Fast-rising photo app Frontback just received its first major update in the App Store, bringing much-needed social features. Until now, the app didn’t have user profiles because the original version was developed over the course of four weeks. But it’s about to change. The update is an essential piece of the puzzle as it brings many other social features on board. With today’s update, the photo-taking app effectively becomes a photo-sharing app.
“Many people have told us that we were crazy to release such a rough 1.0 version,” co-founder and CEO Frédéric della Faille told me. “This update is what Frontback 1.0 should have been from the get go,” he continued.
The new features represent a great incentive to open the app multiple times a day. When you flip through the feed of photos, you can now tap on a username and see all of his or her previous Frontbacks. You can tap on the number of likes and see who liked your posts.
More importantly, you can choose who you want to follow, see who’s following you and search for users. If you connect your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, you can find friends who are already on Frontback. The company tucked away those social features behind a new rounded button.
As I wrote in my initial post, Frontback is a deeply personal experience. That’s why you can now choose to remove staff picks from your feed, making the app all about your friends and only your friends.
Della Faille told me that the startup has more news to announce in the coming days. But the new little red button in the top left corner is an important step for the startup, bringing the app one step closer to the social experience that the team had envisioned a couple of months ago.
