Lapse - Disposable Camera Reviews

by Justwritingacomment

UPDATE: only by clicking Help in the corner can you skip the invitations. Still normalized sneakiness and still antithetical to Lapse ’s stated purpose. Keeping my review as is while I tinker with it over the next few days.

Forcing me to add friends and THEN invite 5 others who don’t have Lapse just to see the functionality was nauseating and annoying. Despite the aesthetic and promises of privacy (not saying I doubt the encryption), I cannot stand that I have to do Lapse ’s own advertising by sending it to friends who may or may not be interested. I cant tell them any selling points because I haven’t seen it in use. Word of mouth is best and I would tell them about it if I liked it. But, I wouldn’t know because I can’t use it without giving them access to my contacts, sending mass texts to at least 5 people who don’t already have Lapse . It doesn’t feel in line with the concept of early access or friends over followers. Many of my contacts are within the “Follower from life” vs “friends to share intimate moments with”, defeating the purpose advertised. Left a bad taste. I’ll keep to BeReal. It’s not like I was actually able to see what Lapse has to offer to begin with.

by Meh, Whatever Why Not

I couldn’t even get through Lapse set up because it was so convoluted. First, you have to be sent an invite, then you have to send 5 people who are NOT on Lapse an invite (so a pyramid scheme). Most of my friends were already on Lapse so I ended up sending it to people I barely know, I felt like an annoying telemarketer. You HAVE to link your contacts and you HAVE to add a home screen button that take photos and directly uploads them onto Lapse . What I’m getting from that is that Lapse constantly has access to your camera feed (besides the fact that having an extra button on your home screen is just annoying). Then you HAVE to take an initial photo to start using Lapse , except it doesn’t tell you whether Lapse uses your front or back camera (nor is this info available online). For those of you who don’t know, you can’t see a preview of the photo so you don’t really know what’s being photographed. Yeah you can make an educated guess it’s the back camera but I would like that to be clearer. You can’t opt out of any of these steps. I ended up jumping through hoops to use another social media app that will sell my info.

by Rosy5302

If this is what floats your boat, you can be all for it. But I should have the right to see for myself that I’m not interested and then delete the account that I made. Did the whole 8 page process to get rid of Lapse and finally got to the last screen “your account will be deleted soon. we batch delete users every week” and I checked a week later and had to do the entire process again to see the same “this number will be blocked forever from this app” page again. That is pretty shady. It insinuates that you prey on users to get sucked into forgetting to remove themselves and falsely advertise the amount of “friends” who are using Lapse . Requiring 8 people to get sent the cheesy “pls download Lapse 👉🏻👈🏻” message and then add an additional 5 more thru Lapse is low key a pyramid scheme. I got needing to build a user base but hardwiring it into the account making process is kinda a red flag. 👋🏼 Hey admin, please delete my account, I am not interested in your app and have the right to do so.

by Amneia

I downloaded Lapse because my friends were getting it and it was the new hype social media. Upon downloading and using Lapse for a mere 15 minutes, I quickly came to realize that Lapse is purely built to take as much data as they can from you and sell it. It’s no different than the big ones, but at least the big ones hide it slightly better on launch. Only plus is that it’s beautifully coded and designed. Lapse once downloaded has a lot of invasive nonnegotiable information requirements. It asks for access for camera and microphone (don’t remember why they needed that got lost in the “new type social media” bull). Then it asked for contacts and photo access. However instead of hiding their access to my pictures they blatantly boast that they have access to my pictures prior to even clicking allow access to all pictures. This part didn’t really phase me because TikTok has been doing the same thing ever since I downloaded it. The part that made the data grab seem desperate was that when I tried to delete my account they gave me an ultimatum. If I deleted my account in the next data wipe, my number would be banned from using Lapse . I’m sure they have some legal bull written about this in their privacy policy somewhere to justify their desperation, but it’s all just a coy for this BeReal knockoff.

by GOOSE😴

A friend invited me to get in on the “early access” of Lapse. Reading about it sounded okay, didn’t really blow me away, sounded like sending a text photo to a friend but I figured I’d try. At first you enter all the usual info, name, user name, phone number, etc. Then it takes you to a page where you have to add 8 people before you can continue. I knew exactly one person in the list of 65 people but I had to add 8 to go forward. So I added 8 people. Next page is them demanding you invite 5 people to use Lapse . Once again you cannot move forward without texting 5 people. I texted 5 landlines bc I’m not going to bother my friends will apps I don’t even know anything about. Next page, you must change your Lock Screen to include their widget. Once again you cannot move forward until you do this. This is as far as I got. I refused to continue trying to move forward, I’ve never used such an invasive app. So without even completing my profile I would get a minimum of 20 notifications a day telling me about people I didn’t know adding things I didn’t care about.

by Don Ashley

Lapse seems like a cool idea, but the whole set up to just be able to use Lapse was so beyond frustrating and annoying. First you have to add 8 friends. I’m not someone that has a lot of friends, lost quite a few after high school. So I had to add people I haven’t spoke to in a couple years. Next, you have to invite 5 friends to join Lapse . How annoying!! I don’t want to invite 5 people to use Lapse THAT I HAVEN’T EVEN GOT TO TRY YET. And just when you thought maybe it would finally be over, they make you add it as a widget to your lock screen/wallpaper. This was the most tedious annoying process I’ve ever gone through just to USE an app. I literally almost deleted it after it was asking me to add 8 people. The only reason I went through all the bull was because my best friend really wanted me to download it. Anyway if you want to spend 5-10 minutes setting up and app just to use it, then this is definitely the one for you. I would give Lapse 0 stars if I could. Stop making people do ridiculous steps just to use your app.

by Reviewer_J01

this app is an interesting concept, especially if you have a busy/interesting life and lots of friends (which not everyone does), but Lapse has too many gimmicks that make it a pain to navigate and set up your account. Every onboarding screen relies on annoying flashy animations and videos with haptics that can’t be skipped or disabled. When making an account you’re constantly asked for identifying info that you either can’t choose not to provide (camera access and full contacts access) or can technically decline but wouldn’t think to (the option to skip providing your exact birthdate, for example, is hidden under a grayed-out “help” button. They require you to add 5 friends before you even explore basic features, which defeats the whole purpose of getting people interested in a new app. Probably an unpopular opinion but I don’t like being required to do certain things that enrich an app’s developers just to see if I’d even want to use Lapse . After only 30 seconds of access to my contacts (I switched it off after they let me through) Lapse had already uploaded the full names, contact photos, and mutual connections of all of my contacts, ranging from my deceased relatives to old friends I’ve fallen out with to random coworkers I never speak to. I challenge the developers to reply to this review, since they only seem interested in responding to positive or non-constructive reviews.

by Fallonred

When I first downloaded Lapse and put my phone number in to register it wouldn’t go through. I pressed the help button and it said this was a common bug and to email the this app help email which I did. They sent me one email back saying that they had gotten my email but had an increase in responses and it would take time to respond which I understood. A couple days later I could finally enter my number and it would go through and then it asked for me to invite my five friends which I did but then when I pressed next it said it was unable to process. I sent another email but no response. Days later it was able to go through but then it asked to add the widget to your Home Screen, I did and it wouldn’t allow me to go on. Again, I sent an email and no response. Then, once again days later I could get passed that stage. I thought I was finally able to use Lapse . I was excited because I love the concept of this app and I was looking forward to taking pictures but now none of my photos will sync to the darkroom. this app has not been in communication with me still and I’m frustrated, I want to like Lapse but am not feeling like it’s worth the amount of effort I’m putting in. I’m disappointed to say the least.

by Ninibear_00

First off I wanna the concept and idea of Lapse is real cute and I can see the potential of using Lapse for cute photos. Now all that being said, why do I have to add like 10 people just to get Lapse running like I don’t wanna add random people or people I don’t like as my friends on here, like why do I have to go through all these things before I have to use Lapse , like yes I get understanding how to navigate and use the functions of it, but it’s doing too much with having to share it with other people, secondly there are so many bugs with app, like deleting or editing your photos they won’t fix or they don’t function right when you try to edit, thirdly, I don’t like how when you archive photos when they develop you can’t post them later if you decide to, like what if I don’t feel like posting it till later, and if I archive it I won’t be able to post it when I feel like it, and how do I even save my photos if I wanna keep them in my own camera roll, anyways I do like Lapse but there is too many bugs and required things that y’all are asking for that makes Lapse too much, fix it, thank you♥️

by Werner Doggys!

bro please make it so you dont have to invite FIVE PEOPLE and im pretty sure they actually have to download it too. most of the people i know already have it and the contacts that do are people i have not talked to in years. it would be fair if you only had to invite one person. or get this? not at all. sure maybe you can give extra perks or something to thw people who do, but come on. I can’t even use Lapse because I don’t have 5 people im willing to send a “download Lapse 🤓” message to. if i really wanted someone to download it, i would want to experience Lapse myself at LEAST. im not gonna go around sharing an app that i havent even gotten the chance to use. i would rate it higher, but i can’t even judge it without even being able to use it. please fix this so more people will actually use your app. thank you and goodbye.

by Leilahaf

Cute twist on BeReal and Snapchat and Dispo all in one.

But the process to use Lapse is awful and so annoying. They make it extremely difficult to sign up with low commitment, you MUST add contacts or if not you MUST invite 5 friends to Lapse (for the beta version?). You MUST choose a profile photo. Sometimes you can skip, but it was so hard to find the option. Now I get a notification every time my friends post something, and it’s WAY more than once a day like BeReal. You can’t change the notification settings in Lapse . Taking pics and posting them is also confusing. I accidentally DM’ed a pic instead of posting it.

It’s not fun when everything is forced upon me. If it was naturally inviting I would have probably loved Lapse. Getting into it was a turn off

by أم عمارة

Lapse is so clearly a data grab, it suggested people for me to add that I ONLY have on other apps (where I don't have their number and they don't have mine). People I have only discord for example. There is literally no way for this app to know I know the people it suggested to me based on my contacts alone, because they aren't saved as contacts and I know for a fact that the people don't have my contact saved either. Incredibly suspicious app. I was also added by people who only have me on an app but don't have my phone number so I'm 100% sure this app accesses more than it says it does.
Also- what kind of app doesn't give users the ability to disable notifications? That's one of the most basic setting configurations social media apps have.

by TURPANDACORN

I was super excited to get Lapse since my friend hyped it up and invited me to it. However, I couldn’t make an account from my phone so i decided to make it from my ipad, which worked thought it’s the same phone number. I thought I could make it from my ipad and then just login from my phone however it hasn’t worked for about a week. I’ve deleted Lapse and redownloaded it, powered my phone on and off, and even tried on both wifi and data but nothing seems to work. Anytime I enter my number on my phone it just doesn’t load but on my ipad it loads instantly. I’ve also checked and my phone is completely updated too I was really looking forward to using Lapse however there’s no way for me to have it with me on my phone.

by Ansjsjjsh

I wish we still had the option to put music on our page. We were promised it would be back but it hasn’t been for a while so I’m starting to think they removed that feature permanently. Also, I hate how the new feed is all about “influencers”, I downloaded Lapse because it was different and the algorithm showed me what I wanted to see which was what my friends would post. Now the main feed is filled with random people I don’t care about and my friends are only little stories at the top. Most of my friends stopped using Lapse for that reason and I might join them too, it’s getting to close to being like instagram or facebook with none of the good stuff. At least on instagram and Facebook I see what I actually want to see instead of random strangers that aren’t even in my area? Also, I rarely get people I know suggested to me now, I wish they’d bring back the old friend recommendation feature. Basically, Lapse ruined everything good about itself which was what made it stand out, and it turned into a even more boring version of every other social media that exists. I wish they’d completely scrap everything they did with this new update and went back to what they had before.

by 16;&2@,7!2

I couldn’t get through setting up Lapse without getting angry at it every 30 seconds. It forces you to connect your phone number AND contacts? I wouldn’t be surprised if I got hacked from this thing. And it takes a solid 10 minutes to set up, no app with this simple of a concept needs that long of an intro sequence. It forced you to add 8 friends or invite 4 so you have to bother your friends with the links before even setting up Lapse fully. Why would I recommend an app to my friends I haven’t personally used? This is a huge disappointment. Fix the privacy issues and make it easier to use. No way Lapse will be on the market longer than 6 months at this rate.

by Reviewlastname

once you download Lapse , it preliminarily makes an account for you, but without inviting at least 5 friends (you have to text 5 people who don’t have Lapse ), you are unable to continue in Lapse , but you are also unable to delete your profile, and it will just exist forever and show up for anyone to see until you text 5 people a link for Lapse ;;; also Lapse itself is kind of confusing and vague and seems to take itself way too seriously like they literally think they’re the next big thing in social media but it also so obviously is just a combination of marketing tools to try to get you to open Lapse as many times as possible LIKE JUST LET ME DELETE MY PROFILE YO I DONT WANNA TEXT 5 PPL😭😭😭😭😭😭

by Efr Gn Jnthrf

My friends have sent me multiple invites and I thought that was cute and a good concept. HOWEVER— I then downloaded Lapse and it immediately asked for my phone number (the first major red flag, because there was no option to skip).

Then, I read some articles about Lapse. In order to use it you have to friend 3 people who have Lapse , and then invite 5 people. It’s a pyramid scheme. By inviting 5 people you are giving Lapse your friends phone numbers.

It’s not even optional. It’s a must do in order to use Lapse. The creators of Lapse also claim that Lapse just “got popular”— no, no it didn’t. It’s a slimy back-way of getting more people through a scheme and then collecting they’re data.

by 333honeyrina

i downloaded Lapse because i got an invite from my friend and the concept seemed really cool and fun, sort of like a mesh between bereal and instagram? but the sign up is BEYOND frustrating. first it makes you add at least four friends and does not give you the option to skip. all of my current contacts on Lapse are acquaintances/people i barely know and i had no interest in adding them yet i had no choice if i wanted to use Lapse . then it forces you to invite five people. this is where i quit because it’s clear they’re just trying to get as many people to download Lapse as possible, which i understand but it’s also not the user’s job to do that for you? maybe provide an incentive to inviting people or something. i can’t even speak on the functionality of Lapse because i couldn’t get past the ridiculous sign up requirements.

by Julia Daye

I specifically set up Lapse after installation to not access my contacts. I got a notification from my app today that someone I know joined. this app should have no way to know we know each other or to suggest them since we have 0 mutual friends. Again: I. Turned. Off. Contacts. Access. I turned it off. Lapse should not be suggesting contacts and should not be storing that information. As others have pointed out, this is a blatant data grab and I’m frankly horrified that a company would be so shady with user data, especially since they seem to market to kids and teens.

I checked the privacy policy and terms of use, and it says that contacts and the data there is a contractual obligation, however in a developer response to another one star review criticizing the same thing I am, they say it is “optional to use Lapse ”, so which is the truth?

by Heeyitsgaabi

I downloaded Lapse as soon as it was available and it was so much fun. I love everything about it and was using it everyday, multiple times a day. A little over a week ago my app crashed and it logged me out. I haven’t been able to get past the phone number screen to get back in. 😞 beyond disappointed that I can’t access Lapse while all my friends are enjoying it around me. I have contacted customer service 3 times and I keep getting a “reclaim your account” notification. When I click it nothing changes. I still cannot get past the phone number screen. I was able to access it on my iPad so my account is not the issue. It’s just Lapse on my phone. I really wish this issue would be fixed. 1 star until I can use this on my phone again. 😞💔 I really want to love Lapse but can’t without being able to use it…

by Anonymous User 815

I downloaded Lapse and immediately loved the concept and the “film” look of all the photos I took. However, I am no longer able to use Lapse because the latest update requires iOS 16. Now, I’m not even able to use the current version of Lapse or access any of the photos I had previously taken. I understand that there might be benefits to installing the latest iOS but I why can’t I use the previous version of Lapse to download my pictures? Is there a way the new update can be installed without requiring iOS 16?

by Als1151

Will not allow you to delete photos and I’ve been trying to delete my account for over a week with no success. You have to email them to be added to the “deletion list” and then when I emailed back to check why they hadn’t deleted it yet, they’re now telling me I have to text some random international phone number to “confirm my account details” before my account can be deleted. Don’t download this.

by Graci Young

So annoying how you have to first add three people and the people it suggest are people I don’t talk to nor like because of past issues. Then after that you have to invite FIVE people from your contacts… again I don’t talk to half of the people in my contacts, they already have Lapse , or it’s old numbers that those people don’t even have anymore!!! So annoying!! Then the people that I tried to Invite which was like 3 said they couldn’t even open or download Lapse . So stupid. I thought Lapse was to forget about how many friends or likes you have? I can’t even get past the inviting 5 people smh. I’ll stick to an actual digital camera.

by Elon Is A Stupid C0cksucker

I got two invites from my friends for Lapse and thought, why not give it a shot. After downloading Lapse and going through the unnecessarily long introduction, i’m hit with the page that tells me i HAVE to invite 5 people from my contacts in order to even gain access. This is incredibly stupid to me, seeing as how for me and most of the people i know, we only have about 2-3 close friends that we actually consistently talk to, let alone any who i’m willing to send a random invite link too. Now i’m stuck with an account for this stupid app that has access to my contacts and i can’t even USE Lapse . I’ll stick to BeReal and Snapchat.

by Audrey Efforten

I have been an avid journal, now this app, fan for quite some time now. I’ve recommended it to many because of simply loving the vibes of Lapse .

Now, I think it’s important to note, the process of getting Lapse is overly aggressive and unnecessary-I do understand the thought and strategy behind it, but I also think presenting someone with such a bad fist impression is, plainly said, a bad idea. Next, not only did you neglect to fix the tragic, vibe ruining watermark, and made it look worse, but you removed the ability for us to screenshot. Why? Now I’m sure you could give many reasons for that, but I don’t think any would level out to the ramifications of this. Because of the watermark I refuse, and always will refuse, as so many agree, to share any of the photos on any other social platform, period. Nor, quite frankly, do I like the pictures at all. (I want the real snapshot, film pictures back) Once, the simple way around this was to screenshot the photo, but no. That being said, when it comes down to it, the vibes were ruined when you turned away from the original purpose and mission of Lapse to popularity and profit. I really do hope to see some good changes that get you back to your roots in the future, thanks.

by Rawrr X3

right off the bat, the inviting friends to join and adding random people should not be required to register as a user, not a lot of people are going to like that and i surely didn’t. i had to add random strangers to have access to Lapse . i invited 5 of my contacts and it glitched so now Lapse is making me invite a total of 10 contacts for me to be able to see whatever my friends are posting. seriously?? the pictures are cute at least but Lapse is so annoying when you’re not just using it to take pictures. the loading intro screen for the profile needs to be taken away not a lot of people are going to like seeing the repeated video about their profile details especially when they already know. I think adding a video camera could also be a nice thing. Another thing is that I wish that I could save the pictures i uploaded as my background “journal” thing from my camera roll with the filters you guys put on them.
other than that Lapse is good and cute but none of my friends will go through the signup process and as i’ve seen per review every one else’s won’t either.

by Pard Pass

Weirdly pushy. You open Lapse , you’re bombarded with “The Story” — which is like, the first 5-10 minutes. Instead of letting you organically move around Lapse , which, with good design wouldn’t need all the hand holding and intrusive narrative building (is this social media? Is it a camera app?) it traps you in a long sequence of text and photos. After that, you MUST add 3 friends who are already on Lapse . After that, you MUST invite 5 people who are not on Lapse . Which like, I don’t even know if I WANT to invite people to Lapse yet because I haven’t used it. I don’t want to recommend something that isn’t worth it, and honestly FORCING people to invite people before they get to even use Lapse feels desperate.

The first experience I got with Lapse was that I’m not smart enough to figure out how to use Lapse on my own (why do we have an instruction guide for a social media app that isn’t anything we haven’t seen before? Or isn’t just a combination of things we’ve seen before?) and that I’m not allowed to use Lapse until I trap five other people into this process. It feels like a MLM but thank god I don’t have to spend money.

I kind of like the premise, and I think it could be a pretty good social media app, but I never had to invite 5 of my friends before I used Snapchat.

by Poetic Poser

I do like the overall concept of Lapse , it's a bit aggressive in forcing the user to invite 5 people before they can even take a look at the main screen or give it a shot. I really don't want to spam my friends so I can see what a 'new social media' is about. Additionally, trying to add snaps to select is frankly annoying - I don't want to see the same introductory screen every time i open it with no images! It takes too much time and after the third or so time of seeing "Your profile is your Journal" in an attempt to upload images I pretty much closed Lapse . It's a solid concept, and I hope it does well, but it really needs to back off new users and let them look around before forcing them to invite people.

EDIT: I've brought it down to two stars, there's no way to retroactively add snaps to your feed - I wanted to see how all of my images turned out before deciding which to post but that's not an option at all. So make sure you don't accidentally swipe left to archive, ever. It has a lot of potential but it's really adamant about not letting you be any form of anonymous.

by Jessthespidermanfan

I downloaded Lapse 4 days ago. I had to go through the whole process everyone talks about being so hard in the one star reviews. honestly the set up wasn’t too bad. the into video got me hyped up, but tbh it’s kinda a let down. the darkroom (photos have to “develop” which takes anywhere from 1-3hrs) is really cool, and I like the design of it. I like how it’s geared towards friends not followers. THAT BEING SAID. I keep getting these weird notifications (like 20+ a day): “so and so just joined this app!” I don’t even know who they are 90% of the time. I cant figure out if it’s sending me notifications when my contacts join or what. also, when I try to turn off those notifications, I go to my profile —> three dots in the top left —> notifications and I get this error message saying I cant access this yet because the developers are still working on this feature??? 1) why is the feature to adjust notification preferences taking so long to develop??? like that’s the biggest reason a lot of my friends have deleted Lapse two days after having it. and there’s no way to unlink your contacts from Lapse to stop it from alerting me when 4 people I haven’t talked to in months joined Lapse . develop it and then release it. don’t develop as you go.

by ElectricMango

Some aspects of Lapse are lovely, and amazing! Issues: Forces you to add people, shares photos at a skinnier aspect ratio than you took the photo with, messing up compositions, when you finish sharing images you get a huge popup to create an album every. single. time. if i want to make an album i’ll make an album, the copywriting in Lapse sometimes feels like bullying, blocks users from screenshotting images. the only way to export your photos is with a huge ugly watermark and date stamp on it. to export without this [glad there is an option at least] is to invite even more friends to Lapse ……..

I love that Lapse lets you save memories and focus on curating what is happening in real time with yummy film presets. The concept could be pushed further by making image development take 2 hours, so it is more similar to actual film photography. Allowing more camera zoom options like BeReal allows, etc. So many good amazing things with Lapse, but also so many terrible annoying things, like popups, and annoying jeers to make albums, cringe copywriting, etc etc. Please fix these things, and i’d actually want to tell my friends about Lapse. For now it is 50% nice 50% some forced MLM

by Eeonyee

If Instagram and VSCO had a baby, it would be Lapse. Cool in theory, but seems like just another platform to make Gen Z people feel retro because their photos on their iPhone 15’s have filters on them. Interesting concept, though. I liked the intro video, but I hated that I had to invite a multitude of people given that it is only in development. Also didn’t like how I couldn’t block or restrict other users, but I get that maybe that feature isn’t available yet. I would say I would have downloaded it again once that feature was developed, however, cant since I can’t even use my number anymore🙃 That’s an ultimatum that doesn’t make much sense. For the amount of people you have to recruit to Lapse to actually make your own account, most of them will end up deleting it within day just to never be able to use it again. Counterintuitive, IMO. Fix that and maybe you’ll get people back.

by EllieD29

First off, the audacity Lapse has to force you to add 5 people to continue, ASK 5 people to download, permission for contacts and camera and have a widget is simply too much. Then, if you choose to delete your account you’re BANNED from using it with the same phone number again? Really turned me off to wanting to give Lapse the time of day. It’s super clunky and lots of annoying bugs. The interface is similar to tinder imo with the emojis and the swiping left/right. It’s advertises itself as being more “authentic” but it’s clearly just as curated as instagram as you can chose what photos to show and and can put photos from camera roll on your profile. The disposable camera idea is cool but we already have apps for that, i’ve been using Dispo for years. It’s an okay idea but do we really need another fake “authenticity” social media?

by Idontdo2much

I think that the whole of Lapse is really cool and could definitely be better than BeReal, another app with the ‘wait to play’ concept. I see a few similarities to Tinder, Instagram, and most noticeably, Snapchat, but the speed of Lapse isn’t up to par at all when it comes to quick, smooth popups. The camera takes around a second to load and that could mean so much when you quickly open Lapse to snap a picture to see later. I noticed how you’re actually forced to invite contacts to Lapse and I can’t doubt that this is just a way to spread the word that Lapse exists. It took me quite a long time to actually gain control on Lapse, since there were constant popups instructing me to do this or that. Lapse has loads of potential and I could see myself using Journal on a daily basis. TLDR: ehh. app is kinda slow. i like snapchat better. bad for stalking. no scrolling feature. 2/5

by ArbitraryPlayer

Before the update, I loved Lapse. I had a small community of just close friends, no influencers, no businesses, none of the consumerism that TikTok and Instagram have become. I kept my friend group intentionally small so I only saw who I talk to on a regular basis. It was personal, relatively simplistic (setup was clunky, but I let it slide), and I loved the idea of sending emojis to my friends on posts I liked.

Post-update took away literally all of that. Now the Community is the primary feed and my friends are shoved into the top section as Stories that are timed like Instagram, so you don’t get to enjoy the post because it flips to the next picture too fast. I now see random people’s posts who aren’t even in my area of the world - the feed feels completely random. I don’t even use that section of Lapse anymore. I just take cute photos and don’t share them and just put them into albums. Don’t get me started on the forced watermark when screenshotting or exporting photos. Silly and stupid to push your branding onto people for free marketing. I’d rather use a different vintage film camera lens app with no social element than deal with this silliness.

It feels like the company got a new CEO or something because these features don’t feel like the old version of Lapse at all - it’s completely changed direction. Bad move imo.

by 😡😤Random Reviewer

It’s a cool idea. Like the vibe. I just don’t like the fact that I HAVE to invite all these ppl or else I can’t start using it. And the suggestions for ppl to add are a bunch of randoms I don’t even know‼️ Like why would I want to add them fr. C’mon now. And the fact I can’t move on UNLESS I add ppl from that list. Me (and at least 5 of my friends) immediately were turned off by this. Literally the reason why I wrote this review. OH and the fact I HAVE to add the Home Screen widget too. Like bruh all that stuff could be optional. Fix that and it’d be cool.

by Avabraelyn

Lapse overall is a good idea, and I enjoy all of the customization options, however it feels very similar to other social media apps. I also wish there was a way to share your archived pictures after selecting whether to share them or not. I did not want to archive them, so when I tried to go back and post them I got frustrated. I also wish there was a better way to “like” someone’s photos with emojis, and maybe instead there could be like a “react” option. Otherwise, Lapse is not bad.

by Ctbccg

It’s funny when you screenshot, the cat police shines thru. Lapse is a bit confusing, but still getting used to. I do like that we get to wait patiently for the pics to develop, but I don’t like that when I post on my Instagram, the logo shows. I don’t want other people knowing that I’m on a new app w/ constant suggested friends. Lapse is perfect for introverts, but I prefer having a small group of friends knowing about my life, rather than acquaintances who just wanna know wassup. It’s a bit annoying that I had to invite 5 friends in order to see my friends’/family’s feeds, & trying to take out the logo, with a 9:3 photo/edit the photo before uploading to my camera roll just to invite 3 friends. Which I get, this app is promoting themselves to be out there. Also, when I archived all my photos last Thursday, I thought I was able to share them later so that it can be posted on my feed, but no one saw the day off I was enjoying. So I put it in my album for people to see & even posted a status for people to look at it, but I didn’t get any emoji reactions, which defeats the purpose since they’re pretty much like “Likes.”

by Crynstmals

I love Lapse, it is my new favorite way to interact with friends with social media. That being said, I’ve found the updates which now forbid screenshotting to be gratuitous and annoying. I get it, u wanna monopolize this aesthetic and get as much money as you can out of people, but Lapse is just much more annoying to use now as someone who is absolutely not going to pay for a membership, and I just crop out the this app symbol the majority of the time anyways. Like, my screenshotting has nothing to do with you. This amount of control being exerted over my user experience makes me want to not use Lapse anymore, let me do what I want with my pictures that I took. It’s especially frustrating having used Lapse before this stupid restrictive “if you buy a membership you’re allowed to have fun again” system was implemented. Lapse is also way buggier now, It crashes and freezes and makes copies of recaps from the same album over and over when I’m trying to download recaps from each of my albums separately. Lapse just feels like it’s getting worse over time compared to the freedom us users had a few months ago and it’s honestly upsetting to me what with how much I’ve enjoyed it up to this point.

by Dianaaaabanana

I really loved this app and brought so many friends to download it before. I would have rated it a 5/5 before the update because it was centered around sharing with friends, helped create lovely pictures and was easy to use. However after this update it has taken the focus out of sharing with friends and instead shows friends pictures almost like “stories” on the top of the screen, while your main feed is “community”: pictures from random people you don’t know and have no control over how to filter. It really feels like the whole purpose of Lapse , to share creative in-the-moment pictures with friends has taken a backseat with this update. At least let us be able to pick if we want to see the friends updates or community feed as the main feed. Maybe give us the choice to switch back and forth and have some say over which one is our main feed, the way TikTok has a “Following” vs “For You” tab and Instagram has an “Explore Page” separate from the home feed. Some minor tweaks would make it an amazing platform again.

by Sam8128

I really like the ability to share photos with my friends without a surplus of ads and unnecessary features. I hope that aspect stays the same. The moment i see an ad I’ll delete.

I would like to be able to upload photos. I get that the point is that you don’t see the photo you took until later, but if I’m really truly living in the moment then I’m not trying to take a picture on my camera and in Lapse. And Lapse is not going to replace my camera app because i can’t save the photos to my phone unless i either download with a logo and date/time or i go through all these hoops to be able to remove watermarks. Also I would probably want to be able to have the photo without a filter. Since i can’t upload photos, I haven’t really been using Lapse since I downloaded it. If we could create multiple journal entries and keep it separate from the snaps that could be a cool option to retain the whole “i just snapped this pic so casually” aspect while also allowing us to share photos with friends that we didn’t take on this app

by 7brooms

Signed up because I got an invite from a friend, and instantly my phone was taken over by Lapse . This is slight hyperbole, but the point is I felt like I was opening a video game app as my phone started playing a video and vibrating. Then as you try to go through the sign up, they push you over and over again to “invite five friends!!!!! Find five friends!!!!! INVITE 5 FRIENDS.” You can skip this step but ONLY by hitting the help button, otherwise they do not give you the option to skip inviting people. Then it forces you to take a snap immediately? I was using the bathroom at the time so it was super weird for me. Then if you try to fill out your profile at all it also forces you to upload like 3 snaps or you don’t get to update any info on your profile? So you literally have to add snaps before you can finish setting up your profile. It’s just super pushy and annoying truly. Like please let me take this at my own pace or I’m just going to delete Lapse and never try it again.

***edit***
I still find their tactics annoying, but I’m getting more into the swing of using Lapse ? It’s really annoying that I’ll try to post every day though and they still won’t give me the lab tools. Like I share and it says “shared 4 out of 5 days out of 7” and I’ll share the next day too and it’ll say “shared 4 days out of 5 out of 7” like wow okay cool so posting regularly doesn’t even work half the time.

by Alliesaur07

I love LOVED Lapse until the new update. It reminded me of early instagram where it was just me and some close friends. I didn't think too hard about the pictures I took and it was actually a super fun way to have a form of social media that encouraged me to stay in the moment. I honestly preferred this app to BeReal because there was no time limit to post or anything like that. this app just had a genuine and intimate quality that I loved.
After the update I notice that I barely use the "social media" function of this app. Like tbqh I really don't care about seeing random photos from people I don't know. The appeal for me originally was having my own little community to share cool pictures with. I really dislike how my friends are shoved up to the top 'story' style. It just kinda ruins the original appeal of Lapse .
I didn't mind the old explore page. It was kinda cool to go though and see the most aesthetic pictures that got selected. Being able to submit and maybe make it to the explore page was kinda fun because it encouraged me to take some artsier pictures.
I still use Lapse to take pictures and use the album and recap features, but I feel way less connected to my little community of friends. To me that was the best part. I sincerely hope you guys consider working towards an update that is similar to the original format, something that prioritizes people's actual friends list.

by Falakabirds

This is one of my favorite apps, love how the photo needs to develop before you can see it. I use Lapse almost daily & the filter is great. I loved this app until the new update changed the entire interface and now it’s so irritating to use. When you open up your feed, you’re forced to look at random people you don’t care about, rather than your friends pictures. Another thing, friends posts are now stories. Which is the worst update ever. This is not user centric at all and needs to be upGRADED back to where we can see our friends posts as actual posts & not stories. Please consider this review and the multiple other reviews complaining about the same thing. Don’t ruin your app like this. Many social media apps that become popular in a short amount of time mess up like this.. by changing their interface that is meant to act as an “upgrade” and “innovative”. These apps up losing their users and Lapse goes to complete garbage. Thanks that’s it. Please change this feature ASAP because you have a lot of users that love Lapse but now don’t like or use it as much because of this.

by Juul Bug

Each update Lapse has it gets worse and worse. I admire Lapse for the concept and I’ve used it for almost a year now. In the beginning they had music you could add to the month & I understand the rights issue screwed it up. I was sad but obviously excused it. What I can’t excuse is the way it adopted the “story” format. Let me see my friends. I could care less about random people. My friends and I have all talked about how each update makes you look like you don’t care about the user experience. What I want is to click on the month and see their month again. I don’t want to click on “all journaled”… are you kidding me? The music was one thing… but this is abhorrent honestly. Stop making the experience worse. People have been dropping off and it seems pointless. I can get my stuff put on the “main page” WHERE EVERYTHING IS NOW but what are the chances? “Influencers” shouldn’t be the main focus EVER. There’s more people out there who want a better user experience than there is people who are taking the “best photos”. Please change it back. Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and other apps already have this stupid format. I thought Lapse wanted to be different and I was wrong. Y’all need a better team seriously. The original was WAY better. So yea.. if you want to get Lapse for the “genuine” feature… think twice because they don’t care about you.

by Mimi_K765

this app is fun but the notifications you receive can drive you crazy. You get a notification every time someone posts which can be a quite a lot when someone journals 5-10 photos at once and then your phone won’t stop going off. I’ve also gotten notifications that my photos are ready to be developed after the fact that I already developed them. As if that wasn’t enough to remind you that Lapse exists, this app gives notifications to remind you to check Lapse and see what’s going on! As if the notifications don’t already tell you enough of what’s going on. With all of these notifications going off, this app will repeat the same notifications sometimes creating a never ending loop of dings going off. I have tried deactivating the notifications but then I have no way of seeing when my photos are ready, and there is no way of choosing what notifications you get and don’t get. It’s either everything or nothing. Having an option to regulate notifications would help Lapse avoid spamming user’s phones.

by I Love The Weeknd 1

I love this app don’t get me wrong, but there’s some features that are kind of … odd. When you make an account it plays a video that you cannot skip and that vibrates your phone with a loud audio. You must add and invite friends before you even are able to make an account which is not a smart move as I have not even seen the apps features yet! Maybe once I make an account I’ll be willing to do those features. Then it makes you add a widget to your phone screen(if you’re able)to be able to use Lapse which is also frustrating. I also cannot delete my birthday even though I have tried probably 20 times at this point… I really do enjoy being able to share my day to day life with those I know and love and I do enjoy seeing others post as well! It’s a really interesting concept and I really enjoy the purpose of Lapse and that it’s kind of a “digital diary.” I just wish the producers(idk the right term)would not make it this pushy. I will continue to use Lapse ! I just hope to see improvements. I hope this helps someone!
- Kay

by Here To Give Reviews

Lapse itself and the concept is really cool, but -2 stars because of how annoying it is to use it in the first place (btw my complaints are really for Lapse creators to see) It forced me to invite 5 people before being allowed to use it which I understand is to get more users but it almost did the opposite for me. That made me want to delete it bc I barely had anyone to invite considering some friends were already on it. The intro was very long and I hated that it forced me to add Lapse as a widget before being able to continue. It’s only my first day using it though, I might update this review later. Y’all would definitely get more users if it wasn’t that annoying at the beginning I bet some people would even love to keep a private account without friends just for the fun of it but having to invite people ruins that.

by Sing-to-the-clouds.tumblr

It’s a cool concept and I could really see myself using it a lot if it was a little smoother to use. I want to clarify that I understand how to use social media however i kinda feel like i’m blacked out trying to use Lapse. I ended up sending a dm to multiple people and not posting, I also remember when setting up my account I was able to upload photos and now I can not find that feature anywhere or where those pictures went. Somehow I’m always just clicking around trying to figure out what the heck i’m trying to do, it’s just not super clear. It’s also hard to go back if you click on the wrong thing. Other than that, I love the aesthetic and the photos.

one last thing, you should make it so we can press and hold to pause people’s journals so that we can see the photos better and that we can reply back to comments instead of just adding another comment.

by Zara Employee

I love the idea of Lapse, but the sign up, pop-ups, steps… it’s just too much. I had ZERO energy to actually use Lapse after the sign up process. I have numerous friends that won’t even try it when I invited them because they heard the sign up process was too long. I got done with signing up after being forced to add 8 friends (who idk how I would add them because none of the people I would add have this app because it’s so new (so that makes 0 sense to have that as a sign up requirement)), add photos, invite friends, and more. The intro, unnecessarily long & as a creative, I get that people worked hard on it, but it needs to be like 3 seconds long or you lose people. Just please make this user friendly. You have way too much competition with other social media platforms and ‘film’ apps to have something this annoying to sign up for.

by Honest_reviewer79

It’s a great app just to be able to save your pictures to your phone you can’t screenshot which is fine. But then you have to keep the logo and time which sometimes is cool but other times it ruins the picture. Now the only to get rid of that is to invite friends (which isn’t a issue) but then it wants you to post a link to Snapchat or instagram. And as a person who prefers to avoid those social platforms (and for people who might not be allowed those) I find it quite annoying because there is no other way to get rid of those logos and times. A lot of pictures on this app that I download are effected by the logos. For example I have a very pretty picture of a sunset and I had to crop it a lot just to rid the picture of those icons. Again, I love Lapse but I think that while it’s used to market and gain more users, it should be at least given another option for those that don’t have those platforms. Also, when you submit your pictures for the chance to be featured, do you need to have those other platforms? Like I’ve sent in pictures and it gives an option to tag yourself and again I don’t use those platforms. So if you need those platforms to be even considered for being featured I think that’s a tad bit unfair to some. Also how long does it take for the team to review your selected pictures? Thank you and again, truly is a great app.

by Rockstar969

Set up was a bit of a hassle long intros and fancy transitions when I just wanted to get to using Lapse already. Didn’t really like how we had to invite 5 people by messaging them in order to use Lapse .

After a couple of days of using Lapse , the camera stopped working. Everything else like getting notifications and looking at other people’s posts worked fine but the camera just showed black for me. My normal camera worked fine. I even uninstalled Lapse completely and it still wasn’t working until I restarted my phone. Hopefully the issue doesn’t happen again because I missed some important moments where I wanted to capture on Lapse.

by Ja'Selena

Unfortunately, I mix up my left and rights all the time and have missed out on having ‘snaps’ posted to the ‘friends’ feed and also not ending up in my ‘month’ recap. I wish there was an undo option for after you ‘develop’ your ‘snaps’ that day, in case you messed it up or decided to post it later that day after all. Maybe a 24hr window? I see that there IS an option to ‘remove snap’ from the ‘friends’ feed but just not the other way around. Also, I can agree with other reviews, that not being able to delete bad/accidental ‘snaps’ or hide them in some way ruins the composition of the ‘memories’ tab.

by Nickerbocker92

Lapse has so much potential. It really pulls you in with the intro video and the synchronized haptic feedback that goes along with it. I love that it feels like old school MySpace meets old Facebook and Instagram. Having to wait for photos to develop really keeps you in the moment as well. However there are a few areas where it falls short. Being forced to invite 5 people who aren’t already on Lapse just to be able to use it is a bit extreme. Also even after all that I am still not able to see people feeds because Lapse wants me to invite even more people. All the people I want on Lapse have already been invited or are already on Lapse . I feel this aspect of Lapse could be its downfall if something doesn’t change soon. Everyone I tell about Lapse seems interested until they find out they HAVE to invite at least 5 new people. Also I should be able to upload camera roll photos to be developed or be able to add archived photos to my feed at a later time.

by PumpkinMoon2023

I saw Lapse and immediately wanted to give it a shot. I’m huge on pictures, and thought it would be like Huji but better. Not quite. First, it requires that you invite a bunch of people, which i did and dismissed it as a good idea to get the word out for Lapse . Cool, fine, whatever. Some of my close friends didn’t want to do this step, feeling super awkward about the implication, so the social aspect was already a little gone. Then I took pictures, and the development feature is quite fun. Love the profile customization and all that jazzy stuff. Then I tried to download the pictures, and they have large watermarks that you can only remove if you invite 3 new people to Lapse every 24 hours. Thats crazy. Each week, sure, but every day? Idk, i didn't want to bother more people so i downloaded what i could with the watermarks and deleted Lapse . R.i.p. - i’m sure some people wont mind, but it wasn’t for me or my group.

by My Hero Odessseded

I’m honestly not a social media type of person. A few of my friends sent me the link to join this and I figured why not so I did. The process to get an account is a little aggressive and was a really lengthy process. The idea of it seems really good and I like the idea and the layout. Originally when I made my account I only chose 4 pictures because I didn’t really know what the pictures would be for. I ended up decided I wanted to change them and it will NOT load. I’ve tried to refresh it multiple times and I’ve tried to use it on different internet sources and use my own cell service but it’s not working. I also wish you could zoom in more in the apps before you take the picture. Honestly if those issues were fixed it would probably be a 5 star. My only problems are the challenges to change journal pictures, how long the process to join Lapse is, and not being able to farther zoom in. But it is a cute app with potential.

by Jessicaluu1996

this app has by far the best “film” filter i’ve seen on any app. the concept of waiting for the photo to “develop” is so unique and i get giddy waiting to see how the photo turns out. BUT. i cannot stand all the barriers. i have to invite 5 friends in order to use Lapse ? jokes on you, i don’t have that many friends to annoy with an invite. Lapse is glitchy. they used to allow screenshotting the photos but now you can only download it with a huge ugly watermark. and to unlock those features you need to invite 3 more friends!!! can they just play a 30 second ad of those fake gaming apps? a big reason why i joined is to have those photos to save and share and i know a lot of my friends (all 5 of them) joined because of that too. hope they figure out all the glitches and a way to download these great photos without a watermark bc they will be the next bereal.

by Calum.hood5sos

I think the idea of Lapse is great taking as many photos as you want but you can’t look at them for a couple hours I think it really helps people live in the moment. My biggest problem is that the the story and sharing functions do not work for me or my friends. We all can upload stories but no one can see each others and we can’t individually send each other photos either which I assume is supposed to be a feature.

by Maishvr

i love the photos and etc, but it will randomly share photos i take that i put in my archive. when that happens you can get rid of that “snap” but it does not work, and if it does work it reloads and is public again. messaging with friends is glitchy and weird. there is no back or button to skip the journal slideshow section that came with the update which is annoying.
I love the idea and concept of Lapse , it just needs work and fixing up to it.

by Cheesypizzas

Its great but theres so many downsides to it such as:
1. parties getting deleted for no reason
2. can only have/be in one party
3. glitching
4. messaging is really weird
5. can only add contacts
6. your @ being on every picture you take; cropping is annoying
The original this app app was so much better especially because you could have multiple parties/group chats. Rolls would develop exactly 24 hours after being started and you could only take 36 pictures just like a true disposable film camera. I think there’s plenty of features that need to come back from this app or be recreated here to make user experience much better. At least the pictures come out great!

by Isabella Grace 💍✨

Instead of swiping to post or archive your picture, I think there should be maybe a button instead. It's easy to forget which way to swipe to post your picture or not and if we discard a picture we wanted to post we no longer have the opportunity to post it, it's just in our memories. If you keep the swipe, maybe put an option to go back and post it just in case.

by Gsg Sdgn Bc Dc

I downloaded Lapse because many of my friends were getting it. I love the pictures but when i go to see my friends it says I have none but in my notifications center it says I am friends with them but I just cannot see what they are posting. I have tried to log out and log back in and I deleted Lapse and redownloaded but nothing will fix it.

by Timekat

Such a cute app and I love connecting with my friends in such a timeless way. However there are many glitches in app and until they are fixed I can't give the full 5 stars! My star sign won't stay up on my profile, and I can't change my profile emojis :(. Also I wish the photos highlighted on our profile would sync up to the music but that's just wishful thinking.

by S. Kyle

Ok so Lapse has potential but it’s so incomplete. We can’t CHANGE our user photos or our usernames??? I cant find my profile, or there isn’t one, which is like??? also WHY can I only add friends from contacts when the majority of us these days have online friends through social media. Fix this.

by Red.bianchi

I used to use Journal a lot but now there’s this glitch where when I open Lapse it’s acting like i’m a new user. there’s nowhere to sign in to the account i had so now i would have to make another account and re add all my friends or make a new party. it’s really annoying

by 10/10 ❤️❤️❤️

Please add a delete button asap

by Angie D H

As an avid hater of what Instagram has become, I love this app! I love being able to see my friends posts instead of ads, businesses or influencers. I hope with the rise of popularity, that doesn’t change but we’ll see after time.
I love the friend not follower model. However, the find friends could use work. I wish it would show me more options instead of showing the same people that I don’t know at all. You have to add the people listed before you are able to see new options of friends you may know. I’ve been digging through other friends’ friends list to find my friends which is a bit annoying. It also shows me when someone joins this app but I’m like who are you? I don’t even know who they are.
Another big thing that I hope they work on is deleting photos. I’ll post on this app and decide I actually don’t want a photo to post and delete it, but it only deletes it for me. My friends are still able to see it hours later and it’s a little embarrassing especially if I take multiples of the same photo. That’s my main gripe with Lapse. Otherwise I love Lapse and I can see it becoming the next big thing as long as it doesn’t fall and make the same mistakes as other big apps. I love the personal touch to this app. Please don’t fall to ads and business models. Love you!

by Zillex

Love love love the idea behind this app. A step back into simpler times before the rush of social media. However, this isn’t something I’ve fully adopted due to the infancy of Lapse , and sharing links to get started. I do understand this app is trying to build a baseplate of users before rolling out public access. I think the invite only is kinda killing the lust to create an account. For instance I invited my wife to join, but she never completed setup bc of the invites you HAVE to send to users who aren’t on it already. My wife isn’t one to bombard her family and friends with links to random stuff on the internet, therefore she was out before ever getting to experience it.

Another thing. I’m not gonna remember to take a photo with this app to capture a moment. this app has access to my photo library, yet I can’t seem to get the upload to work. I’d like to upload photos to the share feed, but can’t. I’m assuming that’s a quick fix that’ll hopefully be fixed by next bug update.

by Lexarbexarr

I love the concept of Lapse, very fun and different way to approach social media. I love the filters, truly looks just like my 35mm camera! The concept of the developing time is fun and I really like how it prevents you from doing a bunch of retakes in the moment. The process of posting is easy and intuitive.

I wish there were a few tweaks to the process of downloading, requiring you send to 5 seems excessive especially when you can’t send to people already on Lapse . I get the idea behind it, but it’s been a turn off for some of my friends who don’t want to go through the long process and bug other people to download. I also wish you could just use the filter on existing pics or export without logo. I recently updated so you can no longer screenshot, you must export with Lapse logo. It’s not a very appealing logo/ watermark- I think it detracts from the overall vibe of the picture. I would repost to other platforms more if it was a little more streamlined or better placed. It really just makes me want to crop it out.

I hope Lapse catches on and more people download, it’s really a good idea just could be improved user experience!

by Alyjecks

I absolutely love Lapse. I saw a friend using it and immediately went to download it. I think the look of film is beautiful and make pictures much more interesting and detailed. I’ve sent it to several of my friends and they have all downloaded it and loved it as well. My only concern is how during setup you get stuck until you add 10 friends and share Lapse with 3 people. For me that wasn’t an issue, but a lot of people I’ve sent Lapse to it has become an issue because they either don’t have 10 friends using Lapse to be able to add or don’t have anyone new to send Lapse to. I think Lapse shouldn’t require people add that many friends or share it with that many people as it can cause some users to be unable to use Lapse altogether if they do not have enough friends to connect with. Hoping in a future update this gets fixed! Other than that I’m very much enjoying Lapse and love showing it to friends and family :)

by Slabsj

The graphics and the intro was dope - it felt like a party in my hand. Starting with my biggest con (hoping Lapse creators see this lol) but the watermark on the developed photos is too big. I love the film look and would want to share it on different platforms like Instagram, or even share it with friends, but the watermark logo with the logo is too big and right in the center that I’m less inclined to share it or save it on my phone. I just use other apps to get the same look when thinking of sharing the photo. I’d love to use this app’s saved photo but that logo watermark is not it for me. On the positives, posting photos is so easy and I like the notification that my photos have “developed” so that I can share my pictures. I also LOVE the widget on the Lock Screen that makes it SO EASY to immediately take a photo. Makes me more inclined to use Lapse and I use it every day!! (I’m a person who rarely takes photo to begin with.)

by Triggahappygyal

I love the original idea of this app. When They change to Journal, it will not allow you to delete pictures. It shows you some kind of image that ruins the aesthetic of the whole thing and honestly it kind of annoys me. It wouldn’t even allow you to hide those pictures. It just shows a bunch of orange I don’t know how to fix his.

by Lightly Salted Chips

It’s a good app I have nothing bad to say. There are a few things that I would like differently (that’s why I only gave it 4 starts) but Lapse is super new so I like the ideas feature that you can use. I’ll definitely be using Lapse for awhile, it’s also if parents are a little skeptical about letting there younger kids have like snap chat or Instagram or another form of social media Lapse is a good alternative since there’s nothing bad you can do on Lapse. 😊

by ଘ(੭ˊᵕˋ)੭━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟreview 4 U

Love love love the aesthetic & messaged behind Lapse it’s so cool! The only thing that I wished was that you could change your name more than once a week & also change your 5 emojis. I was making mine when I accidentally clicked a wrong one & wasn’t able to change or fix it which really bummed me out! I also wish you could save the photos you take wither to your phone or an in app album when you snap to friends or save your friends in the chat instead of them disappearing forever😭

by Artsygrl07

Lapse is such a fun way to connect with friends without worrying about likes/follows/comparisons. it feels more personal than other forms of social media which i love! the pics always turn out so cute too. i will say that the beginning experience of creating an account was kind of frustrating and it took me about an 45 minutes to finish setting it up because of lags and it wouldn’t load after i added friends. the fact that you have to share with five people before you can even use Lapse was also frustrating but i understand the intent behind it because of the newness of Lapse . overall i think Lapse is amazing and i can't wait to use it more.

by Pickles2k12

it’s kind of like snapchat but not really at the same time. like random ppl can’t message u and there isn’t a snap score or anything. u can friend others and send pics to eachother. no texting tho. i would recommend some filters. like snapchat ones sort of.

by Greatest 126

personally, I think Lapse is great. I think that it's safer for kids than Snapchat, Instagram or any other social media platforms although I do have some changes in mind that could potentially make Lapse better first off just having filters that you can play around with kinda like Snapchat, but a safer version also being allowed to scroll through your contacts would just be so much easier also I think having an easier access to memories would be great because the first time that I use Lapse I was kind of lost on how to find my memories but I do think that this is a great app, but it has the potential to be better

by Karissakitty38

I really enjoy using Lapse there are some glitches and bug tho. Today it wasn’t letting me take a picture and then my profile wasn’t uploading and it just got stuck:( I think Lapse has so much potential to blow up tho

by Tropicalvibes_

this is a really nice app. It’s just like be real but on film and you can take as many pictures as you want and save them so I like that and I honestly use it to take pictures. More people should get Lapse .

by Allisonyyang

Took 1 star off only bc I would like to be able to save photos to my camera roll WITHOUT the this app watermark which kind of ruins the film photo concept. So far, I am super impressed with the look of the photos I have taken so far!

Aside from the above mentioned issue (which I’m sure could be updated pretty easily), Lapse trumps BeReal or Instagram, and I already love the concept. Overall, a pretty nice interface/easy usability besides needing to invite/set-up when first downloading Lapse . I am excited to see how they will continue to add features/grow. Hope they never sell-out to Meta!

by DJKyleMcFlurry

okay so i’m OBSESSED with Lapse. however, there are some things i would change. for example, i’m not a fan of the new icon. i wish that there were several choices for the icon and you could pick which one you liked, like some other apps. i also wish you could @ people in the notes on people’s posts. however, i LOVE that you can pretty much only see friend’s stuff except for the featured, and how real Lapse keeps you. overall, i’m absolutely obsessed, i would just do some mild tweaking,

by Meliaann

I’ve had so much fun using the Journal app since I’ve gotten it! I love how you can’t see the photos immediately after taking them because it adds a little suspense. I just wish there was an option to save the raw photos without the filter that’s added to them. I think it’s so fun for Lapse itself, but for my own photo saving purposes I would love to have the raw image.

by Battlepantz

Great concept! I believe Lapse 's main deficiency is it displays the subject while taking a photo. Consider the experience of using a Polaroid camera where you can hardly see through the viewfinder, making it uncertain how the final picture will turn out. It should do the same when taking the picture. Making the anticipation to see the development of the picture more enticing.

by Brennakwm

Instagram is dying and I hate posting on there. Really just hate getting on any social media. So right from the beginning when they introduced the feel and purpose when I got Lapse it got me really excited. I don’t think the set up process is too long. It’s not that big of a deal. It has to be longer than other apps to be more personal and meaningful. I’m excited to see where this goes. Also love the music feature and cute emojis you can put with your profile picture. It’s fun, new, aesthetic, and intimate. Just like how instagram was when it first came out. And how social media should be. It’s still new to me and I haven’t gotten many friends yet so it’s still a 4/5 stars for that reason.
Glad we are moving on and creating better forms of social media🥰 Thank you to the creators for being creative and putting so much effort into this

by 💃💁😜🙈👌✋

let me say, i absolutely love Lapse. as other reviews have stated, it has all the great parts of an actually disposable camera (super cute pics you can wait to look at) and all the fun of social media. i find myself actually going on Lapse multiple times a day and feeling little to no pressure to pretend, just capture fun and small moments and see those of my friends.
now, onto the bad… i absolutely hated the onboarding process. the videos were unnecessarily long and having to invite five people was honestly kind of annoying (however, i do understand it’s the creator’s way of increasing users), but it’s definitely a turn off.
i’m not sure if Lapse is here to stay, but i love the concept of it so far and absolutely LOVE that there are no ads. hoping it doesn’t turn into an Instagram wanna-be

by I Like Ppl

I am in love with Lapse! I have so much fun using it and the pictures always turn out so perfect. I love the edit it automatically does it’s always just on on point. I will say when i first downloaded a few of my pictures taken in .5 mode didn’t appear? I already spoke to someone through email about it and actually one popped up in my “darkroom” the other day! Even with the small issues, that I’m sure will continue to get fixed with updates, Lapse is perfect and i love the concept of it being a journal and your memories not for likes or anything else! ✨

by DIAMOND-~-STAR

I absolutely adore this app. Their mission to live in the moment has been effective in my life. I had to delete insta bc I had a reels addiction and def can’t go back to tik tok for the same reasons— and Facebook is well… Facebook. But this app is solely just connection and typically intimate moments and core memories. The vintage look, the flash photography, the memory books. I especially love waiting for them to develop. It keeps the sacredness of the moment. 🤍 And one of my absolute favorite parts of this app is adding m u s i c to the albums! I am a music junkee— and adding a soundtrack to some of my favorite memories?! Otherworldly experience for a music lover. And I know I know- you guys are working on it— but in case there’s any question to if the music is important or not? I just wanted to vote in and say it’s a game changer. And when you guys bring it back.. maybe we could choose the part of the song we want? Cuz that would be cool, cuz sometimes it’s the right song and the part is just… not it lol.
But yeah. Love this app.

by Luisa Malik

Hello everyone. I want to start with the fact that I have been simply obsessed with Lapse since I downloaded it in October. I have used it to document all important, casual, day-day events in my life. It didn’t matter the situation my this app was always out with me documenting everything in a way that just brought so much joy to my soul. I go through Lapse and revisit all those lovely memories it’s helped me create.

I sent a DM to the team over in IG asking for help; as I found out today that I had been logged out of Lapse . When I entered the phone number I thought I had used it said that I was new, and to start a new account, after processing that for a bit I remembered when I downloaded it, it required a US number, I have been living in Colombia since July, and I remembered I had a google phone number so I used that, thinking it would never be necessary again. I was wrong. & that has caused me incredible sadness as I do not have access to that google phone number anymore and google will not give me access to it. Please, support, I need help, I need my account back & if I can’t have it back I just want the pictures that’s all I care about please.

by Cnolanfan

Lapse is so epic. I love that there are no ads or promotional stuff, only updates on when a friend of yours thought to pull out their phone for 2 seconds and take a quick snapshot- one that you can’t see until you’ve forgotten about taking a picture in this is a trait I love about disposable film cameras since it makes the experience of taking and viewing a photo so rewarding- but it’s cool to see it applied to the convenience and increased connectivity of smartphones. I hope no businesses or corporations will think of using this app (formerly Journal) as a new tool to exploit for advertising like BeReal. Also, as a photographer, I’m bothered by the digital look of captures when all I could do was pull out my phone without any creative control over the camera settings. By using this app for documenting fleeting moments, I embrace the vintage edit, and I can carry on with life, satisfied with how my photos turned out. As for the rebrand, however, I don’t think I’ve met any friends who’ve liked the new logo. The watermark it adds to pictures when you save them ruins the lower half of the image. Please fix that this app. The goofy logo betrays the film quality of the photos.

by Mike VV.

I first heard of this app from a friend who knew I loved film. The concept of waiting to get the photos developed is genius—and it looks just like Fuji film! I highly recommend it if you like photography or even just taking pictures of your friends. I hope it stays free and ad-free, just like VSCO (although the apps are quite different from each other). I think there should be a member option for no-wait photos and maybe some different filters. Overall, I highly recommend trying it out—it truly is a journal of memories!

by Grdkvd

Listen, I think all of us (or at least a lot of us!) are completely exhausted with the facade of Instagram and endless scrolling on Tiktok.

We want to go back to what Instagram used to offer, sharing timeless and innocent photos of friends or cats of flowers or coffee, or really anything that brings you joy without the pressure of likes, views, engagement etc.

A few apps have come out and tried to capture this (like BeReal) but even those end up turning into a competition of trying to grab the coolest moment of your day.

But what about all the little in betweens? A cute little bug you see on the road or a leaf that’s shaped like a heart. There’s no place for little moments like that other than staying in your camera roll or maybe texting a friend.

My sister recommended me Lapse and honestly I was pretty skeptical at first (especially since my work is in social media and I don’t need another app to mentally drain me), but this one is truly a piece of joy amongst all the chaos.

I only have 7 friends on Lapse so far (and I like it that way). I love being able to share anything I feel inspired to capture, having to wait to see the photos so I don’t get that instant hit of dopamine, plus seeing the little glimpses of beauty in other peoples day.

I hope I continue using Lapse and I hope it catches on, because so far - it’s really been refreshing and pleasant to use :)

by Allexisk99

3 out of the 5 friends I invited downloaded Lapse , those 3 said they love it and 2 said they are obsessed. I want the pictures to develop a little faster than they do, and there is also a lot of steps you have to do before you can actually use Lapse BUT the intro when you open Lapse for the first time was so cool loves it overall such a cute app and concept

by Yeeyeebrotha

Journal is betetr than any other social media platform I have used. I have felt comfortable in charing with people I care about and at the same time having the ability to stay in the moment. It collects fun and kind moments with friends and events while keeping you present and not having the ability to edit or change how someone looks! Very Healthy!

by Nary Canary

Super cute and I love the disposable camera aesthetic since I had my own disposable camera when I was very little, Lapse is so nostalgic. I also love that it allows me to just snap a photo and then put my phone away, no getting distracted. I’m very apprehensive about any social media as I’ve had some jarring experiences with creeps online growing up so it’s a huge comfort to me to see that only people I invite that I know will see the pictures I post.

by Gracieヅ

I’ve only been using journal for a day and I definitely enjoy it (somewhat) more than Snapchat. I only use it with a few friends which is very little compared to Snapchat, but Lapse is very uplifting and almost encourages you to post the moments worth sharing instead of what might be appealing to others. The disposable camera effect is super fun and just adds that extra sense of adventure and uniqueness to every instant! Lapse is still under development so I can only imagine it getting better from here!

by Cass.ew

i really hate being perceived online and usually prefer vsco or pinterest over big social media apps like instagram and snapchat. Lapse is the perfect mixture of all of them combined and after a couple weeks of usage i think it’s safe to say im obsessed. i’ve shared it with a few of my friends who also really like film-type cameras but already feel a little too old for the whole bereal stage and they have told me they really enjoy it as well. it’s great for everyday usage or just here and there. definitely has some bugs to work through but it’s still in early stages of development so i wouldn’t expect anything different. all in all, it’s a really fun concept and i hope it takes off more :)

by GirlGlitch_1

I love Lapse. Probably my favorite in my entire phone and i can’t wait for the full version to come out!! As an avid hater of social media’s Beaty and aesthetic standards i absolutely adore the concept of Lapse and the fact that it’s SOOOOOOO CUTE!! As the developing team comes out with new features Lapse just gets better!! The one thing that i’d love that i don’t know if anyone has even thought of is that i kinda wish you could archive your journal in some way. Sort of like if you were to change the song and the photos of your journal because of the change of seasons in your life you could still look through your past journals like a scrapbook of you will. Just a way to save your journals overtime and be able to go back to them later maybe for inspiration, nostalgia or looking for an old photo. I think it’d be great addition to Lapse overall!!!! Thank you sm to the developing team ⭐️

by Aubriella777

I love that I can keep memories on film, upload and create a story with my personal account and not view everyone else’s media if I don’t want too. I can go on, capture memories, and I get to wait for them to develop which is fun! Without being bombarded with hour glass figures and content creaters. The way you can choose loads of pictures and a song for your profile is like watching your life in a small film. I watch it just to take in my days, I get to reflect on Lapse, see the life I do live when time moves so fast. Adore Lapse, can lay low and enjoy it. Without the mental overload of media. If it ever changed that, I wouldn’t keep it. I like to stay off media and indulge in my every day to day life and explore myself. Lapse lets you have fun with your phone and do so.

by Gabilawrey

Lapse is so fun to use AND the photos it takes are gorgeous. I love taking pictures throughout the day and developing them at the end of the night when I sit down to journal. It makes me reflect on the day and appreciate everything that happened.

by Happygal(:

i love using journal! it has been a great way to connect with friends through photos and show some of the memories from nights out. i absolutely love the layout and the aesthetics, makes me feel as close to authentic as using a film camera ! 📸

by Princess_miyah13

I love Lapse it’s so cute and keeps all my memories throughout the day and I like how we can only take one photo without even seeing it so we don’t rely on how we look in the photo

by Tierney'

This is an amazing app and I love the idea of it. It has its flaws but they don’t affect much for me. It is a nice and fun app. I live how simple it is and how they displayed and showed you when you first get it what the apps about and why it’s important. Thank you for making this!!!!

by K_arley

Lapse is soo fun and nostalgic! It really is more about capturing a moment than other apps, you feel so much more free to post whatever you want and like whatever you want. For some reason, there’s a real sense of freedom with Lapse, I’ve really enjoyed it so far and can’t wait to see how it develops 💖

by Khaii01

In the first days, it was a little confusing but after a while I got the hang of it and it has been so much for more and easier to work with!! Love how you can connect with friends and see their lovely lives outside of it being “perfect” as what they would post on social media! Such a new fun app💝

by Anna Benzel

Photos look amazing and Lapse is a great way to motivate your friends to take spontaneous photos!

by Aubreylaine

It’s a very cool idea, and I hope it doesn’t try to become a replacement for instagram or facebook. Keep it simple and fun. With just a few sharing specific options, it’ll be the perfect app to stay up to date with your friends without the brands and ads and randos trying to message you

by Flahh

I’m so here for this!!! I downloaded Lapse and spent some time learning it. Although it’s not intuitive at first it wasn’t hard to pick up on. And now that I know how to use it I love it. I love that you can take a photo and not think about it, it has made me more present, as opposed to sit and look through photos / edit before posting. It feels super authentic and I have been getting as many people on it as I can since I deleted Instagram for this LOL! It feels so pure, no beauty filters, real moments, real memories and it’s awesome to see my squad get creative again. The one thing I feel is needed is to have the option to save the photo without the effect. And also post without the effect (for those who aren’t into it). Since we are posting our memories here now I feel this is something to consider. But anyways, this social media app is what we need. THANK YOU!!

by F.L.U.D.D 2.O

first off, i’d like to say i hope Lapse becomes the next big thing and dethrones the current apps which have chokeholds on the market. i love the accessibility, and the profile customization is SO COOL. i love being able to share what music i’m into with just a quick glance at my profile, and the emojis on the profile picture is a nice touch as well.

i also absolutely LOVED the intro to Lapse , coolest thing i’ve ever seen.

my only complaints lie in the instant part of Lapse , they’re a little clunky to get to, being hidden in a notifications tab. i believe they should get their own tab at the bottom, and that they also shouldn’t be “hold down to open.” it’s a little clumsy to do, and with an app that’s already slow (it being a new app), it kind of takes you out of the immersive experience. also, i’d love to be able to add more than a few words at the bottom of an instant, the current character limit is much too small to say anything of value.

all in all, i’m in love with the vintage vision for Lapse , i’m excited to see where it goes, and i appreciate the thoughtfulness you all have as a developer!

by Mrgmnast

There’s still some changes and things that need to be made as it is new, but fr fr it’s become my favorite thing no gassing. It’s like VSCO, MySpace (with the profile music), photo dumps, and like Dispo or Huji in one it’s great. Seriously take advantage of it and the widget and just use it like a blog but then having your friends on there is so cool cuz you can look at their little blogs too!!! It really helps to romanticize my life more and like pick out little moments and capture them it’s so much fun and so cute and really easy to take aesthetic and pretty photos all the time. I hope in the near updates we can add music to the created albums too and not just the monthly ones so that we can really curate the vibes on our journals, overall though I just love it

by Kenny E.

Lapse does a good job mimicking the feel of film. As someone who is familiar with using film, Lapse does an excellent job of capturing moment, as opposed to curating them.

I do wish that the devs would be able to add an option of shooting with 24 and/or 36 roll films and not having them developed until the roll is finished. I think half the fun of using film is capturing moments, forgetting what was captured and then getting them developed to look back fondly at them. Although it won’t be as quick as posting regularly on your journal, I think this option would give a more nostalgic feel for those who really want to mimic film photography.

Overall, I think Lapse is great and would love to see that added as a feature!

by Krizrin3

What a fun way to focus on the creative, brief snapshot from your personal perspective!

Lapse is still in early phases with bugs to pick out, however I am so excited to keep sharing the snapshots of my life with friends alike. Yay this app! lol

The first step is to upload pictures or to take a snapshot to be developed. Like a disposal camera, you can’t see what your snapshot image looks like until it’s developed, but in this app, it’s just a “darkroom” until Lapse alerts you of its development. I like the idea of a quick pic, move on, look later. It really takes the harsh criticality we put on ourselves. Really love it, super aesthetic, v kitschy, 10/10, would recommend!

by I Like Pie Alot

The concept of Lapse is phenomenal. I can not remember the last time I went out or my way to review an app. It’s basic. Easy to use with a really solid idea and intention. There’s no gimmicks what they advertise is what you get. I had just recently deleted all me social media when a friend came across Lapse. The one thing I missed was sharing with the people I have a relationship with. Would absolutely recommend Lapse to someone and have.

PS. You should make it so I can see ALL of my monthly pictures in the little flash thing as it goes through the music. Half my album doesn’t play with the music I put and I was so bummed. I purposely took more pictures so I could get it to sync with the music 😂

by Lizzywhyismynicknametakenstop

i love everything about it
i love that you can add a song to your profile, i love that you can pick photos for behind your pfp and it makes a cute little video for you, i love that there’s no “following” there's just friends
i love that when you take photos it has to “develop” THAT IS LITERALLY SO CUTE LIKE WHAT and it’s free w no ads?😭 i’m like what?? i hope Lapse becomes a thing bc i wanna use it all the time but actually be able to add people cuz it’s like gatekept rn

by Annaqueen<3

I really do love the concept of Lapse. I would have never even gotten it in the first place if my friend hadn’t snapped me abt it and then invited me. It is a really great app and I hope it outweighs BeReal 😈 bc let’s be honest Lapse provides a more “in the moment” capture unlike be real where you have to quickly take a photo when it wants you to, and only have 2 mins to do so. what I’m saying is I like that Lapse provides a comfortable platform where you can enjoy yourself, and I really love it and hope it becomes something SUPER popular like TikTok and stuff :D