Snapthread’s journey to version 2.0 has been one of gradually broadening market appeal. If you recall, version 1.0 was an extremely niche product, aimed at people who took lots of short, vertical videos and wanted to merge them together. Over time I added the ability to merge Live Photos, and then added support for landscape videos. I thought I’d market Snapthread as a cool app for stitching Live Photos together, but quickly learned that even Live Photos are pretty niche.

Recently, after spending a couple hours studying the top charts in the Photo/Video category, I realized that Snapthread could be a great, useful app for just about everybody. In the reviews of some top video editing apps, users bemoaned shady subscription practices, being constantly nagged to buy in-app purchases, and being asked to give 5-star ratings in order to use features (for the record, it’s impossible for devs to unlock features based on star rating). I don’t do any of those things with Snapthread. In fact, Snapthread doesn’t collect any analytics, store any user data, or contain any subscription options. Just a plain old “premium unlock” IAP and, in 2.0, a tip jar.

Based on my research, I know there are some things I need to do to help Snapthread gain exposure. I need to add “Video Editor” to Snapthread’s name to help it show up in search results. I need to add “slideshow maker” to its keywords, because apparently people are hungry for simple slideshow creation apps. Despite Apple’s guidelines, I need to add device frames and descriptions to my App Store screenshots, because that’s what all my competitors do (including Clips by Apple).

I also need a new elevator pitch. The app isn’t “just” for Live Photos anymore. So what is Snapthread? Snapthread is a simple, casual video editor and slideshow maker that works with videos, still images, and Live Photos. It’s fun, fast, and user-friendly.

So how will Snapthread 2.0 compare to Clips, which is free?

• Snapthread supports multiple aspect ratios (portrait, landscape, or square); Clips only supports square.
• Snapthread imports Live Photos as videos; Clips treats Live Photos as still images.
• Snapthread allows you to mute, loop, bounce, rotate, trim, and crop clips; Clips supports muting and trimming.
• Snapthread doesn’t have project management or an in-app camera.
• Clips has Live Titles, selfie scenes, animated title posters and stickers; Snapthread has non-animated title posters.
• Both apps only support one music track per video.
• Neither app has options for transitions between videos (i.e. wipe, cross-dissolve, etc.)

I’m going to do my best to continue to improve Snapthread with things like stickers and transitions, and the ability to select a specific portion of a music track.

This shift in thinking about Snapthread has been exciting for me, and I’m really looking forward to marketing it as a mass market product.