We have a new update now available for the Now Candid Microsoft Store App! This update has several quality of life changes and logging improvements, but the main change is that Scanner Identification has finally been implemented!

Scanner Identification is a system that positively IDs images to your customers using, as the name implies, a scanner to scan a customer’s QR card.

When setting up your event you can generate these QR cards (more on that later) that your customers can scan with their phone to input their contact information. From there, the info & QR code are linked. Any time a QR code is scanned by the photographer that starts a session, and all subsequent photos taken will be matched to that contact info until another QR code is scanned.

At this time, Scanner Identification will only be usable with Sports Pics Now and Portraits Now. During event creation, when one of those two programs have been selected, you’ll choose either the “Tap A Face & Selfie Registration” option, or the “Scanner Identification” option. Once Scanner Identification has been selected and the event created, you’ll be able to input how many QR cards you need and a PDF will be generated with that many cards.

You’ll want to print out the PDF on perforated paper such as this 4 up card paper found on Amazon to more easily distribute cards without manually cutting all the paper.

The Scanner Identification workflow does require an LTE tablet! It’s required both as a device to connect your scanner to and as a way to upload your images live at the event so that guests can have links to buy their images moments after their session ends! Since facial recognition is not being used, galleries will be sent even more quickly and with 100% of the images taken during the session.

If you happen to have a very poor internet connection at your event, bringing the tablet and camera to a location with a strong internet connection after the event will send up all the images at that time! Paired to the data you scanned with it at the time of taking the image.

Bruce Heflin utilized Now Candid’s Grad Pics Now, with Selfie Check-In at a recent graduation, so far racking up roughly $2600 in total sales in less than two weeks.

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Heflin had covered this Nursing College’s graduation in previous years, generating roughly $200 in sales each year. The sales had been so dismal the administrator would provide gas money to keep Bruce coming back. This year was a different story, Heflin has managed to increase his sales by roughly 1200% with the help of Grad Pics Now’s Selfie Check-In Workflow & automated marketing campaigns.

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Here's How He Did It:‍

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1. Used Selfie Check-In to collect correct & current contact data

2. Sent automated marketing messages during the event

3. Bruce had about $200 in sales by the time he reached home an hour or so after the event (he didn't have to go back to the office!)

4. He used a mix of GPN Price Levels 1 & 3

5. He had a total profit margin of roughly 75% across the College’s ceremonies after accounting for the 85% margin for digital downloads.

6. We’re excited to see people discovering the effectiveness of Now Candid’s systems in action when executed properly with quality photography!

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We recently caught up with Bruce to get a better idea of how he started incorporating Now Candid's tools into his existing photography business. Watch the video below to hear from Bruce.

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New features you'll find in the app:

• Supports several new Nikon and Canon models that the previous NOW Candid app did not
• Customizable App Passcode - ensures you are uploading directly to events in your account & is protected from other user's image uploads
• New modern design for ease of use
• More event information now available right from the tablet when logged in
• Choose between dark or light mode (dark mode looks pretty slick! Try it out!)
• Added button in settings that instantly pulls up the image hot folder
• Easier installation and less issues with Window Defender
• Smarter log out protocols (warnings if all images have not been uploaded)
• "Upload from SD card" to manually add all images from an SD card to an event.
• Useful if a camera was not connected to a tablet when images were shot, this provides another way to manually upload
• OR if you had a second photographer on site without a tablet, they could upload their images through a tablet/laptop before leaving the event

How to uninstall the previous version of the app:

If you have previous versions of the Party Pics® Now app or Now Candid app installed on your device, you will want to uninstall them. Make sure all data and images from any previous events have been transferred prior to uninstalling.

1. Navigate to "Add or remove programs"

2. Search for NowCandid to uninstall

    a. This can be done for "Party Pics Now" or SNAP as well

How to install the new version of the NowCandid app:

You can install the new app by going directly to the Microsoft App Store using this direct link: www.microsoft.com/store/apps. Alternatively,  you can find a link to the store on NowCandid.com/download (must be logged into account to access this page).

How to find your App Passcode to log in on the new tablet:

1. Log in to your account on NowCandid.com

2. Click on App Settings

3. Find or change your App Passcode