It's been some time since our last newsletter and in the meantime a lot has happened!

Utiful for iOS
Latest version: 6.11.3

• Share to your Instagram Story: You can now share pictures form Utiful directly to your Instagram Story! Open a picture, tap Share and choose "Instagram Story".
• Change Utiful Background: Don't like white space? Use one of your pictures as Utiful Background! Open a picture, tap Share and choose "Use as Utiful Background".
• Support for RAW images: RAW image formats (e.g. DNG, CR2, NEF etc.) are now preserved when importing photos as well as when exporting them out of the app.
• Press & Hold to Copy or Share: Press and hold on a picture to view the shortcut menu.
• Sync Stability: We invested a lot in improving the sync stability.
• General Stability: We have fixed some nasty bugs that were causing trouble.
• Family Sharing: Just a reminder that your family can use Utiful for free. Find more info here.
• +++ COMING NEXT +++: Add a caption and notes to pictures, set a folder cover picture and, and, and!
• If you'd like to rate our app, you can do this here.

 

Utiful for Android
Latest version: 4.4.11

• Edit Folder Color: You can now change the border color and the fill color of the folder icon, and even combine this with emojis to create your unique folder looks!
• Subfolders: You can now create subfolders!
• Rearrange Folders: Besides sorting, you can now rearrange folders! Select one or more folders, tap the Rearrange button and choose their new position in the grid.
• Rearrange Photos within a Folder: You can now rearrange photos within a folder! Select one or more photos, tap the Rearrange button and choose their new position in the folder.
• Improved Sync with File System: In the settings you now see where your Utiful folders are located on your device. If you import further folders to Utiful from your computer or if you are experiencing difficulties viewing your pictures, use the improved function "Sync Utiful folders with file system".
• General Stability: A lot has been improved under the hood in the past months!
• +++ COMING NEXT +++: Crop pictures, powerful folder search and, and, and!

Hi there!

In the past weeks we have added a lot more functionality for you, there you go:
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• Family Sharing: Your family can use Utiful for FREE! See the bottom of this email for details.
• Sort folders alphabetically: We added this in the Utiful iOS version 6.6.0 (released on Dec 3rd) and in the Utiful Android version 3.8.0 (released on Nov 11th)!
• Crop & Rotate pictures: We added this in the Utiful iOS version 6.7.0 (released on Dec 21st). With the "Edit" button you can now not only annotate but also crop and rotate pictures!
• Share to your Instagram Story: The Utiful iOS version 6.8.0 is in the making and will be published shortly after Christmas. It will enable you to share pictures form Utiful directly to your Instagram Story!

Merry Christmas to everyone! Stay safe and healthy!
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​Beginning of December, Apple released the long-awaited ability to share subscriptions with your family as part of the standard iOS Family Sharing functionality. We immediately enabled this for the Utiful subscription!

This means, if you are a Utiful subscriber, you can share your Utiful subscription with up to 4 further family members, so they can use Utiful COMPLETELY FOR FREE on as many devices as they wish without having to pay a subscription themselves.

A general prerequisite is of course that your family is using Apple's Family Sharing (iOS Settings > Apple ID > Family Sharing). You will also need to enable Family Sharing for Utiful (iOS Settings > Apple ID > Subscriptions > Utiful > scroll to the bottom and turn on the switch "Share with Family". You might additionally need to enable subscription sharing in the Family Sharing settings (iOS Settings > Apple ID > Family Sharing).

Please note that it's only the Utiful subscription that is being shared with your family, not your Utiful pictures. The Utiful contents of each family member remain their own and are not shared with anyone else. Every family member has their independent Utiful installation and their own Utiful folders.

We have great news for you!

We have decided to build a Utiful app for Mac computers and for Windows PCs! The ability to view and organize your Utiful folders on your computer has been by far the most requested enhancement!

We know this will be a huge challenge and we will definitely need your help and your support with it!
Here's how you can help us build the Utiful Mac app and the Utiful Windows app as fast as possible:

1. If you know an investor or a venture capitalist who would be interested to invest in our company and thus fund the development of the Mac app and the Windows app, please forward them this newsletter or point them to our Investors page.
2. We need to know what is important to you about Utiful and have prepared a short survey that takes less than a minute to fill out. Please help us understand what's important to you by filling out the survey here.

Other news:

• We have recently published the Utiful iOS version 6.4.0 that introduced a long-awaited feature: Slideshow! Here's a short Youtube video that illustrates the slideshow feature.
• In the Utiful iOS version 6.4.0 we've made scrolling through your pictures much smoother!
• In a couple of days we'll publish the Utiful iOS version 6.5.0 that will make it possible to close a picture by simply swiping down!
• We have also already started the work on the Utiful iOS version 7.0.0 that will give you more options to customize how your folders look like.

If you'd like to rate our app, you can do this here for iOS and here for Android.

We wish you a great day!   

From the iOS Camera Roll
In the normal case, the photos you want to import into Utiful are in the camera roll of your iPhone or iPad.

1. The most straightforward way is of course to use the "Add Photos" button in Utiful - either from the Folders screen or directly from a folder, if you want to add the photos to this very folder. This is also illustrated in Tutorial Video 1 "How to MOVE (not just copy!) photos from the Camera Roll to Utiful folders".
2. Another very useful way is to file photos to your Utiful folders directly from the iOS Photos app! Simply select the photos in the Photos app, tap the Share button (the square with the up-arrow) and choose "Save to Utiful" from the sharing actions. If "Save to Utiful" is not visible in the list of sharing actions, swipe up on iOS 13 and activate it (or scroll right on previous iOS versions, tap the "More" button and activate it from there). After the photos are saved in Utiful, you are returned to the Photos app and the images remain selected, so you simply tap "Cancel" to exit the sharing sheet and then tap "Delete" to delete the images from the camera roll. This is also illustrated in Tutorial Video 2 "Move photos from the Camera Roll to Utiful without leaving the Photos app".

From Google Photos, Messages, Mail, WhatsApp, and Any Other App
You can save photos to Utiful not only from the Photos app but from any other app that can share photos. For example, you receive photos via iMessage in the Messages app, over e-mail in the Mail app, in WhatsApp or in any other messenger app. To save photos from another app to Utiful, you simply need to select the photos in the other app, select the sharing function of this app (normally this is also a square button with an up-arrow) and choose "Save to Utiful".
 Importing Whole Folder Structures From ComputerYou might want to import a photo collection that you keep on your computer into Utiful, so it is always with you, neatly organized in the Utiful app. This is easily possible not only with one folder with photos but a also with a whole folder structure of folders and subfolders!
 
Importing wirelessly from Mac using AirDrop

1. Make sure WiFi and Bluetooth are activated on your Mac and on your iPhone/iPad.
2. In the Finder app on your Mac, select the folders you want to import, right-click and choose Share > AirDrop.
3. Choose your iPhone/iPad when it's displayed in the AirDrop share dialog.
4. On your iPhone/iPad, you'll be prompted to accept the incoming folders. Choose Utiful as the target app.

 
NEW! Importing from Windows PC or Mac using iTunes
A couple of days ago we published Utiful version 6.3.0 for iOS, which includes this very useful new feature to help also Windows users to import whole folder structures from their computer into Utiful on their iPhone/iPad.

1. Connect your iPhone/iPad to your computer.
2. Start iTunes on the computer (or Finder, if you are on Mac running MacOS Catalina) and select your device.
3. Choose "File Sharing" and locate Utiful in the list of apps for file sharing.
4. Drag and drop the folders you want to import from their location on your computer to the Utiful file sharing icon.
5. Open Utiful on your iPhone/iPad. It will automatically move the folders from its file sharing area into the app.​

PLANNED! Importing Folders From the Files App, Dropbox, OneDrive, iZip and Many Other Apps
In one of the next versions we'll make it possible that you can save whole folders from any file manager app to Utiful! For example, you'll be able to save a whole photo folder from the Dropbox app to Utiful!

If you'd like to rate our app, you can do this here for iOS and here for Android.

If you have questions or improvement suggestions, do not hesitate to contact us anytime - we're here for you!