Dropbox's new stand-alone app Carousel helps users organize photos and have them instantly accessible from any connected device.
The app, introduced on April 9, is available immediately for iOS and Android. Dropbox said organization and storage are becoming bigger user needs now that it's easier to take digital photos.
"When I'm looking at the photos on my phone, I see photos I took with the phone, but I don't see pictures from my computer or anything else," said Drew Houston, co-founder and CEO speaking at a at a special event in San Francisco, "Instead of one shoebox, I have many shoeboxes."
Carousel lets users store and organize all their photos and videos, or at least those they wish to see often, in one easily accessible location. The software organizes the photo by event and then it pulls out a specific photo and uses it as the cover to highlight that group of pics. The photos are not stored locally, but in the cloud like all Dropbox content.
"We also think those memories are meant to be shared. That's why we built private conversations into Carousel - as a way to relive entire events with friends and family. With Carousel, you can share hundreds of photos in the same amount of time it'd take to send just one by text. Even more, you can capture an event from every angle by saving the photos others share with you," the company said on its blog.
The app also automatically backs up and syncs photos from across devices and computers as they are taken or downloaded. Free storage is limited to the 5GB that is normally supplied with a Dropbox account, but additional space is available for a fee.
Carousel was just one of several announcements by Dropbox on Wednesday. The company has also introduced the ability to link personal and business Dropbox accounts.
The company also updated its Mailbox app bringing it to the Android world along with iOS. Mailbox has also received a facelift with a new function called Auto-swipe that makes it easier to track and organize email.
