Hey photo friends! 👋

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Candy here with a big follow-up from last week: we predicted our Face Matching improvements could make things up to 10× faster... and this past weekend, Face Matching ended up running 28× faster. 🎉

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That is well above what we expected, and it came at a perfect time as image volume continues to hit new highs. We’re going to keep making improvements so NowCandid can better handle those big peak-season spikes.

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We’re also improving parts of our retail support process, and later this month, we’ll be sending surveys to select end customers to learn more about their retail site and shopping experience. The goal is simple: keep improving the customer journey and help you get the most sales possible.

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Now, let’s jump into what changed this week!

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⚡ Face Matching Follow-Up: 28× Faster

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🚀 Face Matching improvements performed even better than projected‍

• Last week, we mentioned updates that could make Face Matching up to 10× faster. This past weekend, those improvements delivered around 28× faster performance.

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📈 Built for peak volume‍

• With more images coming in than ever, this speed improvement helps keep galleries moving during high-volume stretches like graduation season.

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🛠️ More efficiency improvements are still coming‍

• We’re continuing to tune systems behind the scenes so large event volume stays more manageable.

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📣 Marketing Texts Now Support RCS

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💬 Marketing texts now use RCS when available‍

• All marketing texts, including QuicPics image texts, now send through RCS when supported, with SMS/MMS fallback for numbers that don’t support RCS.

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✨ Cleaner, more recognizable messages‍

• Instead of appearing as a random phone number, supported messages can show as coming from QuicPics with a branded-style camera icon. This makes the text feel more familiar and easier for customers to recognize.

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🛡️ Better deliverability potential‍

• With mobile platforms continuing to add stronger spam filtering — including spam folders on iPhones — RCS gives our messages a better chance of feeling legitimate and avoiding the “unknown number” problem that can hurt visibility.

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📱 Still works for everyone‍

• If a customer’s phone or carrier doesn’t support RCS, the message will still fall back to normal SMS/MMS automatically.

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Note: Client Outreach still sends through regular phone numbers for now. This RCS update applies to event marketing texts, 2FA in the Dashboard, the Find Me feature on quic.pics, and QuicPics image messages.

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🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Virtual Group Builder Improvements

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Virtual Group Builder got several upgrades this week:

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⚡ Participant importing is much faster‍

• Large imports should feel quicker and more responsive.

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👨‍👩‍👧 Merged siblings now import properly‍

• If siblings were merged through identical parent contact info, Virtual Group Builder will now pull them in correctly.

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📂 New Subjects pane collapse button‍

• Collapse the Subjects pane to make the preview area bigger. You can also toggle it with Shift + S.

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🖼️ New cutout bottom fade slider‍

• Adjust how strongly subject cutouts fade at the bottom.

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🌫️ “Falloff Intensity” renamed to “Bottom Vignette”‍

• Clearer wording for what the setting actually controls.

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🖥️ Dashboard Improvements

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🧰 More Tools moved out of the popup on Manage Images‍

• Manage Images tools are now more visible instead of tucked away.

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🗂️ Edit Folder is always visible‍

• The Edit Folder button is now easier to find on Manage Images.

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📬 New marketing column on Participant List‍

• Quickly see how much marketing a participant has received.

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👁️ Participant Details groups invisible images at the end‍

• Makes the page easier to scan.

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🎨 One Art Style node per edit‍

• Candy Image Studio and Auto Editor now only allow one Art Style node per edit. This helps avoid confusion when selecting conflicting styles like Anime, Chibi, Action Figure, and Bobblehead together.

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📈 Marketing History chart improved for new Events‍

• New Events should no longer show one giant bar on the first day.

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🏷️ Event Tags improvements‍

• Hidden Event Tags are now hidden by default, and event search when adding Events to a tag is more flexible.

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💰 Auto Editor total cost display fixed‍

• The displayed total cost is now correct. Customers were charged correctly before; only the UI number was off.

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🔢 Participant List now shows key report snapshots‍

• You can now quickly see:
  • Images Per Participant
  • Sales Per Participant
  • % Participants Ordered

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📱 Capture App 5.6.4

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iOS & Android OTA update — Monday, June 1

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🧍 Registered face boxes now show in the strip‍

• When entering a shooting mode, existing images in the strip can show registered face boxes.

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🔄 Restore Session fixes‍

• Fixed Restore Session not loading saved registered participants for Positive ID Events or Face Matching Roster Check-In.

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✅ Face Matching Roster Check-In fix‍

• Fixed an edge case where a registration could fail to save to an image.

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📱 Android tablet UI fixes

• Selfie Check-In Station camera UI fixed in vertical orientation
• Image gallery name text no longer overflows in vertical orientation

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That’s the week!

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The big wins are definitely RCS marketing and Face Matching coming in 28× faster, but the Virtual Group Builder and Dashboard changes should make things easier during busy season too.

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We’ll keep improving speed, support, and the retail experience as we go!

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Keep creating magic,

Candy 🍬