ShakeSnap
Instant moments, made personal
ShakeSnap turns your photos into instant-photo moments — add personal notes, doodle on the frame, or send a mystery picture your friends have to shake to reveal.
✦ How it works
1. Snap or pick
Shoot with your camera or pick a photo from your gallery. It lands in an instant-photo frame.
2. Add your touch
If you like, write a caption or doodle on the white border. Then choose: share it developed, or send it as a surprise.
3. Send the vibe
Send it via WhatsApp, Signal, Instagram or any other app — or save it to your gallery in full resolution.
✦ Make it personal
The wide bottom strip of every instant photo is yours. Type a caption in a handwriting-style font, switch to Draw mode and doodle with your finger — or both. Hearts, inside jokes, your cat's name in bubble letters: all fair game. Weird is good.
✦ The surprise feature
Send a friend an undeveloped instant photo — just black film. They have to shake their phone to bring it to life: the harder they shake, the faster it develops. Stop, and it freezes mid-reveal.
Perfect for birthday surprises, vacation postcards, or trolling your friends with a photo of your lunch.
"is it a selfie? a meme? a vacation dump?
only shaking will tell." 😏
✦ In action
✦ Ready to snap?
For iOS and Android. No subscriptions, no paywalls — just pure photo-sharing joy.
Coming soon
✦ FAQ
Yes. No subscriptions, no paywalls, no ads and no account. It's available for iPhone and Android.
ShakeSnap has no server that stores your photos. When you share a snap, it goes from your phone straight to your friend through the messenger you pick. Usage statistics and crash reports are optional and only sent if you say yes. Details in the App Privacy.
“Share as image” sends the finished photo. Anyone can see it, with or without the app. “Send as surprise” sends the snap undeveloped. Your friend opens it in ShakeSnap and shakes their phone to reveal it, so they need the app.
Install ShakeSnap (it's free), then go back to the chat and tap the file again. The app opens it, and you shake your phone to develop the photo. The file is called “Surprise-open-with-ShakeSnap”.
So that your photo never has to be uploaded to us. The snap travels as a file inside your chat, nowhere else. The downside is that some messengers show only the file, without our explanation. We're working on an optional link version that works everywhere and keeps your photo private. Until then, every share and every kind word about the app helps us get there sooner.
Signal, and WhatsApp on iPhone, show the file together with our short explanation. WhatsApp on Android sometimes shows only the file. If your friend uses that combination, tell them what it is, or use “Share as image”, which always arrives with its message.
Tip: on Android, Signal shows the full message with the file.
Yes, with “Share as image”. For a surprise they need the free app, which is exactly what makes it a surprise.
Yes. Tap Save to put it in your photo gallery. ShakeSnap doesn't keep a copy anywhere else.