Separate Your Screenshots With Screenshot Journal
Screenshot Journal ($1.99) by UI Forge LLC is a photo album for every screenshot that resides in your device’s Camera Roll.
I take a lot of screenshots on my iPhone — everyday. Of course, most of it is for work here at AppAdvice, but I do take screenshots to send to friends as well. I know that a lot of people wish that screenshots were kept separate from the rest of the Camera Roll, you know, where we want to keep our photographs in. Fortunately, Screenshot Journal helps alleviate that problem, somewhat. It’s also a great tool for designers that want to archive and inspect iOS screenshots and mockups that may have accumulated on their iOS devices.
Once Screenshot Journal is launched, it will begin scouring your entire Camera Roll for screenshot images. Any screenshots will be imported immediately to the app. Depending on how many you have, and how large your library is, this initial process may take a few moments, but it’s not that long of a wait.
When the app has gathered them all, you will find that all screenshots are organized by month — this is especially useful for those that work with mockups and design, because you can see how you’ve progressed in that time.
There are three views for your screenshots: Storage (All), Favorites, and Trash.
When you tap on an image, you will be able to view it, just like you would in Photos.app. However, Screenshot Journal has some incredibly useful features that just can’t be found in the default Photos. You will also be able to see what kind of screenshot it is: iPhone Retina, iPad Retina, iPad, etc.
Multitouch gestures are welcome for zooming in and out of a selected screenshot. You can zoom out to 50 percent, and you can zoom in up to 3200 percent. Yes, that’s right — you can zoom in up to 32 times on a single image. This means that you can view everything, down to the very last pixel. If you have even the slightest eye for design, then you should find this incredibly useful.
To make things even better, there is a toggle to have a grid displayed on the screenshot while zoomed in (at more than 100 percent). This helps you see every single pixel, though it’s completely optional. It’s an invaluable thing for those that need to work with details, though.
Any image can be added to your Favorites, or put away in the Trash. You can even copy the screenshot, tweet it, or email it. Images that are stored in the Trash will be separated from the Storage, but not deleted permanently, unless you empty it out. Just think of it like Recycle Bin on Windows or the Trash folder on Mac — the files are still there and can be restored at any time, or you can get rid of them forever.
In addition to being a useful utility app, Screenshot Journal also has a beautiful design itself. I normally am not a fan of orange, but it works well with the black here. Also, I am absolutely in love with the icon (hey, this is one of the most important elements of an app).
One thing I wish the app allowed users to do was to quickly view multiple images. Currently, you view one image, then you have to go back and select another. I kind of wish it would allow you to swipe left and right to navigate between images quickly and get to the one you’re looking for, just like in Photos. There also isn’t a way to select a bunch of photos at once to share.
It would also be nice to see the app delete screenshots from your Camera Roll once they are imported (so you only phave actual photos there), but I believe this is a limitation imposed by Apple. I hope that they will lift it someday — until then, I can only dream.
Despite these small flaws, Screenshot Journal is a priceless tool for those that need to work with iOS screenshots or just separate the screenshots from the rest of their photographs — when the standard Photos app just won’t cut it. Whether it be auditing your own designs or someone elses or just satisfying your OCD over pixels, this app is incredibly handy to have around.
It’s well worth the $1.99 entry price, and can only get better in future updates.
