When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works

Home / News / Shorts is the camera app that’s only for the brave

Shorts is the camera app that’s only for the brave

Would you let everyone see all the photos on your phone?

OK, so there’s putting your life on social media, and then there’s sharing everything. New camera app Shorts (yes, really) wants to do the latter.

Basically, this free iOS app lets anyone look at your camera roll. That’s the entire thing – every single blurry snapshot, every selfie that shows a double-chin, every time you meant to take a photo but accidentally shot a video instead. It’s all there for anyone to look at. 

It’s meant to give your friends a more intimate, more raw insight into your life, rather than the curated image we create of ourselves online. Frankly the idea just brings us out in cold sweats.

Thankfully you do have some control over what the world gets to see: when you open the app, it shows you every photo taken since you last launched it, and asks which ones you’d like to share.

Swiping through each one, Tinder-style will either share it or redact it from the internet. Upload something you later regret? Deleting it will pull it from everyone’s phones too.

There’s no Instagram-inspired main feed where everyone’s pictures appear, so you don’t need to worry about spamming your friends.

Everyone has a Snapchat-like story instead, with comments and likes only shared with the person that took the photo.

According to the company behind it, beta testers shared as many as half their photos on Shorts – and actually ended up taking more pictures once they had an audience compared to other using apps like Instagram.

If you’re feeling particuarly brave – or you’re just incredibly photogenic – you can download Shorts from the iOS app store now.

Profile image of Tom Morgan-Freelander Tom Morgan-Freelander Deputy Editor

About

A tech addict from about the age of three (seriously, he's got the VHS tapes to prove it), Tom's been writing about gadgets, games and everything in between for the past decade, with a slight diversion into the world of automotive in between. As Deputy Editor, Tom keeps the website ticking along, jam-packed with the hottest gadget news and reviews.  When he's not on the road attending launch events, you can usually find him scouring the web for the latest news, to feed Stuff readers' insatiable appetite for tech.

Areas of expertise

Smartphones/tablets/computing, cameras, home cinema, automotive, virtual reality, gaming

Enable referrer and click cookie to search for eefc48a8bf715c1b 20231024b972d108 [] 2.7.22