Celebrating 10 Years of Digiguys Apps
- Aldo
- Aug 10
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 7
On our 10th anniversary, we're celebrating what started ten years ago when I wrote my first line of code for an iPhone app. Today, reaching over 2 million users from around the world through 16 innovative apps. My apps let users discover, explore, learn, and apply beauty in their photography, paintings, and designs.
While traveling through different Caribbean islands during 2015, my iPhone was my main camera to document this amazing adventure, and my iPad became my mobile photo studio. I clearly remember sitting at a table on the beautiful bay, surrounded by palm trees and jet skis during sunset, while editing photos on my iPad. The golden hour light painted everything around me, but I was stuck struggling with the photo editing app on my iPad, which lacked the features I needed as a photographer.
I saw this technology gap, and right there, with sand beneath me, I decided to fill this gap by creating my first app, the Photo Extension EXIF app. When I submitted it to the Apple App Store later that year, I had no idea I was beginning a journey that would inspire my passion for the next ten years. I didn't know that a simple photo extension would grow into a line of apps used by photographers in Sydney, landscape designers in Arizona, painters in their Oregon studios, art teachers in their classrooms, and mindfulness seekers finding peace through their camera lens.
A couple of years later, looking at hundreds of photos in Instagram and Facebook photography groups from hobbyists and professional photographers, I felt that the most fundamental knowledge of artistic composition was not known, understood, or put into practice. Many newly mobile photographers might have never taken an art class where composition rules would have been taught. Applying artistic compositions in photography was clearly missing.
I knew that every beautiful photograph starts with mindful artistic composition.
With my 15 years of software engineering and mobile apps user interface design experience, and a lifelong love for photography, I knew I could make iPhone and iPad apps for hobbyists and professional photographers—making the invisible visible, the complex easy, and the overwhelming simple. Something that would outlive the moment and become part of people's creative process.
How Everything Started: A Love Letter to Photography
My relationship with photography began long before I wrote my first app. Growing up in northern Chile, I spent summers at the beach watching the Pacific Ocean swallow the sun each evening. Those sunsets taught me something profound—beauty has structure. The way the horizon line divided the world, how the sun's reflection created leading lines across the water, and the golden ratio naturally appearing in the clouds. I didn't have names for these compositional elements yet, but I would photograph these scenes with my 35mm film camera, looking to frame every element perfectly.
Years later, when I discovered that masters like Leonardo da Vinci and Claude Monet had codified these natural patterns into artistic principles, something clicked. The Fibonacci spiral wasn't just mathematics, it was the shape of a seashell I'd held as a child. The rule of thirds wasn't just a guideline, it was why certain photographs just made beautiful sense while others merely documented.
This revelation sparked a question that would define the next decade of my life: What if everyone could see these invisible artistic composition guidelines that make beautiful photographs tangible?
Wise Camera and Wise Photos
With eight Apple Photos app extensions already in the Apple App Store, the real breakthrough came with the Wise Camera app in 2018. For the first time, photographers could see artistic composition overlays in real-time through their iPhone's viewfinder. No more guessing if the golden triangle was aligned correctly. No more wondering if the symmetry was balanced. The invisible mathematics of beauty became visible, and suddenly, everyone could compose like the masters.
The Wise Camera app became an instant success with its 15 artistic compositions. Then came the Wise Photos app, which allowed users to apply artistic compositions to photos they had already taken, not only with the iPhone, but also with professional DSLR or mirrorless cameras.
The Wise Camera and Wise Photos apps have become widespread tools for mastering artistic compositions.
Now, our Artistic Photo website (https://artistic.photo) has become the standard resource to learn everything about artistic composition with its 15 well-established artistic composition how-to guides, articles, videos, and photo gallery examples.
Beyond Photography: New Apps Horizons
This year, as we celebrate our 10th anniversary, I'm also celebrating evolution. While photography remains at the heart of Digiguys Apps, I've expanded into new territories that reflect a broader mission: helping people live more intentional lives.
NO, DON'T DO IT app
The No, Don't Do it app, launched just this month, represents something deeply personal. We all have behaviors we want to break: that extra glass of wine during a party, the endless scrolling through social media, and that late snacking before bed. The app uses haptic vibration feedback to create a physical intervention at the moment of temptation. It's a photography composition for behavior—making the invisible patterns of our habits visible and changeable.
No, Don't Do it allows you to break FREE from unwanted behaviors.
The science behind it fascinates me. Just as the rule of thirds can transform a snapshot into art, a well-timed haptic nudge can transform an automatic behavior into a conscious choice. Early users are already reporting breakthrough moments. One user told me the app helped them stop checking their phone during family dinners. Another said it slowed down their late-night snacking pattern. These aren't just behavior changes—they're life changes.
What excites me most about these new apps is how they extend the philosophy that's driven Digiguys from day one: making the invisible visible, the complex easy, and the overwhelming simple.
The Heart of It All: Thank You
Ten years is a long time in the app world. Technologies change, platforms evolve, and trends come and go. But what has remained constant is the incredible community that has grown around these apps.
To Brenda, Kirk, and Neoklis—thank you for taking the time to talk with me and share your creative processes.
To all the developers who have worked with me throughout the years—thank you. Especially Vitalii and Bohdan for sticking with me and helping me for so many years, even when the world became unbearably hard in Ukraine and abroad. You've transformed my initial concepts into polished realities.
To every user who's taken the time to write a review, send feedback, or share how the apps have impacted their creative process—thank you. Your stories inspire my continued dedication to creating better experiences.
To my family and friends who've supported this passion and vision, who've understood my late nights in front of the computer—thank you. You've given me the space to pursue this dream.
Looking Forward: The Next Decade
As I write this, I'm working on three new apps that I can't wait to share. The technology will evolve, AI, AR, and new platforms I can't yet imagine. But the core philosophy remains unchanged: making the invisible visible, the complex easy, and the overwhelming simple.
Ten years ago, I wrote that first line of code because I believed technology could democratize creativity. Today, with thousands of users across the globe turning moments into art, habits into choices, and chaos into focus, I know it can.
The next decade promises even more possibilities. Thank you for being part of the Digiguys story—the best is yet to come.
Aldo R.
Digiguys Apps Founder
