A Munich-based startup is out today with another variation on picture sharing: you create one image with someone else.
Called Paiir (pronounced "pair"), the app allows users to take or select an image, tweak it, and then select an image from a feed or library populated by someone you're following. The two merge to become one split image. After 24 hours, the combined image vanishes, but a user can highlight it for indefinite keeping.
Simple photo editing filters, drawing tools, and stickers enable you to customize your half of the merged final. A public gallery shows staff choices of the best visual portmanteaus. Logging in with your Facebook credentials can give you access to your friend network on that platform.
The app is free, and the small company is oriented first toward building a user base and getting feedback before focusing on revenue. Eventually, CEO and cofounder Moritz Kremb told me, in-app purchasing of stickers, additional editing tools, and other paid features might be offered.
Although he described Paiir as "a new way of expressing yourself," it picks up on the trend by Tworlds and others to jointly create a single visual expression.
The company was founded by three Germans -- developers Moritz and his brother Julian and marketer Christopher Obereder -- and it is backed with an undisclosed amount from Swedish investor Stefan Bergström.
Paiir is currently available only for iOS, although Kremb said an Android version is in the works.