Storehouse App Perfects Visual Storytelling

Broadcast and multimedia journalists  have been waiting a long time for a simple, easy way to tell stories using their mobile devices.  A new iOS app called Storehouse may just be the solution we’ve been waiting for.

Photos and videos can be cropped and arranged simply by dragging them into position. Text can also be added.

This free iPad app allows users to import photos and videos from their camera roll, Dropbox, Flickr or Instagram accounts, add text, and publish them as a multi-touch story that’s viewable on any mobile device or desktop.

Unlike Instagram or Vine which only allow a single image or video to be viewed at a time, Storehouse allows you to collect and curate a group of images or videos to tell a more complete story.  You can also follow other users and watch their stories.

Each story can hold up to 50 images or videos (limited to 30 seconds each), and these images can be easily arranged and resized by dragging them around the screen.  Text can be added between images, but is restricted to a full-width layout (no columns).  Currently, there is only one font, and text can be in one of three styles: header, quote or normal.  But the emphasis here is clearly on visual storytelling.

There are some other limitations in this initial release, like the inability to include hyperlinks, no categorization for stories (like tags) and the fact that all stories are public.  The developers, former Apple and Facebook folks, are tight-lipped about additional features, but it seems likely that future updates will include many of these features already in demand by initial users.

The simplicity of this elegant, free app makes it a perfect tool for broadcast and photojournalists looking to quickly build a story to share with their audience.

Update (6/21/14): The app update on June 18, 2014 now allows for the inclusion of hyperlinks.

Update (10/8/14): The app is now available for both iPhone and iPad.