We launched Highlight just over a year ago with a big goal - to help you see new things about the people around you and sense things about people nearby. Over time, the product has become more interactive, but in many way ambient social networking still lacks the richness of social networking on the web.

Today we are excited to announce Highlight 1.5 for iOS and Android - our biggest update ever, with two new features that represent a huge evolution of the product. Here is what you can expect to find:

Photos nearby

Instead of just posting text, you can now post photos of the people and things around you. If other Highlight users are standing near you, the photos you post will show up on their phones. You can write captions, tag your location and friends, and share them out to Facebook and Twitter.

It’s a new and exciting feeling to stand in a roomful of people and watch their photos show up on your phone as they are being taken. Oftentimes you’ll look at your Highlight feed and see a picture of yourself show up, taken by your friend behind you. Or you can have a visual conversation with your friend in the next building and others around you can chime in. It’s a fun, ambient way to share and feel more connected with people around you. We think you’re really going to like it.

Events nearby

You can post photos anytime with Highlight but it really shines when you are taking photos with others - at parties, conferences, dinner parties, or when hanging out with friends. We decided to build a simple way to capture events so you have your own place in Highlight to share just with the people in the room. Our goal was to keep it very lightweight - without any guest lists, RSVPs, or advance planning involved.

Here’s how it works: When you’re composing a post on Highlight, just tap the map marker to see events nearby or to start a new one here and now. There is no one to invite; the people standing near you will automatically get notified that there is a new event nearby, and they can choose to join it. When new people arrive, they’ll get notified too. You don’t even need to select an end time; it will end automatically when people leave and stop posting. It’s sort of like a hashtag that’s location and context-aware, so you can see who’s at the event with you, chat with them, and get everyone’s photos in a single, clean place.

With photos and events, Highlight is more fun and useful than it’s ever been. We’re really excited to hear what you think. We’ll be at SXSW in a few weeks, so if you’re there, please come find us and say hi! Your feedback is incredibly helpful to us as we work to make Highlight the best network in the world for connecting and sharing with the people around you.

Thanks for using Highlight!