18 months ago, we launched our SDK and announced the first 30 partners to integrate Aviary photo editing technology into their apps. Today, we’re pleased to announce that over 3,500 additional apps and services have joined their ranks, and their users have used Aviary to edit over 3 billion photos.
There’s no doubt that those numbers have surpassed our wildest expectations. In our first year, users edited 1 billion photos. In the past 6 months, they’ve edited 2 billion more. Our active monthly user count is now over 35 million people strong, and they have collectively spent 3,804 years editing photos with Aviary. This is how the past few months have looked:
There are a lot of global forces at play here: increased mobile bandwidth, smartphone penetration and higher quality smartphone cameras have all contributed to a dramatic increase in photo-based communications. Aviary provides simple-to-use but powerful tools to make those communications better. Our mission has always been to democratize creativity – to give everyday content creators the tools to express themselves fully. This mission still drives us everyday.
Our photo editing experience has now been incorporated into Twitter, Flickr, Photobucket, Walgreens and thousands more. Supporting ever more developer partners, and their users, remains our primary focus.
With that mind, we’re excited to invite developers to come hack with us! Aviary will be holding its Photo Hack Day #4 on April 6 – 7 at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park. Previous events have witnessed a total of more than 800 developers creating over 170 new apps, and we’ve been honored by keynotes and hack judging by luminaries like Alexis Ohanian (founder of Reddit, Hipmunk and Breadpig), David Karp (founder of Tumblr), Ben Huh (CEO of Cheezburger Network) and Lucas Buick (founder of Hipstamatic). PHD4 is shaping up to be another packed day of coding, creativity and inspiration, and we hope you’ll join us. Keep an eye on the website for more details as they emerge.
~ Tobias
Note: All numbers are exclusive of any Twitter data.
Today we’re announcing version 2.4 of our Showcase App for Android, which introduces a brand new tool and improves a few existing favorites. Go ahead and grab it from the Google Play Store to check it out.
The first thing you’ll notice about 2.4 is the new Focus tool. This has been one of our most requested features for a while now so we’re excited to finally be able to offer it in our Showcase App. Focus is our take on a tilt shift tool, which selectively adds a circular or rectangular blur to any photo. This is perfect for drawing attention to a particular part of a photo or going for the classic tilt shift effect that turns photos into miniature-looking scenes. Tried the tool and have some feedback? Let us know. We use this Showcase App as a vehicle for testing out new features before releasing them to the thousands of developers who use our photo editing SDK, so your feedback is incredibly valuable.
We also updated the incredibly popular Splash tool to make it way easier to use. It’s now even better at selectively adding color back into any photo. Lastly, we’ve reworked the Effects tool under the hood to be faster. We’ve got a lot of great new effects coming soon, so be on the lookout. Just click the ‘Get More’ button inside the Effects tool to see whats available.
Have you tried 2.4 yet? The brand new Focus tool? Hit us up on Twitter to show off your work!
We’re packing up our bags this week and getting ready to fly south to escape this never ending NYC winter.
We’re not trying to make a big splash at SXSW this year, but we’ll be going to as many panels, meetups, hackathons, parties and bar crawls as is humanly possible; we’ll be hanging out with some old friends and meeting some new ones. Here’s a bit of Aviary’s agenda:
- Inject some Aviary magic into Artist’s Hack at Raptor House on Sunday the 10th -> Integrate Aviary’s SDK, and you could win an awesome canvas print from CanvasPop!
- Attend every developer event that comes our way, like this, this, this and definitely this.
- Spread the good word on the Mobile and Web photo space and bounce ideas of all the smart people we meet.
- Chat with some awesome hackers! Right now we’re on the prowl for amazing Android andJavascript developers.
If you’re going to be at SXSW this year, we’d love to buy you a drink, or stand next to you in line for a free one ;) and hear about the awesome things you’re working on.
Get in touch:
Ari Fuchs | @arifuchs | API Engineer and Evangelist
Vijay Vachani | @vvvachani | Business Development
Photo by Dan Nguyen on 