Web Albums App

Getting Started

If you have other questions, please read our FAQ.

Overview

Thank you for purchasing Web Albums App! Web Albums App lets you view, upload, and manage your online Google Picasa photos and videos. Our App requires that you have an existing Google Picasa account. If you don't have one, please set one up.

Now, let's get started!

Login

Here are step-by-step instructions on how to log in:

  1. From the App, tap Picasa Web Account.
  2. Type in your Google Picasa username and password.
  3. Tap Test Account Settings to fully access your account. If you leave out the password, you'll only see public albums and you won't be able to edit or delete albums.

If you're having issues with the login, please take a look at our FAQ.

Tab Navigation

The first thing you'll notice when you start Web Albums App are the tabs at the bottom of the screen. The four tabs are:

Viewing Your Albums

Tap on the Albums tab and you'll find your albums organized by Accounts. Tap on an account and your albums will be listed by date, newest first. You can change the order of the albums from Settings > Viewing > Album Sort.

To refresh or update any of your albums, just use the "Pull-to-Refresh" feature by pulling down on the screen until you see the "Pull down to refresh..." text at the top, and then letting go.

Tap on any album and you'll see thumbnails of all the photos.

Tapping on any thumbnail will show the photo in full screen.

Just swipe the screen or use the arrows in the bottom toolbar to move between photos. Tap the screen to make the toolbars appear or disappear. Double tap or pinch to zoom in and out of the picture.

In the thumbnails screen, videos are labeled as so on the thumbnails. As you are swiping through the items in your album, videos are marked with a Play arrow icon in the middle of the screen. To play, tap on the video. It may take a moment for the video to load depending on your Internet connection speed.

A slideshow is ideal if you want to show all the photos in an album to your family or friends. Just tap the Play button in the bottom toolbar from the Album screen (with the thumbnails) or the Full Photo screen. You can adjust the speed from the Settings tab > Slideshow > Play Each Slide.


Caching Photos

This is the best hidden feature that happens automatically in the background. As you browse your photos, the thumbnails of your photos and high-resolution images are automatically saved inside the App. This lets you view your photos offline or see them more quickly, even when you're on a slow connection.

Here's a shortcut. You can even set entire albums for caching from the Settings tab > Caching > Album Cache Settings.

And you can always adjust the number of photos you want to keep cached on your device by using the slider under Settings > Caching.

Saving Photos

Sometimes, you just want to have your Picasa photos saved to your device's Camera Roll (iPhone) or Saved Photos (iPod touch) album. There's two ways to do this.

If you're already browsing the full size photo, then you can tap on the Action Sheet button > Save Photo.

If you're in the thumbnails screen, you can tap on the Action Sheet button, which is the button with the folder with an arrow, and save multiple photos at once.


Sharing

Here's how to share your photos, videos, and albums from Web Albums App:

Uploading

The quickest way to get your photos on your iPhone or iPod to Picasa web is using the Uploads tab.

Tap on the blue Library button to choose your photos and videos you want to upload. The uploads will appear in the list in the Uploads tab. If you want to cancel an upload, swipe across the screen and tap on the cancel button.

Note: On the first upload, you'll be asked to allow access to Your Current Location (Location Services). Make sure to tap Allow. By doing this, you'll be able to upload videos and multiple pictures at once. Please see the FAQ for details.

If you're already inside an album, you can upload from there without going to the Uploads tab. Just tap the Up arrow button, pick the photos and videos for upload, and you're done.

On an iPhone or iPod touch equipped with a camera, you can upload photos and videos directly from your camera. Just tap the Camera button instead of the Library button.

You can monitor the progress of the uploads from the Uploads tab but the App also supports background upload, so you can use other apps while you're uploading. A numerical badge representing the number of uploads you have left will appear over the Web Albums App icon in the device's Home screen. If you're uploading videos or a lot of high-resolution photos, we recommend you keep the App open, because your Apple device will stop background uploads if they're taking too long.

Viewing Your Friends' Albums

To view your friends' albums, including the private ones they have shared with you, go to the Friends tab from the tab navigation. Your Picasa Favorites should automatically appear in the list. Facebook Friends will need to be added using the "+" button.

There are three ways you can add a friend's Picasa albums, all done by tapping the "+" button.

If you have other questions, please read our FAQ.