A proper desktop app would make Snaptide so much easier to use
Long-time user here - I shoot weddings around Punjab and have been delivering albums through Snaptide for a while now. The face search alone has saved me hours after every single wedding, and my clients genuinely love how easy it is to find their photos. So this is a feature request from a happy user, not a frustrated one.
The part that still drags is getting photos in. After a big wedding I'm sitting on three to four thousand images, already sorted into ceremony/reception/haldi folders the way I've done it for years. Uploading all of that through the browser works, but it's slow, and it keeps my laptop busy while I could be editing the next shoot. Cold storage has the same problem - managing it in the browser feels like an afterthought, and I'm constantly second-guessing whether I moved the right set of files.
What I'd really love is a proper desktop app for Mac and Windows that does three things well:
- Lets me upload straight from my computer folders into an album, keeping my folder structure intact, with uploads continuing in the background even if I close the lid.
- Syncs a folder - I point the app at my "Snaptide - Client Name" folder and anything new that lands there goes to the album automatically. Drop the memory card in, walk away, done.
- Gives me proper cold storage management side by side with my hot albums, so archiving old events doesn't mean tab-hopping and hoping.
Also, uploads that pause and resume instead of dying because the wifi blinked once would be a lifesaver on 100 GB sets.
The delivery side of Snaptide already feels professional. A desktop app would make the boring part - getting thousands of photos in - finally feel as polished as the rest of it. Anyone else feel the same?
1 Answer
Thanks for this, Chirag - it's a really well thought-out request and one we hear a lot from working photographers.
Glad the face search is earning its keep for you - that's exactly what we built it for. And you're right about the delivery side feeling polished, so it's fair to push on the front-end bits that don't.
Your three points all make sense to us:
- Uploading straight from computer folders (and keeping the folder structure) - we support folder uploads in the browser today, and on huge sets the "Upload Complete Folder" option plus the relay upload are the workarounds people use now. A native client would absolutely make that smoother.
- Folder-to-album sync - this is a great idea. Pointing the app at a folder and letting new files flow into an album automatically would save real hours on busy seasons.
- Cold storage management - agreed, it could be much better side by side with hot albums.
One thing I did want to mention on the upload side, since you flagged it: you don't actually have to start over if the connection drops. Snaptide already checks for duplicates before it begins uploading a folder, so if the wifi blinks and an upload stops partway, just re-select the same folder - it skips the files that already made it up and carries on from where it left off. So you're not losing your progress on 100 GB sets, which is the good news.
We've logged the desktop app as a feature request and it'll go into the queue with the other asks. Can't promise a date yet, but honest feedback like this is what shapes what we build next, so it genuinely helps.
If you'd like, drop us a note with your typical file sizes and how large your average event album runs - it'll help us size the desktop sync and upload behaviour properly.
Reply