To edit an image after exporting it, I need to import it again

[Michal Predotka]

Currently after I click 'done' after editing a photo, it is opened in Gallery app. If I want to edit that photo with some different effects and filters, I need to open the photo againg in the InstantFX. I think it could be better if IFX stayed where it was before exporting the photo and offer a way to import other photo or keep editing the current one.

[Stefano Verzegnassi (verzegnassi-stefano)]

The problem with the IFX design is how ContentHub and the whole confinement framework work.

Confined apps don't own any user's content, so if I want to make the edited picture visible in gallery-app (which is the default application for pictures), I have to export it through ContentHub. And the way CH works breaks any user flow: it changes the focused application (from IFX to gallery-app), which is a disruptive action and suggests that the task has been completed.

That's why IFX is designed in 3 steps: import > edit > export.

If I keep the 'Edit' page visible, I would probably remove one of visual feedbacks that makes the user aware that no more actions are required.

I came up with an idea which could be a good compromise between a consistent UX and functionalities (see my bad handwork attached here).

The idea is to show an overlay in the main screen which allows the user to see the latest picture she has edited (during the same 'session'). If she taps on the overlay, IFX shows a page which allows to reapply filters (i.e. restore the previous editing) through the "Edit" button in the header, or to share the picture via an online service.

[Michal Predotka (mpredotka)]

Loud thinking, not exactly thought through:

What if there's no 'DONE' button but instead two options: one to 'save/export' the image and one to 'share' the image.

The 'save/export' option would open the Gallery app as it is now but would not close the edit screen of IFX.

The 'share' option would display the possible share destination as you presented in your drawing. After sharing the screen would stay as the edit screen.

Now we would also need an option to 'close' the editing screen and show the option to 'import' another image.

[Stefano Verzegnassi (verzegnassi-stefano)]

That would be a solution, but I don't like the idea to force an user to perform or an action, or the other[1], just because the content sharing framework is too limited and force third party apps to design a bad UX.

The optimal solution would require a single button called "Next", which shows the available destinations, as in my drawing.
Exporting to the gallery would be something that happens in background, without any need to launch gallery-app.

Here there are two different options:
1) I add an confinement exception in my app and save the edited pictures directly in user's 'Pictures' folder.
2) Gallery-app should be able to search for images also in the folders where an application is confined (default behaviour of any gallery app on Android smartphones)

Just think at the Ubuntu Telegram app: all the pictures you have sent/received to/from a chat are not listed in the gallery-app, and you actually have to scroll the whole chat in order to export/save the image first. That's terrible.

[1] i.e. "save the picture, but no sharing" vs. "share the picture, but it won't be available for any later action"