September 3rd saw the launch of the much awaited for PostSecret app. If you are a regular follower of PostSecret then you, no doubt, were aware of the impending launch. But in case you don’t follow PostSecret, let me bring you up to speed. PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where individuals craft a postcard that contains a secret and then anonymously send it to Frank Warren, the creator of the project. Every Sunday a selection of those postcards appear on the PostSecret blog.
Up until now, viewing and interacting with the secrets was limited. Each week only about twenty secrets were posted on the blog along with a small handful of selected comments. The PostSecret app now changes this. Owners of the app are able to discover new secrets as they are uploaded by users, can share their own secrets via the app and the opportunity to interact with posted secrets is now possible. This review will walk you through the nuts and bolts of the app including the process of discovering, sharing and replying to secrets.
Getting Started
Once you have purchased and loaded the PostSecret app from the App Store, you will see a rather stylish screen in shades of gray and black with the word “PostSecret” splashed across it. From here you will enter the PostSecret tour, six screens of information that explain how to use the app and how the anonymous aspect of the project is maintained. You can move through these screens either by swiping from side to side or by pressing the Next button in the bottom right corner.
PostSecret splashscreen and one of the tour screens
In subsequent visits, the tour will not appear when you open the app. However, if you need a refresher on how the app works you can find the tour under the More tab (the three white dots at the bottom right). After the tour you will find yourself at the main page. The actual images you see will be different each time based on the uploaded secrets, but the menu bar at the top (displaying: today, this week, all time) and the menu bar at the bottom will remain the same.
One of the tour screens and the main screen
Discover
There are three ways to discover secrets with the PostSecret app. These are via the Favourites tab (heart), the Location tab (compass) and the Latest tab (clock).
The Favourites tab is the default screen you arrive at when the app is launched and shows you the highest “favourited” secrets. You can further filter the results by selecting one of the tabs at the top — today, this week or all time.
You move through the secrets either by scrolling up and down or by selecting one of the secrets and then swiping the screen from side to side. To see a secret in full you tap it, which removes the menu bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Tapping on the secret again will bring up a new bar at the top where you can favourite the secret (heart) share it on Facebook/Twitter (F and Twitter Bird) or share the secret via email (envelope).
Towards the bottom of the screen you will see a button for replying to the current secret and any replies that have been posted; again just tap on them to see them in full. At the very top of the screen you have the back button, information on how long ago and where the secret was posted and a button to flag offensive posts.
A secret in full and a secret in detail
The Latest tab shows the secrets that have been recently uploaded. The viewing, sharing and navigating options are the same as under the Featured tab. When the Locations tab is selected, a map with “stacks” of secrets will appear. Clicking on a stack will bring up the secrets from that location. You can then view, navigate and share the secrets just as you have done on the Latest and Favourites tabs.
The Latest screen and the Location screen
Of all three tabs, the Locations tab appears to be the most unstable and can be slow to load. Sometimes the stacks of secrets show up after a small delay, while at other times it isn’t until the map is moved or enlarged that the stacks appear. Additionally, the stacks often crowd the map, meaning you need to enlarge the map to navigate to a location properly and this sometimes causes the app to crash.
Share
Sharing a secret is done via the camera button in the middle of the lower menu bar on the main screen. You can either take a photo directly through the app or select a photo from your camera roll. You will then choose one of the three photo styles (basically colour related choices), choose from one of the three text styles, write your text, position it and select your location, anything from a public location nearby, to a city or province/state/region/borough). Finally, you finish the process by pressing the submit button.
Selecting a photo style and adding the text
Reply
The reply portion of the app allows you to respond to a secret with a secret of your own. You create and upload your reply secret the same way you share a secret. Only this time you initiate the process by pressing the reply button at the bottom of a secret rather than the camera button on the main screen. It is also possible to reply to a reply.
The More Tab
The last tab on the bottom menu bar is the More tab. From here you can take the app tour, learn about PostSecret, view helplines, send feedback, read the community guidelines and find a direct link to PostSecret.com. This is also where your privacy (setting/changing a passcode), social (Twitter and Facebook details for sharing interesting secrets) and secret settings (tracking posted secrets) are located.
The More screen and the social settings
PostSecret and Privacy
From the moment you launch the app for the first time, PostSecret goes out of its way to assure you of your privacy. Your personal information remains anonymous, your posted secrets are only tracked if you decide to activate that function and select a personal passcode to protect them and only a general location is used if you allow the app to use your current location.
Privacy settings and setting a passcode
Conclusion
The PostSecret app certainly addresses the feeling that many followers of the project get every Sunday — wanting more secrets. The never ending supply can sidetrack your day and leave your daily to-do list untouched. However, where the app disappoints, in my opinion, is the reply function. With the opportunity to reply not only to secrets but to replies as well, it often turns into a series of conversations that have little to do with secrets and everything to do with individuals trying to outdo each other and prove their point of view as correct. This combined with the ability for anyone with the app to post whatever they happen to be thinking about versus an actual secret not only results in some odd postings but also takes away from the uniqueness that makes the original PostSecret so special.
The app itself is a little unstable with reports of problems when uploading and crashes, the later something I also experienced. However, the team behind the app seems to be dedicated to getting the problems resolved. All in all, if you are a die-hard fan of PostSecret then the app is probably worth purchasing. If you are more of a casual follower of PostSecret with no intentions of uploading a secret and can happily wait each week for more to appear on the website, then the app is probably not going to add too much to your PostSecret experience.