PicApp – What is it? An online service that lets you use free of charge quality professional images from Getty Images, Corbis, Newscom, Image Source, Splash News and the recently added Pacific Coast News. The app is picking up speed amongst bloggers and other content publishers that would like to use professional images without the worry of copyright infringement. It also promises to add that extra punch to your site giving it a quality feel and look. Image use is granted in exchange for allowing PicApp to display a small ad block under the photo.
There are thousands of images to choose from and they are broken down into two simple categories; creative and editorial. Within these two categories the images can be searched based on professionally tagged keywords. There is also a WordPress plugin that lets you easily select and post images directly from your blog post editor.
The company does not require you to register to use its service, however it does require an email address in order to copy the embed code to publish an image. Registering gives you further benefits like a lightbox that lets you store previously used images for future use and reference, etc.
PicApp seems to be a great source for celebrity, news and sports photos. The second photo in this post is of Susan Lucci recently putting her handprints in concrete for Planet Hollywood. The PicApp images feature a “more” option that readers can click on to read additional information about the photo.
Other photos like the first one in this post are from the creative category and may or may not have the “more” option. This photo was found with the search term “shirtless beach” in the WordPress plugin provided by PicApp.
The pros and cons:
PicApp pros
- Easy access to professional images
- No worry of copyright infringement
- Great for celebrity gossip and editorial sites
- Reduces image surfing to find the right image
- Nifty image size and text alignment options
- Fast and intuitive searching and embedding
- Advanced search options
- It’s free
PicApp cons
- ‘Read More’ feature cannot be turned off
- Ad block may be considered intrusive
- Does not offer custom image sizing
- Does not inherit or offer a way to blend with blog settings for images and ad block
- No revenue share with content publishers
PicApp WordPress plugin pros
- Convenience
- Easy to install and activate
- Most all the PicApp pros listed above
PicApp WordPress plugin cons
- Search is erratic and does not display all search results pages
- No advanced search options
- Copy to clipboard function did not work in my test
- All the PicApp cons listed above
Summary:
I like PicApp very much but it also needs some work on both the software architecture and business model to meet my needs. I have two main caveats and those are with the ad block and the ‘Read More’ inclusions with PicApp.
The ‘Read More’ feature is pointless for most content publishers as it takes away from the creative process in writing by adding its own story/article when the content publisher should be the one telling the story how they see fit. This should be an option for the publisher as to whether or not to include it with the published photo. To satisfy copyright and source credit, PicApp could simply add a watermark to the bottom of the image instead of in the ‘Read More’ section.
The ad block is a bit blocky for my liking and it is entirely style locked. I suppose each one could be edited to fit site’s color scheme but that would be tedious if a lot photos were used. As you can see on this blog the ad blocks make the entire post look shoddy and that also takes away from the quality of an image. In my opinion PicApp is shooting their own foot by offering a quality and professional photos, yet no ability to offer the same with its advertising block. It’s too easy to allow these blocks to inherit a blog’s color scheme settings for this to be an issue. For that reason alone I cannot justify using PicApp as an image solution on this blog.
Revenue: While this may not be an issue with all content publishers it certainly is for many. The offer of images free of charge is great but to slap on an intrusive ad block (without any control or customization) in return is asking a bit much, I think. Instead of the ‘Read More’ overlay feature why not incorporate the ads into a similar overlay. The ad overlay could start in the open position and give the viewer the option to close it. That would also solve the very unprofessional look of the current ad block. Additionally, ad revenue should be shared with the publishers. In fairness to PicApp, they do briefly mention in their FAQ’s section that something is coming soon. However, there is no further information or timeline that content creators can look forward to at this point.
Again, I think PicApp is a great concept and will improve greatly in the coming months. I will definitely keep my eye on them for progress and look forward to incorporating their services on this blog at some point in the future.
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Thanks for this review.
This feedback is very useful for us.
We are constantly working to improve our product in making it the best available service for bloggers to publish high quality stock photography images to their blogs.
The PicApp Team
email us at : help at picapp dot com
@PicApp team -
Thanks for the comment and most of all for listening. I will certainly keep an eye out for further developments with the app. Like I said in my review, I think it’s a great concept and I’m sure it will only get better and better.
Btw, I should also mention PicApp has a support system here.
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