23snaps: A sweet, private social networking app for parents

Despite what Facebook would have us all believe, social networking doesn’t have to be an open forum for sharing everything with everyone we’ve (n)ever met. Back in March, we wrote about Pair, a social network for couples which had hit 50,000 downloads and one million messages in four days. And Pair wasn’t even the first social network for couples.

With that in mind, 23snaps is the latest ‘private’ social networking app to hit the App Store, for you to “capture, share and cherish every special moment in your children’s lives.”

23snaps is a sweet, beautifully built app and will appeal to anyone averse to plastering their Facebook Wall with snaps of their newborns, whilst it simultaneously alleviates friends from being subjected to that millionth ‘cute’ pose your offspring seemingly strikes every day.

The layout and format of the app will be familiar to anyone who already uses social networks – it has a News Feed, Notifications, Friends list, and a ‘Manage your children’ section. You can also choose to add your partner on 23snaps, meaning parents can manage the timelines of the same children, letting your remaining connections (grannies, uncles, siblings and friends) simply follow your child’s upbringing.

23snaps is designed to let you share status and milestone updates with your family and ‘close’ friends. You can update the ‘weight’ and ‘height’ measurements of your kids as they grow older, and you can share photos and videos direct to the timeline, either from your camera roll or snap new ones on the spot:

Notifications are sent directly to your connections’ iOS device whenever an update is shared, whilst family and friends who don’t have access to iPhones or iPads can still share the moments by signing up to receive email updates.

If you’re a parent or parent-to-be and want to steer clear of bombarding Facebook with child-centric content, 23snaps is well worth checking out. And it’s free, too.

➤ 23snaps