[UK]Photo Studio Q&A: Learn how to create high-quality eCommerce images with the Square Photo Studio

[tranguyen]

✨Your products are ready for their closeup!✨

What: We recently updated the Square Photo Studio app with additional styling features including shadow editing, level editing such as exposure and contrast, and the ability to change your images layout through size, position, and rotation tools.  The app enables you to sync a photograph with your Square items or create shoppable payment links to add to online social channels. Quick tour in the video below:

Who: @johnobc on the Square Photo Studio product team answered the questions about the app, and addressed feedback on how it's going with the app so far.

When: This Q&A took place on Wednesday, April 27, from 1:00 PM -2:00 PST/ 9PM -10PM BST.

A few example questions:

• What are the tips and tricks to getting the perfect photo with Square Photo Studio?

• If I could do "_______" with Photo Studio, that would make setting up my inventory so much easier.

• How do I turn a photograph into a shoppable link?

• What’s the best way to use the different style options in the app?

Note: We can't share specific details on our product roadmaps, though this information will be helpful as we continue to make improvements.

[ShaunG]

Why is it only available on iphone?

[johnobc]

First, I want to thank all the Android users for participating in this Q&A and for asking this question. It’s very clear that this is a need you all have and we’re thrilled at the enthusiasm and interest in the app!

The answer is that we will hopefully have an Android version of this app, we absolutely hear all of your requests, but we do not have a timeframe yet. To give more context, the app was built off the foundation of an existing iPhone app that Square acquired in 2021. The app we acquired was iPhone only so there were a lot of features that are included in our Photo Studio app that were built specifically for iPhones - like the machine learning model we use for background removal. We definitely want to release an Android version but it will take us time since we don’t have the same foundation to build off of and will basically be starting from scratch. Hopefully this helps explain why we don’t have an Android version yet since this is our top request but we want everyone to know we hear you!

I noticed this question came up quite a bit 😀 so I'm tagging you all in the reply as well @BijouandVintage @allbutgluten @nella 

[BijouandVintage]

Is this only an IPhone app or can it be used on Android phones like Samsung?

[johnobc]

It's only an iPhone app for now. I tried to provide more context in my reply to @ShaunG 

[allbutgluten]

Very disappointed there is no android version in this day and age. Is this something on the books?

[johnobc]

Sorry to disappoint you but it's nice to hear there's such an interest and need for the app! I tried to provide more context in my reply to @ShaunG as to why we're iPhone only for now

[nella]

When will it be available on Android?

[johnobc]

We don't have an ETA just yet. I tried to provide more context in my reply to @ShaunG as to why

[nella]

For a clothes retailer who is forwarded ordering from his supplier (often months in advance), I can see how this app would help as he can take photos of the samples in the supplier's showroom during the buying appointment. However, this is all quite useless if there is not a way to sell these items to his customers on a 'pre-order' basis, which Square currently can't do. When will this pre-order functionality become available? Is it scheduled?

N.B. The recently released functionality (which might still be in beta, I don't know) that allows customers to order food from restaurants to collect later that day is often incorrectly referred to as "pre-order" on Seller Community. This is not a 'pre-order', but just an 'order'.

[tranguyen]

Thank you for raising this @nella! This particular Q&A is about the Photo Studio app specifically so unfortunately the team won't be able to share information around the ability to process pre-order using Square Online site. I appreciate that the feature has been in the work for a while. We don't have any date to share at the moment yet but I definitely recommend keeping an eye on our Beta Community for any upcoming tests. 

[johnobc · Accepted solution]

Hello Everyone,

Thanks again for taking the time to share your questions and feedback!

I hope I was able to answer your questions and help with any photography tips —the experiences you've shared will also help us as we continue to iterate based on your feedback.

As we close out this event, we wanted to do a recap on three themes that came up frequently:

• Android support - it’s really helpful to see how many of you want an Android version of the app. Thank you again for posting here and letting us know the demand

• Photography tips for different items - there were a few specific questions about how to best photograph different items. If there’s a theme here it’s that using natural, even light, a neutral background, and reducing shadows will lead to the best results. Shadows end up being the enemy of our background removal model - so the more you’re able to fill in gaps around the product the better the app will perform. There’ll be improvements coming here soon as well!

• Text, logos, and watermarks - there were a few feature requests around adding text, logos, and watermarks to images. This is something we definitely want to do and the feedback here has been helpful to prioritize these features

We appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences and we'll continue to improve the Photo Studio app based on your business needs.   

For the latest updates, keep watch for announcements of new features in Product Updates and, if you’re using the app, make sure to turn on push notifications. We’re working to develop and add features pretty quickly and we’d love any feedback as you try out new versions!