The 4 giant problems social photo app Dispo tries to solve

Dispo is a new social photo app that doesn't let you see your own pictures until the next day, and doesn't let you edit them. Here's why they might be onto something.

The new thing in photography is a simulation of old

The news broke yesterday: David Dobrik's social photo app Dispo raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Spark Capital at a valuation of about $200 million. 

Who cares about Silicon Valley funny money, right? But what this means is that smart people are betting money on Dispo with the expectation that it could really take off. Dobrik is a popular vlogger and YouTuber. 

The buzz and fund-raising of Dispo is actually surprising when you learn what the app does and how it works.

The Dispo app looks and works like a disposable film camera from the 80s. It's naked skeuomorphism. You've got a tiny viewfinder through which you frame pictures. You can turn the flash on or off (literally the only option for controlling photos), but they recommend that you leave it on all the time. And you socially share entire “rolls” of “film.”

But wait! There's less! 

Just like with a film camera, you have to wait to see your pictures. You're not allowed to see your own Dispo pictures until the next day at 9am. You also can't edit them, or apply filters to specific pictures. 

The app is invite only. 

Dispo has a social component. You can share "rolls" with friends, and those friends can like and comment on your pictures. You can categorize photos around interests, and people with similar interests can discover and follow you. 

Sounds awful, right? The unique features are all about preventing you from doing things to your own photos. You can't see them until the next day. You can't edit them. On the social site, you can't post any outside pictures (no memes). You can only post pictures you took with the Dispo app. 

The lead designer for Dispo told me these restrictions are, in fact, a big part of the benefit. She explained that "media-first social media" is "not fun for us anymore, it's an oppressive anxiety-ridden compulsion/addiction." 

Specifically, when people get together, they take pictures, then immediately start obsessing over those photos. They feel compelled to crop and edit those pictures to keep up with the amazing lives of others on social media sites like Instagram. 

Here are the 4 problems Dispo tries to solve: 

1. Obsessing over your photos instead of the people in front of you. The benefit of Dispo, is that you can't obsess over your photos while you're taking them. They are instantly made unavailable to you. 

2. Lying through photography. Instagram is made up substantially of lies — people use filters and apps to fabricate who and what they are. Dispo straight up stops anyone from changing their photos or inserting external photos (pictures that have been radically altered through Photoshop or any number of photo editing apps hawked on Instagram). Your photography becomes about the subject matter, not the artificial imagery from editing software. 

3. Fake media. We're entering a world in which all media can and will be faked. Deepfake photos and videos. Computer generated Instagram influencers and pop stars. Dispo offers an alternative world where it's very hard to be fake. When you follow someone's photos, they're very likely to be real pictures of real people and scenes. 

4. Social media addiction. Instagram addicts return to their phones 100 times a day to obsessively check the latest posts or to post themselves. Dispo photos hit after 9am, so there is likely to be a rush of checking in the morning, followed by not much going on in the site for the rest of the day. 

In other words, old cameras sucked, but social life was better. People lived in the moment, and lived more authentic lives. That's the nostalgia Dispo wants to return to. 

So while it's easy to dismiss Dispo as a dumb app that imposes unwanted restrictions, it actually does attempt to solve a real annoyance — social media obsession and instagram addiction. 

Dispo plays down competition with Instagram. But if Dispo is the “Instagram Buster,” then I’m all for it.