Lightbox

Most new phones come with photo galleries out of the box, but most of them aren't exactly killer apps. This is the type of dashed together software that's typically included as an after statement, recognized as a necessity for modern phone design but without a lot of thought put into innovating or expanding what a photo gallery can do. If you're dissatisfied with what's available on your phone Lightbox is a great alternative to the traditional gallery. Calling itself the "Connected Camera", Lightbox plays into the notion of the Internet of Things, making all the pictures in your gallery and integrated part of your everyday life. It might be more accurate to call Lightbox a social camera, and that's obvious right from the start. The requirement to create an account before starting indicates that this is intended as a perpetual software as a service model more than a traditional software platform, and one of the first questions asked when you start working on your account is which social media platforms you want to connect to. Lightbox is compatible with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and more. In effect, this turns Lightbox into your default photo management application not just for your phone but for your entire social media presence. Automatic syncing means that any photos you upload to Lightbox are periodically uploaded to those platforms, a necessity for social media influencers and aspiring social media personalities who have to juggle a lot of different channels in pursuit of their ambitions. Partnered with the management portion of Lightbox is a social media outreach that allows you to flick easily through a feed of photos from your preferred platforms. By collating all of the photographic media from all of your feeds at once, it serves in many ways as a unified platform for your interactions. When you use Lightbox as your gallery tool, you have to forego the traditional camera app on your phone as well. Luckily, Lightbox is a well-featured camera in its own right, and you likely won't miss much from the transition. On the surface, it's a rather basic camera tool, but it comes stocked with a number of standard features that are easy to access. Zoom and auto-center functionality make it far easier to snap the perfect picture, and there are even post-editing functions. These include ten available filters as well as a number of simple tools that allow you to accomplish tasks like skin smoothing and teeth whitening. Since sharing preferences are set in advance, you don't need to manually decide where you want your photos to go. A single button click will make sure your photos make it immediately to your preferred platforms.