Comparison
A popular way to add video to a printed photo book is to print a QR code next to each photo. Popcode does it differently: the photo itself plays the video, and the book is designed, printed and shipped in one place.
Photo-book companies like Mixbook and Shutterfly make beautiful books. To add video, people usually:
It works, and phone cameras read QR codes without an app. The trade-offs: a code sits beside every photo, every video lives on a different service, and a printed code can’t be changed if a link stops working.
| Popcode | Book + QR codes | |
|---|---|---|
| On the page | Just your photo, with a small symbol in the corner | A QR code beside each photo |
| What the viewer does | Opens popcode.app/your-book once, then points the phone at any photo | Scans each code with the phone camera |
| Where the videos live | Hosted by Popcode for five years, with a reminder before it ends | Wherever you upload them, for as long as you keep them public |
| Change a video later | Yes, from your account; the book keeps working | Only by changing what the link points to, if your host allows it |
| Services involved | One: design, videos, printing and shipping on popcode.app | Two or three: the book company, a video host and a QR code generator |
| Voice recordings | Yes, any photo can play audio | Yes, if you host the audio file yourself |
Yes, many people do. You upload each video somewhere online (for example YouTube or Google Drive), make a QR code for each link with a QR code generator, and place the code as an image next to the photo in the book editor.
With Popcode there is no QR code to make or print. The photo itself plays the video when a phone points at it, the videos are hosted by Popcode, and the book is designed, printed and shipped from the same place.
A printed QR code can't be changed, so if the video it points to is moved, deleted or made private, that code stops working. With Popcode you can replace what a photo plays from your account at any time, and the printed book keeps working.
Five years from the day you make the Popcode. Before that runs out, Popcode emails you so you can renew it or download your photos and videos.
No. Phone cameras read QR codes without an extra app, and Popcode runs in the phone's web browser.
Design it, link the videos and order the print, all on popcode.app.