PostSecret for iPhone – Review

Category: Social Networking
Price: $1.99
TiP Rating: 3/5
Release Date: September 4, 2011
Current Version: 1.0.1
Seller: PostSecret LLC
Rated: N/A (You must be at least 17 to download this app)
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.
Link to app

App Store Description: Over a half-million soulful, sexual, and silly secrets have been mailed to PostSecret. Now you can take the story mobile:

✔ Discover the shocking and hilarious secrets from your school or city
✔ Completely anonymous – no personal information is EVER obtained
✔ Share your hopeful and heartbreaking secrets anonymously with the world
✔ Respond to secrets by sharing an anonymous secret of your own
✔ Reach out and connect with like-minded people
✔ Read the Sunday Secrets on your mobile device
✔ Find nearby helplines in times of need

Summary: The popular website is now mobile and allows you to anonymously share and reply to posted secrets.

Review: PostSecret is a popular website that allows visitors to view secrets anonymously submitted on postcards from all over the world. After much success the website has finally gone mobile. Users have the option of browsing through secrets, or uploading one of their own.

The app will ask to use your general location to show you nearby secrets. If you submit a secret, you can choose a general location for it such as a city or school.

When you first launch the app you’re greeted with an introduction explaining how the app works and then taken to the main page – a thumbnail grid of secrets. You can tap on any one of them to open the full image. From there you can like it, share it via Twitter or Facebook, read through the replies, or leave your own reply. Replies consist of uploading a photo and adding text to it instead of the typical text-only comment.

If you’d like to upload your own secret, you can take a photo or add one from your photo library. You’re given three photo style options that seem like simple filters. The first two don’t show much of a difference (faded and bright) and the third option is black and white. You are also given three fonts to choose between when writing your secret. Once you’ve added the text, you can drag it around the image and place it in the desired location. From there the app will find general locations nearby. If you’d rather widen the geofence a bit, you can choose to use your city or state.

You will only be able to view secrets that you’ve posted if you update your privacy settings to store your secrets. You’ll then be asked to create a four-digit code that will be used to access your secrets. Even if someone has your phone, they will only be able to view your secrets if they know your code. At no time will the app or other users know your name, email address, or any other personal information.

When viewing secrets, you can choose to sort by secrets uploaded today, this week, all time, or nearby. Choosing nearby will open a map and show small thumbnail images on the map. I found that when I wanted to view one of those secrets that tapping on it would open another thumbnail grid and I’d have to scroll down to find that particular secret. It would be better if tapping the secret from the map opened that image only.

After scrolling through secrets over the last few days I’ve noticed that many people are using the secrets as more of a status update option rather than a personal story-telling tool. But despite that, there are still many heartwarming and tearjerking secrets being shared. If you’re a frequent visitor of the website then you will probably love the app. It allows for much more community participation. I found that there was a bit of a lag when going through the steps to upload a secret. Many times I had to tap on things multiple times before an action would occur. However, the app is still new so it’s working out its kinks.