PhotoPresenter app – Review

PhotoPresenter app
Developer: Boinx Software
Free in App Store (two in-app purchases)
PhotoPresenter

PhotoPresenter is an app with a very specific, niche purpose. It allows you to wirelessly display the photos from your iDevice on a second screen via AirPlay. If you are a presenter or if you want to show your photos via Apple TV, this is a great solution.

The big benefit with PhotoPresenter is that you view all of your photos in a grid on your iDevice but your audience only sees the photo that you select. When you tap to select a new photo, it discreetly dissolves over the previous one and eliminates the jarring blink.

When you open the app, you see a gray screen with the PhotoPresenter logo and instructions to connect to an AirPlay device. This is easily accomplished by swiping upward from the bottom of your iPhone/iPad screen, selecting AirPlay and turning on Mirroring. After that you can display any photo from any album in your library with a single tap. AirPlay connectivity dropped out a couple of times for me, but it was easily reconnected with a couple of quick taps.

PhotoPresenter has two in-app purchases. There is a $0.99 Laser Pointer add-on. With this enabled, you tap the upper right corner of the photo being displayed and a small dot follows your finger around the screen. A menu choice also lets you use a Mouseposé-like highlighted circle that follows your gestures. And just for fun, there is also a cartoon hand with an extended index finger that you can use to point out details as if your hand were in front of the screen.

The other in-app purchase puts a glossier spin on corporate presentations. You can add your company logo or an image to the blank screen instead of seeing the PhotoPresenter logo. It is priced at $19.99. This seems much too expensive to me, but for corporate uses I suppose it will be considered a justifiable expense. This is probably why Boinx priced it this way.

Keynote presentation slides must be run in order, but PhotoPresenter allows you to give an ad hoc talk while having access to all of your photos. Imagine making a photo folder containing product photos including some JPEGs with text. You can give your talk and skip around all you want. This is especially useful when people ask questions and you need to jump back to earlier photos.

PhotoPresenter isn’t for everyone as it is aimed at presenters, teachers, sales people, and the like. If you have an Apple TV, it also is a wonderful way to show your photos to friends and family. The app is free and many people will find that they don’t really need the two in-app purchase features.

MyMac Review rating is 8 out of 10.