Kicksend has developed an iPhone app that works in conjunction with it’s Kicksend Internet program to allow users to quickly send up to 30 high-res photos or videos at a time from an iPhone to anyone, anywhere, at any time.
With the Kicksend iPhone app, there are no constraints on photo size, and no concerns about email bounces because the photos aren’t included in the email. Rather, they are uploaded to secure file servers. The recipient then receives an email with links to the photos.
To use the iPhone Kicksend app, one must be registered on line at kicksend.com so that the company can accept and hold the photos you are sending out. The recipient of the photos does not have to be affiliated with Kicksend at all unless they too want to use the service. The photos you send out using Kicksend are retained for a short time and then deleted from their servers. Photos can be sent to as many recipients as you wish.
The app is free and each user is granted 1 GB of free bandwidth per month. Additional amounts of bandwidth may be purchased: 5GB (US$5.00 per month), 10GB (US$10.00 per month), and 20GB (US$20.00 per month).
Using the product
This app is very easy to use. You open the app and are taken to the photo album on your iPhone. You select the pictures or videos that you wish to send out by tapping them once. Your choices are marked with a red checkmark.
Images selected using Kicksend
When your choices are made, select the Continue button in the top right corner, and your images are opened in an email which you can then address to as many people as you wish. Hit send when ready and the emails go out.
The recipients receive an email that contains thumbnails of each image next to a link to that image. They are told they have three days to download them. When they click on the link, they go to the Kicksend Internet site, directly to the images or videos you sent. They then have the option to simply view them or download them.
The quality of the photos one receives are really quite good. You, as the sender have the option of sending them as small, medium, or large images. Choosing large does not in any way distort smaller images. This small image, probably taken on the first day of school, was taken approximately 64 years with a Kodak camera. The original was 3 x 5-in. When downloaded from Kicksend it was much larger with no distortion and elements that were not very clear in the original snapshot were quite visible on my desktop. I was very pleased with the results.
Image send using Kicksend
System Requirements
Version 1.1.1 was released on Feb 4, 2012 in English only. Requirements are: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad and iOS 4.3 or later. Version 1.2 was released on March 8 with improved UI and performance plus Facebook support.
Do I recommend it?
I do. With modest use, it can be free of charge. It’s easy to use, and it works. What’s not to love? For those who use their iPhones for serious photography purposes, this app is a good way to get those pictures safely back to a home or work computer while still out on the road.