Discovery: Mobile Media APIs

🔍 Your Mission (5 min)

Explore how different mobile apps handle camera, photo, and media features. Compare approaches and document what works best.

📱 Research Phase (15 min)

Apps to Test

Open these apps and test their media features:

Photo Apps:

• Native Camera app
• Instagram
• Snapchat

Document Apps:

• Notes app (photo insertion)
• Google Drive (document scanning)
• Any messaging app

Features to Explore

For each app, try to:

1. Take a photo - How's the interface?
2. Apply filters/effects - What options are available?
3. Share/export - How many ways can you share?
4. Photo permissions - What does the permission request look like?

What to Document

Create a simple comparison chart:

App	Camera Quality	Filters	Sharing Options	Permission Flow
Instagram
Snapchat
Camera

🤔 Analysis (10 min)

User Experience Questions

• Which app makes taking photos feel most natural?
• How do apps handle low-light or poor quality photos?
• What happens when you deny camera permissions?
• Which sharing flow is smoothest?

Technical Observations

• Do photos load instantly or show placeholders?
• How do apps handle large image files?
• What image formats do different apps support?
• How do apps compress images for sharing?

Design Patterns

• Where do apps place their camera button?
• How do they indicate when the camera is active?
• What visual feedback do they give during photo processing?

💬 Share & Discuss (5 min)

Quick Discussion:

• What surprised you about how these apps handle media?
• Which app has the best camera permission request?
• What would you do differently in your own app?

🎯 Key Insight

Great camera experiences feel instant and effortless, but require careful handling of permissions, file sizes, and error states behind the scenes.

📤 Submit Your Work

Complete this activity and submit your work through the Activity Submission Form