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Following up a previous post where we told you guys about a “controversial” new feature being tested for Carousel (Dropbox’s photo management application) that could delete old photos off your phone. The experimental feature was still in testing and frees up space on your phone by deleting old photos only after they have already been backed up to the cloud. This will ensure users always have enough free space to continue shooting photos and videos on their smartphones — no matter how limited their internal storage may be — and can rest assured knowing their old photos are stored safely in Dropbox’s servers.
Well, that feature is now official, with the update coming soon to both iOS and Android versions of the app. Carousel detailed everything via their blog and also unveiled a new feature called Flashback that works much in the same way as Timehop. Flashback will simply show you a photo you took during that same time a few years ago because really, how often does anyone ever go back and looks at their old photos anyway? Now Carousel will do it for you.
Again, the update isn’t ready quite yet, but if you’d like to get a head start, you can download Carousel for free via the Play Store link below.
I no like this idea for me… here is why
When I travel to Europe or abroad, I love DB because when I get wifi coverage – say at my hotel or apartment or a cafe – DB kicks in and backs up my travel photos until that point. Phew – backups made as you can never get those moments back. Now, once I leave a wifi area, and no more access for who knows how many days, imagine if DB would have deleted my photos off my camera. So, now, no photos to review while traveling or no photos to look back at for reference (I often take subway or city map photos) because DB opted to backup my new photos AND kill my photos off my phone just for that window I had wifi access. So now, no internet access, no local photos. I no like that at all.
Naturally they will make it an option to turn on/off, and I like a concept of the oldest killed before the newest which is logical, but I simply cannot imagine a scenario where I would ever turn it on anyway as (1) I don’t buy phones smaller than 32gb – they shouldn’t even make them smaller than that IMHO (2) I don’t buy phones without MicroSD expansion – they shouldn’t even make phones without this also IMHO – so space is never an issue. And even if space was an issue, I would never want my “originals” deleted, I would want DB to be a “backup”, not the sole source of the existing photo and the moment DB deletes your photos you no longer have a backup really.
It’s opt-in and actually pretty genius for the boat loads of cheap Android devices available today. 8GB might not matter too much if you can keep shooting/recording video and never have to worry about deleting old photos. Carousel handling all of this for you makes everything pretty seamless. It’s an awesome option.
Just bought my mom an 8GB Moto G (2nd Gen). Gonna make sure she installs Carousel right off the bat.
Is there a way for her to pin her favorites to stay on the phone? That would be a nice feature
I like that Flashback feature. I’d like to find all the pictures associated with a birthday or a holiday and see how it was each year. I’ll be downloading. And the auto delete I don’t care for as I have plenty of space, but it’s good for others.
wondering how this would work with Google backing up my pictures as well (why not..it’s basically free). I’d just hate for DB to delete the photo before Google has a chance to back it up.