Mayank Bidawatka, co-founder of the now-defunct Indian social platform Koo, has launched a new photo-sharing app called PicSee, available on iOS and Android. The app aims to make sharing photos effortless by automatically detecting and sharing pictures of friends from your camera roll, no need for WhatsApp, Instagram, or manual uploads.
PicSee uses on-device facial recognition to identify your friends in photos. Once they accept a sharing request, they’ll automatically receive any new pictures you take of them. Users can review, approve, or recall photos before sending, and all images are stored locally, not in the cloud.
Bidawatka explained that PicSee addresses a common issue: friends often have hundreds of photos of each other that never get shared. The app also features privacy-focused design, including encrypted transfers, NSFW filters, and screenshot blocking.
While the concept promotes seamless sharing, PicSee faces a challenge: its always-on sharing may only appeal to close circles like family and partners. Competing with familiar tools such as WhatsApp, iMessage, and Instagram could make adoption harder.
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The company, Billion Hearts, raised $4 million in funding last year from Blume Ventures, General Catalyst, and Athera Ventures. Upcoming updates will include album management, duplicate removal, and Google Photos/iCloud integration, with future plans to extend its face detection technology to videos.
