A digital photo journal app could be the key to younger generations rediscovering film photography.

Gen-Z has grown to appreciate all things vintage. For example, they utilize digital and film cameras as a method of capturing emotional memories. However, these cameras have tedious development processes that have become outdated in this age of cell phone photography. Lapse, a new platform, accelerates the film development process on a cell phone offers users a unique blend of nostalgia and modern convenience. 

Released this June, the app ‘Lapse – Disposable Camera’ has conjoined modern cell phone technology and film photography by documenting ‘snaps’ taken with a device’s camera. Photos taken on the app have a special filter that resembles that of film photography, and the photos are developed at random times throughout the day. 

One can share these snapshots with friends and archive them to add to a monthly collage or organize them into personal albums. Additionally, Lapse users have direct messages where instants (photos that mimic polaroids) can be sent to other friends immediately, without waiting for random developing times. All in all, it can be deduced that the app is a refreshing form of social media that captures raw moments that can be shared amongst your closest friends. 

Giselle Potts ‘26, a frequent Lapse user, recounts the reasons behind downloading the platform and how it stands out in the plethora of social media applications. 

Potts says, “I received a direct invitation to download the app from my friend, which I haven’t seen before.” Before gaining full access to the platform, the app requires users to send invites to download the app to a certain number of friends. This dispersion definitely helped to diffuse Lapse on a wide scale. 

She continues, “I like how [Lapse] includes a monthly journal and allows us to [create] our albums with songs of our own choice.” She elaborates by explaining that this accessibility gives users the freedom to express their preferences while storing memories in one place. Lapse gives users creative capabilities that aren’t seen in other widespread media apps like Instagram or VSCO.

As the platform was just released earlier just this year, Lapse still has areas for improvement. Avani Lakkireddy ‘24 touches on issues in using Lapse and suggestions to improve its overall experience. 

“[The random development of photos] can be annoying at times, especially when you are taking photos with your friends and theirs develops earlier, but it adds some excitement as well.” She proposes to add a feature that gives users one free development a day to enhance the app experience. 

“At this point, I think it isn’t necessary to require sending multiple invites to different friends to use the app, it has [discouraged] at least five of my friends from using it because of its [inconvenience],” Lakkireddy states due to many having already downloaded Lapse, there is a difficulty in finding people to send invites to who haven’t already created an account on Lapse. 

The app has both positive and negative aspects from allowing users to capture raw, film-like moments and express their creativity with personalized albums and monthly journals to However, the app’s requirement to send multiple invites to friends for full access and the random development of photos can be seen as drawbacks, potentially discouraging some potential users and introducing an element of unpredictability into the experience. All together, Lapse has an innovative perspective in social media and photography that creates an enhanced experience for users.