Share and View Twitter Photos with Scopy

The amount of intriguing iOS Twitter apps has risen dramatically in the past year. There have been many popular development teams which have created some seriously killer user interfaces, not to mention beautifully artistic designs. The winners of this race to the App Store have been some of the most passionate apps written by very intelligent people.

Scopy is a newer release which focuses on the photo media found on Twitter. You’ll be able to view and share photos with all your followers while also refreshing your Twitter timeline with new content. The icon design and user interface are beautiful to experience and compliment the photographs wonderfully. After the break, I’ll go over how to use Scopy properly, and what you can do after connecting with your Twitter Account.

Getting Signed In

After launching the app you’ll be asked to provide the Twitter credentials for your account. If successful, you’ll be redirected to the app Timeline which loads all recent tweets with images only.

Note that Scopy isn’t a fully-fledged Twitter app since it only loads tweets containing photo content. So I wouldn’t say that Scopy could replace your main Twitter app, but for those who share a lot and enjoy viewing photos, this is perfect. Each tweet is given its own box with a reply and Like button. Likes aren’t posted to Twitter, but are shared between other Scopy users.

Their system is very intuitive at picking up on images. Even if you host an image on your own website and directly tweet the link, Scopy will pick up on this and pull the image inline for the app. I’ve shared direct image links from Tumblr and Reddit which have still displayed within Scopy. If you look beneath each photo there’s also a sticky containing the direct URL, making it very easy to copy and paste.

To refresh at any time, simply pull down the timeline as you would in any other Twitter app. There is also a small refresh button in the top right corner which does the same thing. The speed at which the app runs is incredible, especially for downloading content directly from multiple websites.

Going through the Tabs

Like most Twitter apps you’ll be working with a few different views. But unlike most Twitter apps, these don’t include the common @ replies, profiles, retweet lists, etc.

Next to the timeline you’ll find a tab labeled “People.” This is similar to a contacts list customized for Scopy. The app will pull data from your Twitter account and list all the people you follow under Friends. The list is sorted alphabetically in a similar manner to the iOS Contacts app. Pressing each profile will open a page loading any tweets from the person containing photo media. The small search bar at the top of the page may help you narrow down what you’re looking for.

There are built-in star icons next to each person’s contact listing. With these icons you can favorite a person and create a small favorites list of the top tweeters you wish to follow. This can behave as a quick access list for friends who share a lot of photos that you want to keep up with.

Finally, the settings tab will hold your account settings for Scopy. These include how many tweets to download per update, photo sizes in your timeline (small/medium/large), credits and a logout button. If you have been using Twitter apps on an iPhone or iPad then none of these features should throw you off guard. But much of the functionality found in Scopy has been redesigned in a very clever layout.

Sharing New Photos

Moving back onto the timeline, you’ll notice a small camera icon in the top-left corner. This doesn’t directly open your camera, but instead brings up a new tweet dialog view. It contains the standard iOS keyboard with options for adding link URLs and location data. Next to these icons you will notice a character count for your current tweet, starting at the limit of 140 characters.

First, add your text into the tweet window. This can be whatever you’d like, or you could even leave the field blank and let your photo do the talking. Afterwards, find the bird illustration on the left-hand side. You’ll notice a square portrait block with the text “Add Photo” which brings up two options to choose from. You may either take a new photo with your camera or alternatively choose something from your library.

Either way, after choosing the photo you’ll be taken to a new screen where you may apply one of many different filters. This is where Scopy really adds some beneficial features for photographers looking to spice up their work. You may choose from multiple filter effects including Vivid, Noir, Sakura, Vintage, and Golden. Of course, you also have the choice to leave your photo alone and apply no effects at all.

It should only take a few seconds for your photo to fully upload and process. Scopy is versatile enough that you shouldn’t have a problem tweeting before it’s completed. Scopy will pull the URL and append this into your tweet while you’re waiting for the upload to process. You may change your upload service in the settings view, and there are plenty of choices including YFrog, Twitgoo, Posterous and TwitPic.

Benefits and Features

Ultimately, Scopy wasn’t built to replace your current fully-featured Twitter app. There are actually a lot of common features missing from Scopy, assuredly on purpose. But even though you can’t do a lot in Scopy, it’s made up for with incredible photographic functions found within the app. It’s almost similar to Instagram but connected directly into your Twitter stream. And the ability to @reply inline with others’ photos is also very useful feature.

Conclusion

This is a really good app for those looking to get into photo sharing and viewing on Twitter. You can even search by users or categories to locate specific photos. However, outside of this small niche you won’t find much interest in such features.

Where the app falls short is with interactivity and personal connections. There is no way to view private messages or even @replys to your profile. You can view lists of your followers and who you’re following, yet you aren’t able to pull all of their tweets, only the ones including photo media. This leaves Scopy a bit out of touch for creating a powerful connection between Twitter users. You also aren’t able to tie in more than one account at once, which is a bummer.

Check out the app if you’re a photo lover. It costs only $0.99 with unlimited updates and near-futuristic features. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re a fan of photos on Twitter, this app works out perfectly.