Hipstamatic launches Instagram rival Oggl for iOS

Remember Hipstamatic, the Instagram rival app? Well, if you thought Instagram had obliterated the photo enhancer app, think again. Hipstamatic has just launched a photo-sharing platform called Oggl for iOS that will blend the features of the older app with just the right mix of social thrown into it.

Oggl is described as “a community for creative people to capture and curate their lives through photography,” by Lucas Buick and Ryan Dorshorst, Co-Founders of Hipstamatic. The app will enable Hipstamatic’s pool of four million users to experience the service in a new way.

Instagram killer or not? You decide!

“Oggl isn’t a fuzzy snap of cooking solo on Tuesday—it’s dinner at French Laundry. Oggl isn’t screenshots of your favorite album cover—it’s when you hung backstage with the band. Oggl isn’t ducklips or bathroom selfies—it’s living like you mean it, your best creative work, and amazing life moments,” write Buick and Dorhorst about the ambitious new service.

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The service essentially revolves around capturing and curating photos. It runs on a “capture-first” shooting experience. Using Oggl, you will now be able to edit a photo after it has been clicked. Once you’ve experimented with the image and are happy with the look, you can put it up on Oggl.

You can then “curate your personal story” by uploading your favourite images on Oggl. Of course, since the social angle is so important with Oggl, you’ll easily be able to share images on social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr and Flickr. You also have an additional “Favourites” option for situational shooting and tag locations as well as your other friends who are on Oggl.

While Instagram’s popularity is unparalleled when it comes to photo enhancements, Oggl’s quirky situational shooting settings coupled with the heavy social connect could well give Instagram a lot to think about. Hipstamatic still lays claim to about four million users who upload 60 million pictures each month. Even more impressive is the fact that Hipstamatic claims that there are about 2 billion shots actually clicked with Hisptamatic and not all of them are uploaded to the app.

The app is essentially freeware that will come with five situational shooting settings: nightlife, food, portraits, landscapes and sunset. For additional lenses and films, you could choose between two subscription plans – $0.99 a month or $9.99 a year. Currently, though, the app is in invite only stage. You can request for invitation on Oggl’s site.