Shoto has launched its private photo-sharing app, which automatically gathers together photos taken by groups of friends.

The app uses location and phonebook data to intelligently organise and back up pictures, which are then shared between supported platforms, which at launch comprises iOS and Android. 

“Shoto works out which of your real friends are with you, and automatically brings together your and their photos into a single set of smart albums, so that you can enjoy memories without having to nag, be nagged and without looking at your photos in a piecemeal manner,” said Shoto co-founder Sachin Dev Duggal. “We are entering a world of new dimensions and context. Private is the new social, people want to have intimate conversations about real memories with their real friends.”

With an idea like this, privacy is likely to be a major concern. After all, nobody wants to accidentally share photos with a stranger who happens to be in the same place at the same time, or share the wrong photos with friends. The app enables users to fine tune who will see their photos – just them, the friends who were present, or the whole world – with a single gesture.

Shoto says its trying to tackle the issue of the 1.2bn photos taken on smartphones each day which are never shared, by moving away from the picture-by-picture sharing process currently. Though its debatable whether those of us who are already overwhelmed with photos of friends would agree this really is an issue.