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Apps like Locket
Locket made a whole category: things from your favorite people, sitting on your Home Screen instead of buried in a chat. If you're looking around at what else exists, here are the apps in that space and what each one actually does differently.
The short version: Locket sends single photos to a small friend group. Bubbl sends expressive notes and three-photo film rolls, with per-post audience control and no ads. noteit sends drawings to one partner. Widgetable does pets, moods, and couple widgets. All four put things on the Home Screen widget.
Why people look past Locket
Locket is a good app for what it does. You take a photo, it shows up on your friends' Home Screens, they send one back. Plenty of people are happy with exactly that loop.
But photos are one register. Sometimes the thing you want to send is a sentence, and texting it gets lost in everything else. Sometimes one photo isn't enough for the afternoon you just had. And some people want a real say in who sees each thing they post. Those are the gaps the apps below fill, in different ways.
Bubbl: notes and film rolls
Bubbl
Free on iOS and Android, no adsBubbl is ours, so take this with the appropriate salt and check the free app yourself. Two things get sent in Bubbl. The first is a short note on a colored canvas, where you pick the background, the type, and the emoji. The second is photos, sent in sets of three that sit together like a strip from a photo booth. Three moments in one post, which gets closer to how an afternoon actually felt.
Every post has an audience picker before it leaves: one friend, a community, or everyone you're connected to. You choose per post, so a message for one person stays with that person.
Everything lands on the Home Screen widget, where friends react to it. Setup for that takes about a minute on iPhone or Android, and there's a longer guide to how Bubbl works if you want the details.
If Locket is the one you are weighing Bubbl against, there is a direct comparison of the two with the differences laid out line by line.
The three-photo strips are worth a note of their own. Sharing them feels less like posting and more like handing someone a disposable camera you both used. If you've searched for disposable camera apps and wanted something that lives on the Home Screen instead of in a feed, that's the closest thing to it here.
The other apps in the space
Locket
Free on iOS and AndroidThe app that started this. Locket sends photos from your best friends straight to each other's Home Screen widgets. One photo at a time, to your Locket friend group. If a simple photo loop with your closest people is all you want, it does that job well.
noteit
Free on iOS and Androidnoteit is built around one person. You link with a partner or best friend and send them drawings or handwritten notes, which show up on their Home Screen. The handwriting is the appeal: it's personal in a way typed text isn't. The trade-off is scope, since it's really a two-person app.
Widgetable
Free on iOS and AndroidWidgetable takes the widest angle. Co-parented pets that live on both Home Screens, mood bubbles, status widgets, lock screen widgets for couples. It's less about sending someone a thing and more about sharing a running state with them. Good for couples who want the ambient version of closeness.
Side by side
| App | What you send | Photos per post | Who sees it | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bubbl | Notes on a colored canvas, and photos | 3, as a film roll | Friend, Community, or Everyone, chosen per post | iOS, Android |
| Locket | Photos | 1 | Your Locket friend group | iOS, Android |
| noteit | Drawings and handwritten notes | Drawings rather than photos | One linked partner | iOS, Android |
| Widgetable | Pets, moods, and shared widgets | Not the focus | Partner or friends | iOS, Android |
How to choose
If you only ever want to trade photos with your group, Locket is the original and it works. If what you send one person should stay with that one person, or you want words sometimes and photos other times, Bubbl covers both and puts no ads in between. If your whole thing is one person and you like drawing, noteit. If you and a partner want a pet to take care of together, Widgetable.
They're all free, so the honest answer is to try the one whose description made you open your camera roll in your head.
Try Bubbl
Notes and film rolls on the Home Screen. Free, no ads.