Wickr Camera Screen

Please Invite Wickr

Within Wickr’s latest iOS update and load of new features is the core reason why Wickr will succeed – and must. Instead of bringing a bunch of bells and whistles to the messaging party first like so many others have (looking over at Snap—-, Sling—-, or whatever today’s or tomorrow’s messaging flavor is), Wickr focused on bringing security and a stable user experience first to the table.

It wasn’t the smoke and mirrors that has caused other messaging service users to question their data safety or would result in some court mandated 3rd party auditing requirement for being naughty and loose with advertising claims that recently faced another popular app – ohhh snap. Oh, that’s not how Wickr parties.

Wickr enters the door with the real deal. It is obviously a company that cares for its users and our data. We’ve written about this in the past here: A Closer Look At Wickr and Message Me With Wickr

After proving its competency with ephemeral messaging by building a secure framework for messaging first (not as an afterthought or after a breach that ends up virally shared across social media), Wickr now comes to us with some cool toys.

New Toys

So today, look at the new options that are available when we want to take a selfie and attach it to a conversation.

First, click on the Wickr symbol just to the left of the messaging box to pull up options that include: timer, photos, audio and files.

Clicking on the photo option pulls up the new camera interface.

BTW – I love the new Wickr button for taking a picture.

After taking a photo or choosing one from the camera roll (reachable from the bottom right corner), the editing fun can begin.

Wickr Editor
Wickr Filters

At the top of the screen are the options for drawing on a photo and include:

  • Undo
  • Spray can
  • Thick line
  • Thin line
  • Circle
  • Square
  • Star
  • Eraser

Just slide the menu bar to see all of the options.

On the bottom left corner is a colored circle for choosing a color for the above drawing options. Tap and select a color.

Clicking on the bottom right paintbrush icon will display four options that include:

  • Crop
  • Text box: when selected, a balloon option menu bar appears at the top.
  • Emojis: when selected, a menu bar shows options for emojis, privacy stickers (really fun ways to dress up or hide parts of a photo), and hearts.
  • Paintbrush

At the very bottom of the screen are two options that include DRAW and FILTER. The draw option is the editing mode that contains the options described above. The filter option includes the following 13 filters to enhance or alter the look of a photo:

  • Linear
  • Vignette
  • Instant
  • Process
  • Transfer
  • Sepia
  • Chrome
  • Fade
  • Curve
  • Tonal
  • Noir
  • Mono
  • Invert

Then select attach at the bottom of the screen to add it to a Wickr conversation.

Okay, these features won’t replace VSCOcam anytime soon for photo editing, but they add some fun effects and will probably be welcomed by the Snapchatters of the world. The privacy stickers are my favorite new feature so far.

Sliding the whole camera screen moves the app to video mode. After taking a video there’s an editing bar at the top of the screen for cropping it to just the selection of the video you want to send. Just slide the yellow bars at either end.

The new features are nice to have around, but at the end of the day, it’s what’s under the hood that matters most to me. Wickr is the kid at the messaging party that everyone should get to know better. IMO, the company has a healthy respect for user experience and privacy. Read their Privacy Policy and compare the app description to the others – Wickr is very different.

From my day to day experience with various brands and products, Wickr just seems to be one of those that must succeed for the good of the whole messaging eco-system. They embody too much that is good for them not to succeed. So, let’s keep this kid at the party.

You can Wickr me at: teaneedz.

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