Our lives are on our iPhones. Gone are the days of fishing through boxes of old photos and unlabeled Super 8 videos; now, we can reminisce just by reaching into our pockets. But even the most obsessive parents can lose track of their favorites in such an endless sea of snapshots.
That's where Lifetime in My Pocket comes in. A photo organization app that focuses on individual pictures rather than full events, Lifetime filters your photo library into a single stream of moments that tracks every milestone and precious memory in a sleek chronological portrait. Lifetime clearly isn't interested in joining the fray of photo apps competing for the most filters and features, so don't expect to manipulate your photos here or even eliminate red eye. Think of it like an accordion wallet insert; it holds only your favorite photos so you can quickly show them off.
Building your timeline is as simple as inputting your child's birthday and tapping the camera button to either add or shoot a photo. A set of "eye guides" helps you position your photo for optimal viewing, and everything else is done automatically; Lifetime even uses your photos' metadata to automatically sort by age. It's really quite wonderful, especially since Apple still doesn't let us see the time stamps in our camera roll. As more snapshots are added, thumbnails populate the sides of the timeline, making for a very attractive layout (which will look even better once it gets iPhone 5 support).
The only way to share your creation, however, is to export a video "lifeshow" that can be posted to Facebook. The process is easy enough, but the finished product looks like a cheap imitation of Apple's slideshow feature. An option to create a PDF or JPG of the timeline would be much better. Also, Lifetime charges $0.99 for a second timeline (or $2.99 for unlimited ones), so if you have more than one kid, it'll cost you.
The bottom line. Lifetime doesn't have a sepia filter, but there's no better way to see how much your child has aged.
of 5
iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 5.0 or later
Attractive layout for timelines. Excellent organization. Simple to navigate.
Lame exporting options. Few features. Larger families must shell out for separate timelines.
jeske25
December 12, 2012 at 8:28am
Sounds like an awesome app. Although my first hesitancy to use such an app. is that it's married to FB. I agree that "An option to create a PDF or JPG of the timeline would be much better." Cheers!
Terry Webb
December 03, 2012 at 3:30pm
Thanks for the review Michael.
We agree with the lack of extra features, and we are working on updates. Unfortunately, we're just 2 guys with not-so-deep pockets, but we will add filters etc (plus title & credits, and audio options) as soon as we can afford.
The Facebook upload quality came down to balancing upload speed with quality. We're working with the coding guys to improve, so stay tuned!
