Quick app review: Instant Upload for Facebook brings Google+ functionality to Facebook users on Android
I don’t really use Google+ very often, and neither do a lot of my friends – it’s a great concept in theory, but it honestly hasn’t quite taken off the way Google had originally hoped it would. However, I do use the Google+ app on my HTC EVO 4G LTE for one very important task: I have it set up to automatically upload every single photo I take to a private album in Google+/Picasa, which is then accessible to any other internet-connected device I own.
So, for instance, I can log in to either Google+ or Picasa on my laptop at home, and then view every single photo I’ve taken with my phone – and even download the ones I want to edit or transfer somewhere else. This private Instant Upload album is also automatically synced to the stock Android Gallery app on my ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity, so I can view a slideshow on my tablet while listening to Spotify and drinking wine on my front porch. (Yes, I’m speaking from experience.)
The only problem is, it’s not easy to share photos from Google+ to Facebook. I either have to download the picture to my computer and then upload it to Facebook, or I have to upload it manually from my phone through the Facebook app. There’s nothing automatic or seamless about that.
Enter Instant Upload for Facebook. This is an app that purports to bring Google+ functionality to Facebook users on Android. Here’s how it works: the app will instantly upload all photos you take on your phone to a private album in Facebook. You can set it to upload over 3G, or to wait until it’s got a WiFi connection, and privacy isn’t an issue since the Instant Upload album on Facebook is automatically set to private.
This app will automatically put all your photos within easy reach on Facebook, but there’s still one caveat: you’ll have to log in to your Facebook account from a desktop computer and manually move the photos you want to share to another, non-private album. Alternately, you could just change the privacy settings for your Instant Upload album, but I wouldn’t recommend that.
Google+, on the other hand, allows you to share individual photos from your Instant Upload album without moving them or making the whole album public. The only problem is, no one will ever see them on Google+. So, while this Facebook solution isn’t quite perfect, it will do until Facebook either incorporates similar functionality into its own app, or makes it a bit easier to share individual photos from private albums.
Download: Google Play
