[jmenter]

I was never a fan of the first version of this app, despite being a mobile app developer and a photography nerd. I paid for and tried the initial version (Mark I?) a year or two ago, and, aside from a few manual settings and RAW capture it didn't do a whole lot beyond what the stock photo app did, and Halide's UI was a bit worse to boot. But whatever.

Now I re-download Halide (the version I paid for a year or two ago) to see what this new version is all about and I'm presented with a bewildering splash screen, prompting me to subscribe (for what now?) and I do everything I can to not subscribe, and then I'm taken to the permissions screen, and it's asking for camera permissions (totally reasonable), photo library access (ok, but let's hold on for a sec), and location access (no thank you), and I can't get anywhere in the app that I paid for, without granting all three permissions.

Having location access a hard requirement for a photo app is just ridiculous. What product owner made this decision? IMO it's completely out of touch and user hostile.

Edit: turns out the hard constraint was access to the photo library. Which, how was I to know that? The UI seemed to indicate that I couldn't proceed until all the boxes were checked.

Look, I get that this is a specialized app and I understand the complexity and nuance related to app permissions. Which means the app developer has to be super clear about what the requirements are from the start.

[LeoNatan25]

Just tested. It let me photograph with the location permission disabled just fine. Maybe you are hitting a bug.

I agree about the subscription annoyance. It tells me I have “Free updates until Oct 23 2021” but still bombarded me with “subscribe” on launch! I find this predatory.

[jmenter]

It could be that photo library access was the hard constraint. I wasn't going to allow that until I got to play around with the app. I'll try again and re-assess.

[LeoNatan25]

Yes, it’s library access. Just tested. You can, however, on iOS 14, grant it selective access with no selection, which will basically give it a write-only access.

[kingnight]

While I disagree with the opinion of the application, and think the response to the gating/requirements for use is unfair, there is good feedback for the developers of Halide, and app developers in general to chew on in this comment.

For an app that wants to save photos for the user, how do you do this permissions gating without irritating the cursory view by skeptical user?

For an app that wants to make sure you don't lose any metadata/exif (including location) how can you do that without raising eyebrows for location permissions.

How can you communicate the value prop to convert a subscription? I think the app does a great job for existing users in providing a 1yr automatic subscription (would have thought parent comment would get this) but I also am confused, and will be confused, when that time is up I think.

--

Halide is a incredible application. One of my favorites. I don't use it as much as I could benefit from it because of the problem of it not having the same immediate access as the native camera app does, but also it does not include Live Photo capture which for me and moments with friends and family is essential. That said, it's the best built app I have on my phone, the best design, provides path to incredible photography results, and I will continue to pay for it.

[sandofsky]

Developer here. The only time we show you the permission screen is if the two critical permissions, Photo Library and Camera, are not granted. Location is completely optional, but allows you to geo tag photos. If you find that isn't the case, that's absolutely a bug, and we'll look into what's going on.

[jmenter]

Sorry, I made an assumption (that all three permissions were necessary) after granting camera permissions but not photo library or location permissions. The UI was not clear about what was actually required, and the "Continue" button was enabled but didn't get me anywhere.

Look, it's 2020 and tech is getting so human-hostile in so many different ways. I think it behooves us to make sure there's always a way our software can be used no matter how restrictive our users are with permissions.

Thanks for your response.

[jmenter]

Did the price of Halide just jump from $5 (or, $3 as I paid in 2017 according to my receipt) to $30?