Demonstrating how Algolia Search functions in the wild, in this post we will discuss a recent integration with sharypic, another Paris-based startup focussed on photo sharing at events.

Sharypic is a web and mobile app dedicated to collaborative photo sharing, focused on enabling users to easily gather photos from attendees during and after an event. The platform allows users to collect and share photos from all devices, including mobiles (via Twitter and Instagram), cameras, and computers, and from already existing albums on Facebook, Picassa, and Flickr. One of their killer features is the ability to stream photos to a live PhotoWall at the venue and to an embeddable slideshow widget. This increases engagement both with event attendees and with an online audience. On sharypic one of the primary ways that users discover events is via a search bar, in addition to pages highlighting recent and popular events.

The existing mobile search function relied on users accurately typing an event’s name into the search field, which limited the results (especially on smartphones where typos are common). By integrating Algolia Search into the mobile app, sharypic users can now type just a few letters of a search term, or enter it incorrectly (‘pqris’ instead of ‘Paris’), and the results will display the corrected term within event names, locations, descriptions, or hashtags.

Martin Fourcade, one of sharypic’s co-founders, said “For our users, it’s exactly what we needed. They can show the best photos of their events to friends without bugging their smartphone and whining about the internet connection. I’m lazy when it comes to typing on my smartphone, impatient when it comes to waiting for server responses… now everything is done with a few keystrokes!”

Sharypic’s other co-founder François-Joseph Grimault hopes that this new intelligent search will enable users to find specific content more easily, possibly leading to increased exploration on the platform. Time will tell how the new search feature affects user behaviour, but reducing user frustration through quick and efficient search is a step in the right direction.

Download the latest version of the sharypic app, including integrated Algolia Search, and have fun with photo sharing at your next event!