In the previous couple of years, photo-sharing apps have capitalized on the concept Instagram has develop into too curated, creating areas for customers to share unfiltered pictures from their digicam rolls. Locket tapped into lockscreen-based sharing, Retro took a photograph journaling route, and Yope is constructing Instagram for personal teams.

Now, Mayank Bidawatka, co-founder of Indian social community Koo, which was shut down final 12 months after collapsed buyout talks, is releasing a brand new photo-sharing app referred to as PicSee. The app, launched Thursday, each on iOS and Android, goals to robotically detect and share pictures of pals which can be in your digicam roll with out you having to make use of any messaging system like WhatsApp or Instagram.

Bidawatka stated that your mates most likely have tons of of pictures of you that you just don’t have. Both they forgot to ship you these pictures, or they themselves have forgotten about these pictures. PicSee scan faces in your digicam gallery and picks out pictures of your mates.

“I’ve been fascinated about the issue of non-public photograph sharing for years now,” Bidawatka instructed TechCrunch over a name. “Final 12 months, after we introduced shutdown of Koo, I had time to rethink this downside and work on it once more.”

If your mates are on PicSee, you’ll be able to ship them a sharing request. As soon as they settle for, they’ll obtain your first batch of pictures of them. After that, the app will detect new pictures of them in your digicam roll and immediate you to ship these, too.

For those who don’t ship them immediately, the app will robotically ship these pictures to them after 24 hours. Earlier than that, you’ll be able to evaluation the pictures that you’re sending and select to not ship some. The pictures are saved regionally in your system in PicSee’s storage. You’ll be able to select to obtain them to your system storage. Customers may recall pictures after they’ve despatched them, which removes the photographs from PicSee on the receiver’s finish.

The corporate says it has applied a bunch of privateness controls. The app does all of the processing of figuring out faces on the system. The corporate stated that whereas sending pictures, it establishes an encrypted connection. The pictures are saved in your system, and the corporate doesn’t retailer something within the cloud. Bidawatka stated the app additionally has a filter on NSFW photos and blocks screenshots.

PicSee’s largest problem could also be its selectivity. Whereas it is smart to have an always-on photograph reference to shut pals, household, or companions, most individuals wouldn’t need that degree of computerized sharing with everybody they know. That creates a hurdle. Customers already ship pictures to those shut contacts by means of WhatsApp, iMessage, Instagram, and Snapchat, so PicSee might want to persuade them to vary their default habits for a comparatively small circle of relationships.

Additional, whereas the app detects pictures of your mates in your telephone, it doesn’t resolve the issue of when somebody asks you for a photograph you took at an occasion you went to collectively, comparable to a live performance, a marriage, or a celebration.

The corporate stated it desires to handle these social engagement options. The app already has a chat characteristic, which permits people who find themselves in an image to go away feedback below it.

The corporate stated additionally it is engaged on permitting customers to create and handle albums, recommend albums, take away duplicates, and combine with Google Pictures/iCloud. The corporate additionally desires to make use of its face detection tech for movies in your digicam roll.

Billion Hearts, the corporate behind the PicSee app, raised $4 million in funding final 12 months, led by Blume Ventures with participation from Normal Catalyst and Athera Ventures.