By Cooper Fojas
Lapse, a trending photo-sharing app, is making a push to become more than a fad.
The “invite-only disposable camera,” as the company’s website puts it, allows users to take photos which are processed to look like they were taken with a disposable camera through filters and other treatment done automatically by the app. Once the pictures are developed, they can be dispersed among users’ added friends.
The biggest wrinkle in the Lapse experience is that people can only get access to the app if they receive an invitation link from someone who already has it. Upon signing up, users must invite five friends of their own to use Lapse, keeping the cycle going.
“I really don’t want to add people that are multiple connections away,” said Alex Dong, a junior computer science and government and politics major. “[The app] suggests a hundred people it thinks you should add and you have to unclick most of them.”
The invite-only feature is partly due to the platform’s status as a beta, pre-launch version of the full app, what the company calls a “controlled roll out.” Since Lapse launched in this stage in late September, the app has topped the photo and video category of the App Store.
But early popularity does not guarantee sustained success. This past summer, Instagram’s messaging app Threads held a similar spot atop the social media pyramid, gaining 100 million users after only a week of existence, according to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Over the next month, data from market research firm Sensor Tower said Threads lost about 82% of its daily users.
“We’re always looking for something new and shiny,” said Gagan Nirula, creative director and vice president, digital for the National Association of Broadcasters. “It’s social media—we need the validation.”
Lapse users worry that the app does not offer enough unique features to stay in-demand. Turning your phone camera into a Polaroid may not be enough to stand out in a space dominated by photo-sharing platforms, junior music performance major Andrew Bures said.
“You can only react to two people’s pictures a day, which is weird,” Bures said. “If it’s just the exact same thing, people are already gonna be bored of it when it fully releases.”
Lapse and similar apps like BeReal have tried to separate themselves from Instagram, Snapchat and other established platforms by only allowing ‘in-the-moment’ photos free of redos and touch-ups, something disposable cameras are known for creating.
But some users feel Lapse plays too heavily into the disposable photo trend and may not be flexible enough to survive when the trend subsides.
“When the vintage aesthetic dies, this app is gonna die with it,” Dong said.
Lapse asks for access to the users’ contacts and camera roll. Nirula hopes Lapse protects its users’ data, especially in an age of debates surrounding the trustworthiness of technology companies.
“It’s really weird that in 2023, a new social media app would come out and point blank be like, ‘give us everything,’” Nirula said. “You’re getting this thing for free, therefore you are the product. That gives me concern.”
Featured image: Preview of Lapse app. Photo courtesy of Lapse.