Share photos, not your phone with Xim for Windows Phone

Microsoft’s new Xim app lets you share photo slideshows with friends near and far in real time.

Made by Microsoft Research FUSE Labs, Xim lets you choose up to 50 photos to share in a slideshow simultaneously with friends and family—whether they’re nearby or thousands of miles away. It’s as if you’re all in the same room, looking at the same screen and talking with each other.

What’s neat is that your friends or family don’t need to have Xim (free, Windows 8 and above) installed on their smartphones to view the slideshow. Anyone you invite can swipe from one photo to the next, pan and zoom the images, as well add brief text messages to continue the conversation.

When would you use Xim? Here are just a few examples:

• You want to show your grandparents, who live on the other side of the country, photos of your recent birthday celebration and photos of you opening their gifts.
• You’re shopping for a suit or tux to wear to a friend’s upcoming wedding, and you want to show your sartorially minded sisters the different choices and get their opinions.
• You’re on vacation and you want to show your friends and family all the fun things you’ve done and beautiful sites you’ve visited so far.

The app also solves that potentially awkward scenario when you want to show family members photos of your vacation to Hawaii–but not the photos of you and your best buddies having one too many Mai Tais at the local beach bar.

The slideshows expire after a little while, so they don’t take up extra room on your Lumia.

Besides Windows Phone, Xim is also available for Android and iOs. Currently, the app is supported in the U.S. and Canada, but other countries will be added soon.

Ready to take Xim for a spin?

First, curate the photos you want to share. Choose photos from your camera roll, Dropbox, Facebook, OneDrive or Instagram (yes, you can mix and match).

Next, choose the people from your contacts list, or type in their email addresses or phone numbers. They will then get a link to your slideshow. They can see the photos in a web browser, or, if they also have Xim, within the app.

So there you have it, a photo-sharing app that closes the distance between you and the ones you love. If you try Xim, please let us know what you think!