downloaded 40,000 times already, with 600,000 photos uploaded.
You can read more about the why and hows of the app here, but essentially the idea is to “free users from the constraints of social media, escape the constant desire to seek ‘likes’ from others and appreciate great photography.”
However, randomizing and anonymizing the app far from guarantees great photography. It may just mean you have nobody to shout at if you’re sent yet another Starbucks’ cappuccino photo, or a random knee, for that matter.
There are a handful of planned updates in the pipeline, however. Users will be able to access a map view of all their sent photos – as requested by those already using it. Also, there will be a collections area to retain all the best photos received.
Rando for Android is available to download for free now. Meanwhile, check out its new promo video below.
Feature Image Credit – Thinkstock
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