In this era, digital sharing of photos can be done with just a few taps, thanks to technology and the rise of various social media platforms. It is common to see people share photos on their social media feed of their best moments, triumphs, losses, and even the most casual daily life.
It is as if people make their social media accounts their new photo diary. But, some people still see the value of printed photos, which they will collate for their photo albums, scrapbooks, or wall decoration. There is a visible decrease in the number of printing houses out there.
The 1 Hour Photo app aims to help these people find the nearest location to print their photos. Users can send the photos ahead and pick them up after an hour. Learn more about the 1 Hour Photo app and the features that it offers.
- Captured Photos To Printed Ones
- Print Services Available Across 20,000 Stores
- Different Stores, Different Products
- Photo Print Order On The App
Captured Photos To Printed Ones
The generation of individuals who grew up with technology shares their best moments online. There are several social media platforms that these people utilize to create a feed of their life moments. Some people choose to only share the best photos, while some share even the most random moments of their daily lives.
Aside from social media platforms, smartphones’ high-end camera quality allows them to share pictures online as these phones can capture these moments immediately. However, there are still people who are not tech-savvy and not into sharing photos online. Elderlies and other sentimental people prefer to have a hard copy of these images.
Years ago, people had to go through the difficulty of choosing what images to capture due to limited film, which also took time to be developed. However, the gap between sharing online and printing has been filled by this mobile app called 1 Hour Photo, wherein the images captured on phones can be printed.
The app helps people find the nearest printing house that offers printing services for photos. Moreover, it ensures that people can save time by sending the photos ahead and then picking up the photos an hour later. 1 Hour Photo has the complete set of features in helping people in the photo printing services.
Sending Photos For Hard Copy Printing App
The team recognizes that everyone takes thousands of photos every day, and only some post them online. Some individuals share limited photos on social media and chose to keep some of these images in their wallets or photo albums. Thus, the problem of where to print these images arise.
So, the team’s solution is to develop the 1 Hour Photo app to help people find the best and most convenient place to print the images by partnering with several establishments and marts. Fred Lerner and Peter Tahmin led the team of developers to create the startup, Mailpix Inc.
Mailpix Inc. ensures that everyone can access the app as they made 1 Hour Photo free to download on both Google Play Store and iOS App Store. There is no signing up required to use the services of the app.
Print Services Available Across 20,000 Stores
The primary feature of the app is to allow the users to send photos to the participating printers. These photos are the photos that the users wish to be printed, so the app serves as a connection or middleman between the user and the printing house.
As mentioned, 1 Hour Photo has forged partnerships with over 20,000 stores, establishments, and marts across the United States. This is to help users find the closest stores for their convenience so that there is no need to go and find printing houses far from their homes.
In this case, the users can find available participating printers even if they are at home or on vacation. The following stores are where the users can claim their printed photos: CVS Pharmacy, Duane Reade, Walgreens, and Walmart.
Given that there are 20,000 available stores with participating printers, users can freely choose which one is the closest. They can check them out on the power map available on the app. It will show the details of the store, including the location, store hours, and even the rate of printing for different photos.
Print Products Available For Users’ Needs
Aside from classic photos, the app allows users to send in other things to print. The prints can be custom greeting cards, wallet prints, photo magnets, acrylic panels, and more. It is also possible to request that the image that was captured on the smartphone should be printed into a photo magnet or a wallet print.
Moreover, smartphones have photo editing apps wherein users can create their customized greeting cards, etc. For example, the user went on a vacation and captured picturesque scenery; the user can then get this image printed as a photo magnet or wall print as a more personal memorabilia.
The standard waiting time for printing after sending the image is one hour. However, it can be altered depending on the number of photos requested. Acrylic panels, photo magnets, and others need more time to be printed, so users must wait a little longer before collecting them.
Different Stores, Different Products
Even though there are over 20,000 available stores to send the photos for printing, each store offers different products and services, especially in terms of sizes. Users can check these specifications on the app before finalizing the service order of image printing.
Alongside the map, which lets the users know what participating printers are nearby, it also gives information on the available photo sizes aside from the standard photo prints like 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, 4x4, 6x6, and 8x8. The users may choose whether they want the common rectangular or square-sized photo prints.
For reference, CVS Pharmacy offers the most product variations aside from the standard photo print sizes. For photo greeting cards, it has only one size, which is 4x8. It has three available sizes for photo panels which are 4x6, 6x8, and 8x10.
Moreover, CVS prints other interesting and customizable materials like the 5x7 folded cards. It also comes with a double-sided version of 5x7 cards. The other available products are 8x10 acrylic panels, 4x6 photo magnets, and 2x3 wallet prints.
More Stores, More Varied Products
Walmart, however, has more available square photo print sizes in the addition of 5x5 size. It also offers 4x8 photo greeting cards. The unique prints for Walmart are its poster prints, which are available on 16x20 print and 20x30 print. Moreover, Walmarts has an 11x14 photo print and 8x10 mounted print.
However, Walgreens has relatively few photo print products as it only has standard rectangular and square photo print sizes. However, there are specific Walgreens outlet that offers more photo products and sizes, so users have to check them out on the app.
The variation of available photo print sizes depends on the store. Thus, users choose whether they want to have the images printed in their ideal size but with a relatively farther store or nearer store, but they have to adjust the photo print size.
Photo Print Order On The App
Since the 1 Hour Photo app provides convenience in finding the nearest available photo printing services, it is true to its aim to make the process simple and less hassle. The app solely involves how to order a printing service across the available 20,000 stores.
The instruction on how to print is already included in the app description on Google Play Store and iOS App Store. Users can check them out before installing the app and see how convenient the ordering process is. Upon downloading, the user must already choose the store they want to place their print order with.
After choosing the store, the user must then select the product they want to get. Then, the user should upload the photos that they want to print, but note that there must be a green checkmark on the bottom right corner. The next step is to choose the size and quantity by selecting the red box below.
Then, the users must click the Find the Store button to locate the most convenient store. To finally place the order, the user must provide their name, email, and phone number. They will be asked to review the order, and they will receive an email confirming the order.
Claiming The Order
According to the 1 Hour Photo app, the standard time to process and finish the printing order is one hour. Users may wait for one hour or an email notification that the order is ready to be claimed. Thus, it is essential to use the active email address for the order process.
In claiming the order, users are required to pay at the store. Credit cards are not accepted in the app as they will not be asked during the print order process. The price of the order can be checked on the site of 1 Hour Photo.
There might be instances that the photo will somehow be changed, especially where editors center the picture automatically. However, the app ensures that no part of the uploaded image will be cropped out.
Conclusion
1 Hour Photo app provides convenience to the users by offering services to find the closest printing services for their image. Users can send and upload the photos ahead and claim them an hour after.
Last updated on December 28th, 2022 at 06:06 pm
