Snapguide is one of those “Why didn’t I think of that?” apps that almost anyone will find extremely useful. The concept is simple: create and digest how-to guides on almost anything you can possibly think of with your iPhone, iPad, or iTouch. For my review, I experimented with the iPad version of the app.
Thanks to the versatility of Apple’s iOs camera, a group of entrepreneurs from Yahoo and Google figured out that it would be extremely profitable to create an app where people can post how-to guides on a vast array of topics by using pictures taken by their phones along with captions. After all, how-to guides are something people search for constantly.
The result is Snapguide, an addicting new way to discover new, inspiring ideas that are explained step by step with visuals and captions. Topics range from inspiring recipes with food, making a clock out of a record with arts and crafts, to making better self-portraits of yourself with style.
There’s no shortage of guides to check out, and I was consistently impressed by the unique and fun ideas I came across. Snapguide functions as its own social network, and allows users to like, share, and save their guides. You can even follow people if you like their guides enough, and logging in is easy thanks to the app’s integration with Facebook and Twitter.
As most of you know, my biggest rule for a good app experience is simplicity. Simplicity fuels the cohesive and smooth experience our generation is clamoring for, and Snapguide delivers a finished product I found no fault with, though I can only say that for the iPad version since I, alas, have no iPhone.
I can’t help but compare Snapguide to Pinterest. Better yet, Snapguide is a lot like Instagram. Let me explain.
Instagram took a niche that was only one aspect of a bigger giant: Facebook’s photos. It took photo sharing and streamlined it into a simpler package, gaining a huge following. Snapguide takes Pinterest’s niche for inspiring ideas such as recipes and crafts and puts it into one place with tons of loyal followers.
That said, I enjoy Snapguide much more than I do Pinterest, mostly because its community is more diverse.
Yes, Pinterest has guys like me in its network, but we are surrounded by a prevalent female audience that posts many things I don’t care about. I like Pinterest, but it’s not quite as male-friendly as Snapguide, which has a lot of guides that guys can love.
I was especially surprised by how male-friendly the style topic was. There were several guides I found that showed better ways to tie my shoes, wear my tie more comfortably, and fold my t-shirts department store style.
The sports and fitness topic is easily my favorite, boasting tons of great guides on working out and staying fit. There are also fun music guides that show you how to play songs you love on guitar or even slap a bass.
I could go on and on, but the main point is that Snapguide has something for everyone.
I can’t recommend this app enough. It comes in handy for so many situations, and is useful when you are just passing time and saving guides for future use, and it’s definitely great when you’re looking for something creative to do in the moment.
My only complaint is that the search function isn’t where it needs to be. I tested it out by searching for keywords I had already seen in a few guides, but it didn’t work. For example, I searched for “tie” and nothing came up. When I typed “thing,” several things popped up, including “Tie Your Shoes…” This disappointed me mostly because it made me realize that deliberately searching for a guide might not be very easy, which would hurt the whole point of the app.
Thankfully, the app excels at guide discovery, which is what I mostly use it for. Get this app!
UPDATE: Just a few hours after posting this review, I was contacted via Twitter by Snapguide developer, Rahul Malik. They actually addressed the problem I was having with the search function so it now works pretty well. I was impressed by the quick response, to be sure.
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If this app is free, how do the group of entrepreneurs from Yahoo and Google become profitable (let alone extremely profitable) then?
Great question. Because of the app’s rapid popularity, they have substantial investors behind them. Over last summer, they received $5 million from Crunchfund, Atlas and Index, which is how they funded the development of their iPad app. Since then, they’ve received additional multi-million investments, plus they have strong partnerships with major brands, though they haven’t been acquired yet. So, while they may not have a self-sustaining business model as of yet, they have managed to create a niche platform with a lot of traffic, which is bringing them a ton of support of money.