Remember PhotoGrid? The app that shaped Cameroon’s first collages 📷🇨🇲

Cliquez ici pour lire en français

Before Instagram Stories, Reels, and edits assembled in seconds with CapCut or Canva, there was PhotoGrid. The collage app was part of the daily digital life of a whole generation of Cameroonian users, who relied on it to piece together memories, dress up their photos, and post their best shots on social media. It’s less central to people’s routines these days, but it still stirs up real nostalgia. For anyone who used it back then, PhotoGrid brings back a time when putting together a simple collage could take several minutes — and somehow, the result felt worth it.

When PhotoGrid was part of everyday life 📸

There was a time when taking several photos and wanting to post them together meant, almost automatically, opening PhotoGrid. The app let you pick multiple images, choose a layout, add a frame, stickers, text, or a few effects before sharing the final result. It offered collages, edits, filters, backgrounds, and retouching tools. It still does all of that today, alongside newer additions — AI tools among them — even though its use has faded. The app may be losing ground with Cameroon’s newest generation of users, but PhotoGrid still stands for a distinct chapter in local smartphone habits.

« Back then, whenever I took several photos on an outing, I’d put them all into PhotoGrid before posting to Facebook. It was a great time, because we were all competing for the best-looking edit, » recalls Lambert Bayo, a former user.

For others, the app was practically unavoidable around birthdays — a trend nearly everyone followed.

« We’d take the birthday photos, then put them all together in one collage, on phones that weren’t nearly as sophisticated as today’s. We’d add hearts, text, and frames. Now you can do it much faster, but it wasn’t the same back then, » says Fortune Obam, a former regular user.

From profile pictures to memories with friends ❤️

PhotoGrid wasn’t just about keeping memories, though. The app also shaped how young people presented themselves online. Profile pictures, birthdays, hangouts with friends, ceremonies, and impromptu photo shoots could all turn into a personalized collage. For some users, a single collage could tell an entire story.

« I could fit four, six, even nine photos into one creation. I’d pick the best ones and put together a collage before posting it to Facebook, » explains Ariella Mbarga, reminiscing.

Another former user remembers the customization options most fondly.

« I’d spend a lot of time picking out the frame and the decorations. It sounds simple today, but back then, we genuinely thought it looked great. There were so many options, and scrolling to find the perfect frame really took some skill with the app, » recalls Henri Etame.

That habit belonged to an era when social media was gradually turning into a public album of everyday life.

A very recognizable look 😄

Part of the nostalgia comes from the distinct look of those old creations. The PhotoGrid watermark, tucked in the bottom right corner of the image, is something former users say they can still spot instantly.

« When I scroll back through old Facebook photos, I know right away which ones were made with PhotoGrid. The style, the watermark — it’s all still recognizable. We were proud of our collages back then, but now apps do almost everything automatically with AI. Before, you had to choose every single element yourself, » jokes Joseph Tchounkeu.

That shift says a lot about how content-creation tools have evolved — photo editing has become far more automated and accessible.

From PhotoGrid to Canva, CapCut, and Inshot📲

Habits have shifted with the arrival of new apps and the growing variety of formats on social media. Users today are producing more short videos, Stories, vertical content, and posts built specifically for TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook — and creative tools have adapted accordingly.

Canva, for instance, lets people build visuals, posters, and posts from a huge library of templates. CapCut has become the go-to for video editing. Even social platforms themselves now bundle in retouching tools, filters, layouts, and creation features.

PhotoGrid, for its part, keeps evolving. Its current version still offers photo and video collages, alongside AI features, social media templates, and retouching tools. For some users, that very evolution is what pushed the app away from the identity it originally had.

« I knew PhotoGrid for the collages. Now, seeing everything the app can do, I barely recognize it anymore, and people just aren’t as interested in it. You only have to look at what’s circulating online to understand that, » says Jeanne Ngolle, a longtime user.

Less used, or just different now? 🤔

Calling PhotoGrid a thing of the past would still be an overstatement. The app remains available and is actively maintained. On the Play Store, it currently shows more than 10 million downloads and close to 97,000 reviews — figures that would still put it, based on publicly available data, among the more widely installed collage apps in its category. The sense that it’s « disappeared » seems to say more about how some users’ habits have shifted than about any real decline of the app itself.

Screenshot

Screenshot

That distinction matters, because technology doesn’t necessarily vanish once it stops being everywhere. It often just gets replaced in people’s routines by newer tools.

« I haven’t used PhotoGrid in a long time, but I wouldn’t say the app was bad. My needs just changed, and honestly, we all follow the trends, » explains Abdel Moussa.

Another user shares a similar take. « Before, I wanted to make a collage. Now, I mostly want to make a video, add some music, and post it directly. The apps have changed along with social media. »

Memories that tell the story of a digital era 🇨🇲

Beyond the app itself, PhotoGrid is a marker of a transitional period in Cameroon’s digital habits. The collage was, at the time, a simple way to give your photos a distinct identity. Today’s tools are more powerful, faster, and often AI-assisted.

PhotoGrid itself now leans into AI features — proof that the app is adapting to new practices rather than staying locked into its original format. Still, that modernization hasn’t erased the memories tied to its earlier, simpler functions.

For those who used it, PhotoGrid may not just be an old photo-editing app, but a collection of memories. When users stumble across their old images, some feel a genuine wave of emotion — and maybe, deep down, it’s not really PhotoGrid they miss. It’s the era they used it in.

We want to hear from you !
What did you use PhotoGrid for, and do you still have old photos or collages you made with it?