Everpix cloud-based image storage launches version 2.0 with more ways to clean up “the photo mess”

There are many ways for photographers to back up and organize the boatload of images they have sitting on their hard drives -- and in other locations -- but Everpix thinks it has a better solution. The company, which specializes in cloud-based image storage, has just launched Everpix 2.0 with several design changes and new features including a revamped user interface for mobile devices. (At the time of this writing, version 2.0 was not yet in the Apple App Store, but it was expected later today.)

I got a demo of Everpix 2.0 prior to this morning's launch and was impressed with the service, with a few caveats. Everpix apps are only for iOS devices at this point, though the company says versions for Android and other mobile platforms are on their way. Anyone, however, can use the online version of Everpix.

The Everpix 2.0 apps for the iPhone and iPad are free to download and users can try out the service for free for as long as they want. The only catch for the free-version is you can sync all of your photos from just the past 12 months to Everpix. For most people, that will be a ton of images but Everpix is hoping you'll like their service and want to keep adding photos to the cloud to show off and share. For unlimited syncing for your entire photo library, Everpix costs $4.99 per month or $49 per year.
 
While Everpix is as much about offering a way for photographers to back up their images in the company's cloud-based servers, the tools that allow you to show off and share images with friends and family are where the service shines. Once Everpix begins to sync your photos, it will literally suck full-resolution copies of your images (for RAWs it only takes the lower resolution previews) from all your libraries, whether they're sitting on your hard drive somewhere, or in Lightroom, Aperture, or cloud-based locations such as Flickr, Facebook or Instagram. Of course, the time it takes to sync your images to the cloud ranges depending on how many photos you have but Everpix will run in the background so you can go about your business.

Once your images are synced to Everpix, the fun begins. Here's a rundown of the new features in Everpix 2.0 that help give you quick access to your shots.

• Highlights 2.0 automatically showcases groups of photos that are related, such as of a child's birthday or a trip to Italy, so you don't have to sort them yourself.

• Flashbacks automatically brings up photos and events from the past via a new tab in the app or on the Everpix website, so you can take a visual trip back in time without having to dig through your photo library.

• The new mobile interface in Everpix 2.0 shows a non-stop stream of photos, either from your entire collection or from groups in Highlights.

• Everpix 2.0 features a new image analysis algorithm to help better group photos based on content, aesthetics and composition.

During my pre-release demo of Everpix 2.0 with company founders Pierre-Olivier Latour and Kevin Quennesson, who are both ex-Apple engineers, and Wayne Fan, who worked at Frog Design, I was impressed with how easily and speedily it was possible to scroll through entire collections of images on an iPhone and iPad Mini. The Everpix 2.0 app also did a good job of automatically sorting groups of shots, whether it was through Highlights 2.0 or Flashbacks.

There are ways to "hide" images that you might not want to see automatically sorted by Everpix -- bad hair days? ex-girlfriends? -- but there's no way to accidentally delete them. It would be nice if the Everpix algorithm could somehow "learn" so the next time it groups images via one of the automated tools, if would get a better collection. There's also no way, yet, to run a slideshow of a group of shots in Everpix, which to me seems like an essential tool for showing off your images. (Everpix says slideshows are on the way.)

There are, always, going to be some concerns with cloud-based storage from a relatively new company. What if the company goes belly up? To this question, the folks are Everpix were quick to emphasize that the storage service is being billed as a way to "back up" and give you quick access to all your photos not replace the existing image libraries you already have.

Overall, Everpix 2.0 seems like another good stab at solving the problem of "the photo mess," as Everpix calls it. Indeed, the number of images being captured with digital cameras, smartphones and other mobile devices is staggering, and any good solution for organizing all of those photos is much welcome. And since Everpix 2.0 is free to try out, it's definitely worth a test drive.

To get a better idea of how Everpix service works, check out the demo video below.