Apps you freaked out with in your day: Timehop

In this series we remember applications from the past that were very popular at the time and that we do not hear so much about today. After reminding ES File Explorer, QuickPic, Link Bubble Y Fring, today we remember the popular time machine application: Timehop.

Do you remember what you were doing today a year ago? Probably not, but Timehop ​​yes, and that’s where it came in, it came to rescue memories of what you had published on your social networks in previous years **. Speaking of memories, what happened to Timehop? **

What was special about it?

The longer we use social media, the more buried our updates from the past get. Going back in time then meant opening each social network and going back manually. Timehop ​​was an easier way to remember your past.

Timehop came to mobiles when I was a bit more mature, although the operation was always the same: you connected your social networks and the application it reminded you of your posts from previous years. Not only that, but he added a “one year ago” poster, so that you could share them again on your networks, if you wish.

Itself was a simple but well developed concept. Every day you could see your memories of that day in previous years in the application and, if you want, share them. If not, get on with your life. It was a simple application with a single purpose, and it did it well.

What has become of Timehop?

Timehop ​​started its journey with a somewhat less commercial name: 4SquareAnd7YearsAug. Created during a Foursquare Hackathon in 2011, it was used to revive your Foursquare check-ins from previous years. Other later names of the service were PastPosts, And7YearsAgram and finally Timehop.

In the beginning Timehop ​​was not an application, but a Web page. You connected your accounts of your social networks of Foursquare, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and every day you received an email with your publications from previous years.

In 2014, Timehop ​​made the leap to mobiles and reached Google Play. The concept was exactly the same, but in application format rather than mail. Every day you received a notification with posts on Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and photos from your own gallery.

Since then, Timehop ​​has continued to update and the app is still active today, available for download on Google Play. If you used TimeHop on your Android mobile in 2014, it will not be difficult for you to recognize it if you reinstall TimeHop in 2021: it is more or less the same, but with a more current design, a slightly adjusted list of social networks to connect and with some functions of editing that weren’t there before, like creating a Now and Before collage.

Timehop ​​is still alive, but it has eaten the ground that some of these social networks and services already have their own memory function. Google Photos has its memories Y Facebook also has a section for memories. Being integrated into the applications themselves, it makes somewhat less sense to install a separate application just for this.

Does it still make sense today?

The mere fact that Timehop ​​is still active today makes it clear that the app itself still makes sense. Of course, it is undeniable that they have eaten the ground a lot, with frontal attacks from both Facebook and Google.

Google has spent years perfecting its memories section, adding news that are almost pages, such as cinematic photos. Memories from Google Photos aren’t based solely on date, but are grouped by all kinds of patterns that change and add members almost every month.

This leaves Timehop ​​somewhat at a disadvantage with respect to native functions, although in return it still has something that they do not have: grouping in a single application the memories of several services. Currently, Timehop ​​will analyze and retrieve posts from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Swarm for you.

The more time we spend on social media, the more memories we accumulate on them, so in a way Timehop it makes more and more sense as a way of refloating those moments of the past that fell into oblivion. If you use a lot of networks, it is essential, but if you only use Facebook and Google Photos, the native function is probably more than enough.

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The news

Apps you freaked out with in your day: Timehop

was originally published in

Engadget Android

by
Ivan Ramirez

.