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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/21/green-apps-and-gadgets-snaply
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Freecycling app Snaply – tried and tested | Freecycling app Snaply – tried and tested |
| (4 months later) | |
| In the last few years, giveaway community websites such as Freecycle, MySkip, Freegle and LetsAllShare have been popping up, as people realise that a) we throw items away for hundreds of reasons that have nothing to do with their functionality, and b) passing on working items you no longer want is greener and kinder than chucking them away. | |
| Snaply, which launched nationally last month, is an app that’s integrated with the established freecycling website, Freegle. If you have an item you want to give away or sell, you take a picture and upload it with a description. It’s automatically added both on the app and on the Freegle website, and your location will be taken from your smartphone’s GPS and listed. If anyone wants your item, they can request it or ask you a question about it before they decide to take it. So far over 90,000 items have been listed, and they are looking to introduce a one-touch payment system for items you can’t let go for free. | |
| Online reviewers were overwhelmingly positive | Online reviewers were overwhelmingly positive |
| Five stars: “Very happy. Have collected a beautiful plant from a lovely lady. Great for selling and recycling any unwanted items.” A common theme in the five star reviews was comparing it to existing selling or freecycling sites – “This is like a modern, easy-to-use Freecycle” and “Like a breeze of fresh air compared to bloated eBay.” | |
| There are just a couple of negative reviews. This two-star rating came from one of you, I assume, since they called themselves Guardian reader on the go: “Great app in theory! I had several listings and requests and arrangements in progress and can’t access any of them. Seem to be wiped. Left potential ‘takers’ hanging. They must think me really rude.” | |
| It used to be the case that you could only sign into Snaply using Facebook, but it’s since been updated so you can sign up with email. That should please the user who gave Snaply just one star, and made his reason for dragging down the average iTunes rating abundantly clear with his eight-word review: “I don’t want to log in via Facebook!!” (I wonder if this was penned by the same guy who left my favourite review ever: “This product is rubbish, it didn’t fit in my satchel”?) | |
| My own verdict: the minus points | My own verdict: the minus points |
| • The name “Snaply” doesn’t bring freecycling to mind. In fact, it sounds like the name of a children’s storybook character, “Snaply the naughty crocodile”. Snaply’s founder, Andrew Widgery, says the name is a double meaning – “snap” means both speed and snapping a photo (and also sounds like “app”). An app to post a snap in a snap. Nice. (Is anyone else still thinking about crocodiles?) | |
| • I admit that the lamp and bookshelves that I was offering were pretty rubbish. But still no one wanted them! Even though they were free! | • I admit that the lamp and bookshelves that I was offering were pretty rubbish. But still no one wanted them! Even though they were free! |
| • An obvious drawback of freecycling is you’re essentially buying from amateur sellers, and that comes with problems that buying things new does not. If you fancy an item you’ve seen on Snaply, you only have a picture and cursory description to go on, and it’s amazing how many people don’t bother uploading a photo at all (come on, guys! You can’t leave the snap out of Snaply!). At least when you buy something new online, you tend to get extra information such as dimensions, materials used, photos from every angle and customer reviews. | |
| And the plus points: | And the plus points: |
| • Freecycling gives you the option of two different reductions in your carbon footprint: giving items instead of throwing them away (after which they may end up in landfill), and buying perfectly functional secondhand items instead of buying new. | |
| • It says “Great shot!” when you take a picture. Aw, shucks. Thanks. | • It says “Great shot!” when you take a picture. Aw, shucks. Thanks. |
| • It’s integrated with Freegle, so your Snaply listing is automatically uploaded onto Freegle’s system – which has over a million users in the UK. So if you’re dying to get shot of something you’re not just relying on the audience of a recently launched app. | |
| • If you sign up with your email address, you get an email alert when someone responds to your ad or request. I liked not having to obsessively check the app (the way I obsessively check my emails) to see if anyone was interested in my secondhand wobbly bookshelf (they weren’t). | |
| • It’s much more functional than the freecycling websites. With the app, you can list an item in seconds because you’re on a device that can take and upload a picture, type in a description, and your location services will take care of showing the item’s whereabouts. Compared to taking a photo, transferring it to a computer and then uploading, it’s a much quicker process on the app. | |
| • When you come across an item that interests you, there are three buttons: watch, ask and request. These features make user intentions very clear. “Watching” is a sideways glance across a bar, perhaps a wink. “Asking” is for specific queries in order to work out whether you and the chest of drawers would really be a match. And “request” is a big fat “Yes! I must have this item in my life!” | |
| • There is also the option to “unwatch” an item on which you’ve previously clicked “watch”. Essentially you’re retracting your interest. This is brilliant and I wish we could do it in real life with acquaintances and potential lovers, because you’re changing your mind without a) stringing them along or b) having to send an awkward message that the “will they/won’t they?” between their lamp and you is just not going to work out, you’re just so busy right now, it’s not them it’s you … | |
| In summation: | In summation: |
| What Snaply does isn’t new, but it’s improved upon an existing eco action. As with most green actions, the real hurdle is getting enough users to do it, and habitually. Freecycling would have to become a much bigger trend before it starts making a significant dent in the wasteful practice of needlessly chucking things away. But I’d say Snaply is a start, and a slickly-functioning one at that. You can declutter your home and shop for things you need with a shallower carbon footprint – plus it’s always fun to legally sidestep the taxman. | |
| And best of all, it fits in my satchel. | And best of all, it fits in my satchel. |
| You can download Snaply free for iOS or Android. | |
| Interested in finding out more about how you can live better? Take a look at this month's Live Better Challenge here. | Interested in finding out more about how you can live better? Take a look at this month's Live Better Challenge here. |
| The Live Better Challenge is funded by Unilever; its focus is sustainable living. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled advertisement feature. Find out more here. | |