VSCO is releasing VSCO Cam 3.0 for Android today, bringing performance enhancements and adding access to the VSCO Grid, the company's curated feed of images from VSCO users. The update brings the Android app to parity with the iOS version, which has had full support for VSCO Grid since February of this year.
Users of the Android app can view the curated feed of images posted to VSCO Grid, or search for and follow the Grids of other VSCO users. VSCO says that millions of images have already been uploaded to Grids since the service debuted earlier this year. The Android app has offered the option to share photos directly to a Grid for some time, but until now, it was not possible to view other Grids within the app.
Though the VSCO Grid adds a dose of social features to what is otherwise a straight photographic tool, VSCO has taken a firm stance against adding features such as comments and likes, keeping VSCO Cam unique from Instagram in an important way. "VSCO Grid has not, and will never be, about numbers," said VSCO CEO Joel Flory earlier this year. "It is not a social clout platform." He says that Android users have been "writing daily" to request support for the platform since it launched on iOS.
The new version of VSCO Cam for Android also offers interface improvements and performance enhancements. I've been using it on my Motorola Moto X for a few days and it does feel slightly faster and more responsive than before. The changes aren't significant enough to upset existing users, however.
VSCO Cam is one of our favorite mobile photography apps, and the company has been able to stave off stiff competition by consistently updating its apps with more presets and editing tools every few weeks. Instagram recently rolled out finer grained editing tools that borrowed a lot of ideas from VSCO Cam, but it still doesn't offer the same level of control for advanced photographers.
With VSCO Grid now available on both Android and iOS, VSCO is positioning itself as a viable publishing platform for photographers. The company also recently announced VSCO Journal, a photography-centric longform publishing platform similar to Exposure or Storehouse. VSCO says that Journal is designed to complement VSCO Cam and VSCO Grid and it will be available in the near future. Meanwhile, you can download VSCO Cam 3.0 for Android from the Google Play Store starting today.
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