1. What is Tags & Albums app ?

A. Tags & Albums is an easy to use Photo management app for iOS that lets you organize Photos & Videos stored in Photo Library in custom Albums, assign multiple tags to Photos, sort photos by date / map / tag, export Albums & Tags to Folders for computer transfer, and syncs albums & tags to three photo sharing websites - Picasa, Flickr, Facebook. It has most of the essential features of Photo Organization software available on computer, like the Picasa desktop client.

2. Why does the app requires access to Location Services to add Photos from Photo Library ? Does it makes use of user location in any way ?

A. Location Services permission to select Photos from Photo Library is something that is a requirement of AssetsLibrary framework introduced in iOS4 by Apple. It provides faster and direct access to original Photos managed by device's Photo Library. Apple's argument is that granting direct access to Photos implies access to GPS metadata stored in Photos and therefore in a way access to location where photo was taken. A number of apps in App Store, including iMovie from Apple, make use of this framework therefore need user's permission to grant access to User's Location.

In any case, the app is least interested in user's location and does not misuse it in any way.

3. What is a tag, what is used for ?

A. A tag is essentially a string (keyword, category, etc) that describes the Photo. It can be tied to a photo and makes it search/retrieval easier and faster. Tags make the job of Photo Organization much easier.

4. What is an album, what is it used for ?

A. An album is like a folder where photos or videos can be put into. It makes the organization of information hierarchical and logical. In this app, distinction is made between album and folder in that the former stores just the soft links to the actual photos while the latter does store actual photos.

5. What are the sources to select photos from?

A. Camera roll, Photo library and other user created albums in Photo Library.

6. How do I assign multiple tags to Photos ?

A. You can assign tags in two ways - (i) In the tags menu in the main screen, create
a new tag by tapping the '+' button at the top, select the tag, and add one or more photos to it, (ii) In an existing Album or Tag, tap on the up-arrow button at the bottom, select the photos and tap on the button "Add Tags". iii) Inside the album, tap on the photo/video to get it full screen and then tap on the lower left button to add a tag.

7. Where are the tags stored ? Can I view the tags outside the app ?

A. Both the albums & tags are stored in app's internal database and both merely maintain links to the actual photos in Photo Library rather than storing/duplicating the photos within the app. Thus, the tags can be viewed only inside the app, unless you physically export the Tag or Album as a Folder or share or email the photos from within the app. See below for more details.

8. What is the way to export the tags outside the app ?

A. You have the option to export a Tag or an Album as a Folder in which case, the photos are exported to a physical folder and all the tags are written as IPTC keywords in the Photo metadata. The Folder can then be transferred to computer using iTunes File Sharing. These folders are accessible through iTunes. In computer, open iTunes, select the iOS device in the left menu. Click on the apps button on the top menu and then scroll down to the bottom in the File Sharing area to find icon of TagsAlbums. You will now see the folders that were exported. From there you can save the photos and videos to any location on your computer.


9. How does the app export tags associated with a video ?

A. Unfortunately, videos don't have the equivalent of a photo's IPTC metadata and thus their tags info can't be exported. However, the filenames are derived from the tags or albums and that does help you in renaming all of them and makes it much easier to search for them on the computer saving you lots of time.

10. How much disk space does the app use ?

A. Very minimal, since it stores the links to actual Photo or Video stored in Photo Library of iPhone. The only thing that the app stores is an internal database of paths of Photos and low resolution thumbnails.

11. That means I can put the same photo/video in any number of Albums or Tags without taking significantly more space ?

A. Correct.

12. How do I share the Photos from within the app ?

A. You can share Photos from within the app to Facebook, Picasa, Flickr or email them. To share photos, you need to select an Album or Tag to share, and tap the up-arrow button at the bottom. You can either directly tap on Facebook/Picasa/Flickr button in which case the app would determine which photos require upload and initiates the upload process. Or you can manually tap on the photos to select and then select the sharing option, in which case only selected photos will be shared.

13. Sometimes when I try to upload photos to Facebook, Flickr or Picasa it asks whether you want to re-upload it, since these photos have already been uploaded? What does it mean?

A. Tags & Albums keeps a track of what photos were uploaded to the various web services. If you try to re-upload these photos (perhaps with newer tags) then the app will remind you that you have previously uploaded this photo. If you click yes, it will re-upload this photo as a new photo where it will exist along your old photo.

14. How is the Photo sharing mechanism of this app better than any other app ?

A. The Photo sharing mechanism of this app is far better than any other app. At any point and time, the app keeps track of history of photos in each tag and album that have been previously uploaded successfully and automatically shows you which photos require uploading. Apart from that, the sharing mechanism is essentially a sync whereby the local Album is synced with a corresponding Album or PhotoSet with same name in your Picasa/Facebook/Flickr account.

15. What's the difference if I share Photos from an Album or a Tag ?

A. Tag and Album views inside the app look very similar - one can view photos associated with a tag in exactly the same way as one would view the Album. Tag view presents exactly the same set of options that the Albums view shows. However, when you upload from an Album the app checks if an album or PhotoSet with the same name exists in your online user account. If not, it creates a fresh Album or PhotoSet and starts uploading photo in that area. In this way, the app actually syncs your local albums with the corresponding web albums. In case of tags, the uploads are to the default upload folder of the web service. For Flickr it is the user photostream, for Picasa it is the folder named Dropbox and for Facebook it is the folder named "Tags & Albums Photos" which is the default folder for this app.

16. Do I lose other tags associated with a photo if I choose to uload it from a different tag or Album ?

A. No, not at all. Uploading any photo means that all the tags associated with it will be uploaded.

17. Are the Photos resized when sharing or exporting ? What about the EXIF metadata, is it lost ?

A. No, the photos are shared in original resolution and along with the EXIF and GPS info. Along with tags data this is the only data that is exported. Option to resize photos will be made available in a future update.

18. What is the privacy setting of the photos uploaded?

A. For Flickr it is private by default, for Picasa it is private by default and for Facebook it is posted on the wall of the user and is visible to whoever has access to see the user's wall posting. For most users this would typically be friends only.

19. How do I change the cover image of the album or tag?

A. You can change it by going inside the album or tag and dragging the photo or video to be last item. The last item's thumbnail is set as the cover image.

20. What are the albums and tags that I see when I open the app for the first time?

A. These are the albums and tags that we have built in to the app so that you can get started right away. These can be deleted and their cover images replaced by whatever you put as the last image in the album or tag.

21. How many albums or tags can I create?

A. You can create as many as you want to. There is no limit.

22. How many photos or videos can I email ?

A. You can email up to 5 photos or videos subject to a maximum 15 MB limit.

23. How do I delete a album or a tag ?

A. To delete an album, in the Albums tab in main screen, tap on the top right icon and then the delete button. To delete a tag go to tag view, tap on the edit button in the top left corner and then on the red buttons to bring up the delete button for the relevant tag.

24. What happens when I delete an album, tag or the photos/videos within it ?

A. Tags & Albums only stores the links to actual photos and does not own the actual photos. The actual photos continue to exist in your Camera Roll/Photo Library.

25. I accidentally deleted an album, tag or photo/video. What do I do ?

A. Sorry. If you didn't back it up on the web or on your computer you will not be able to retrieve them. Note that the photo/video are still there on the device, so you can recreate tag and album anytime again.

26. What are the various settings available and which ones do I use ?

A. The following settings are available -

i) The ability to cache your Picasa password.

ii) Clear Flickr History. This allows you to login into Flickr as a different user.

27. How does the Picasa login work ?

A. The username and password is required for accessing your Picasa account. The password may be stored based upon what setting you choose in the app settings.

28. How does the Flickr login work?

A. The first time that you login to Flickr, you will have to enter your username and password. After that a token is stored on your iPhone which means that you can access Flickr from thereon without entering your username and password. If you want to delete your Flickr token, go to settings and clear Flickr history.The usernames and passwords aren't stored by the app.

29. How does Facebook login work?

A. If you have facebook app installed on your iOS device, it is automatically opened and then the Facebook app takes care of authentication. Otherwise, it works just like Flickr login process in Safari. The usernames and passwords aren't stored by the app.

30. How do I know the photos were uploaded successfully to Facebook/Flickr/Picasa?

A. You will get a confirmation message stating so.

31. Can the app upload photos in the background?

A. No not in this version, but possibly yes in future version.

32. If I take a photo/video from within the app where does it go?

A. The photo/video is saved to the camera roll and the soft link is stored in Tags & Albums, just like all other photos and videos.

33. What happens if I delete the app Tags & Albums? Will it affect my photos and videos?

A. Your photos and videos will remain exactly the same. However, all the tags and albums you organized in the app will be lost.