Bring Back the Postcard! Review: Postsnap

Be honest. When was the last time you sent a postcard when you were away on holiday? How many years? Ten? I used to love receiving postcards in the mail from family, and still get them from my mum and dad when they go away, but in the age of online sharing and wifi everywhere it’s very rare that I have any cards on the ledge in my kitchen as we tend to post things to facebook and instagram instead. I imagine it’s the same in your house. 

My photos. A one off postcard. Thanks Postsnap.

What if you could use an app on your phone or tablet to create a postcard from one of your own photos to send to your family while you are away? So you can send a physical card with a photograph you’ve taken yourself to your mum back home to show her what a brilliant time you’re having? Or a selfie of you in the most glorious of locations to your colleagues stuck at work? That’s what Postsnap allows you to do, and they asked me to give it a try.

I’m afraid, mum and dad, that I decided to create three postcards to send to myself to test out the service – I’ll send the next one to you, I promise! I decided to start with my bee photo from my visit to Vine House Farms the other weekend. I thought it would lend itself well to a postcard as it was nice and bright and would hopefully look good when it landed on my doormat. Let me take you through the steps…

I started by opening my chosen photo in Snapseed on my iPad, and getting it looking exactly as I wanted it. I cropped it and made sure everything I wanted to be in focus was, so that when I imported it into Postsnap I was already happy with my image.

When you open Postsnap there are a few options and you can create different kinds of cards, and naturally I picked the postcard option. There are a number of layouts to choose from, and you can add effects, borders and text as you wish. My preference, especially for this photo, was to go for the simple full frame photograph. The app accesses your photo albums (I use the favourites album to put photos in that I’m working on so I don’t have to keep searching through my camera roll or photo stream) and you can choose one or more images to include on your postcard. I found the particular photo I wanted and tapped on it to select it.

You can zoom in and crop your photo to the size of the postcard here, and then add all the other bits and bobs you fancy. You can also switch between layouts after you’ve imported your photos so you can get the best look for your postcard before tapping next and moving onto the back.

The back looks like any postcard you’d buy from a shop. You can add your message, sign it (using your finger on the screen), and add the address of the person you are sending it to (or yourself!). You can also choose between a standard A6 sized postcard for £1.99 or a larger A5 one for £2.49 (this cost includes postage – see below for a discount code). For this photo I chose the standard size, but I also ordered a large one with a different image and you can see the difference in size in a photo further down.

I was impressed with the postcard when it arrived – it looked as good as any photographic card I could have bought in the shop, only it was better because it was a unique card made using my own photograph. Very cool! The finish was glossy as you’d expect a postcard to be, and the writing on the back was clear and easy to read.

And even though I created the postcard myself, when it arrived through my letterbox a couple of days later it really did stand out and make me smile. I love getting mail!

Next time I go away I will definitely be making use of this app to send something home to my family. It’s a great idea, the app is so easy to use, and the finished postcards look good and are a great way to keep in touch. At £1.99 each you are almost certainly spending a little more than you would be if you bought a card from a newsagent or tourist shop and put a stamp on it yourself, but you are getting a one-off made and I think it is worth it for that personal touch.

The standard sized postcard on the left, large on the right.

If you want to give Postsnap a try you can use SPLODZ at the checkout to receive 20% off your first order (which can be for more than one card – make the most of the discount). And let me know what you think, too.

Postsnap gave me some credit so I could test out their postcard app – I used it to create some postcards to send to myself, but you can also send them to your family/friends!