I want to share something I've been working on - something I am pretty proud of!! I made an app!!! Like.... an actual real app that anyone in the world can download from the App Store!
For those who know me, you know I am super passionate about supporting our youngest learners to document their own discoveries using iPad. When I work with teachers - the first thing we explore is taking a photo - and then adding voice.
For a long time, Clips was my go-to for this. It wasn't what Clips was designed for - but the simple interface made it a go-to for our younger learners to add voice to photo. Other than this we had Screen Recording - but this can be fiddly for adults - let alone 4 year olds.... so I went on a mission to find a more solid replacement - something a child could actually drive themselves, without an educator needing to be at their shoulder the whole time.
I couldn't find exactly what I needed, so I built it.
Photo Story is a free iPad and iPhone app with one simple work flow: take a photo, record your voice, save your story. No accounts, no logins, no data collected, completely on device.
It's intentionally simple. Large icons, familiar interactions, clean interface. The work flow looks like this:
It's been downloaded over 26,000 times since launch a month ago (which has been humbling and exciting) and whilst the app was designed for early childhood settings - it is unexpectedly being rolled out in primary school settings all around the country as educators are also seeing the benefit of this being used for older students to share ideas, learning, feedback etc etc.
I'd love to hear how you and the educators you work with are using voice and photo as a documentation tool — and if Photo Story is useful to you, even better. 😊
Search Photo Story on the App Store, or find me at techplayteach.com.
ps. The app was called 'My Photo Story' up until today! So try both if you can't find it.
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