Facebook has released an updated version of Moments, a photo-sharing app that the social network launched in June.
The new version can now automatically create a short video presentation by using the photos from the user's own collection and then share the created video with his Facebook friends. The default setting allows the app to use at least six or more photos and then create a video out of them. The user can further customize the feature by changing the soundtrack; adding, removing or replacing the photos and then tagging friends. There are around 11 soundtrack options to choose from in the app's music library.
The updated feature makes Facebook Moments more competitive with other services of similar features such as Flipagram and the "Assistant" feature of Google Photos. However, these require further syncing with Facebook for the user to share photos with friends. In other words, Moments has all the advantages as it doesn't require syncing since it's built within the social network's ecosystem.
"One of the app's main functions is grouping the photos in your phone's camera roll based on when they were taken and who's in them," says the team behind Facebook Creative Labs. "This is done using the same facial recognition technology that powers tag suggestions on Facebook today. Early on, we discovered that this could be a tool for helping to suggest which photos you may want to share with specific friends. We just needed to find a user-friendly way to unlock the possibilities."
According to App Annie, the Moments app shows a decent ranking in the iTunes App Store under the Photo and Video category, where it is currently at No. 107. It's also performing well in Google Play, where it is currently at No. 19 under the Photography category. However, its overall ranking on both stores seemed to show some decline since the time of its launch.
Still, the app is doing better as compared to other ventures of Facebook's Creative Labs, inclding Slingshot and Rooms. Both must have fallen bellow number 1,500 in all categories since their rankings are no longer tracked on App Annie.
The updated Moments app which now has the video sharing and friends tagging features is now available from both the App Store and Google Play. It's also available in most countries and in 34 different languages.
