Do you remember your first selfies? How about your first pose with your friends and siblings? First video with silly sounds in Dubsmash? Raise your hand if you’re a certified selfie or dubbing youngster!

With the rapid progress of digital technology, many popular camera software continue to be developed to suit our ‘aesthetics.’

On the verge of today’s trend in camera mania, it is important to remember the initial photography applications that made our childhood memorable.

Let’s take a look back on our nostalgic days with these five iconic multimedia apps:

1. Sassy like Camera360

Introduced in 2010, Camera 360 brought a delightful touch of fun and excitement to our childhood selfie experience. Beyond the basic editing tools such as cropping, rotating, and adjusting brightness and contrast, Camera360 boasts an impressive collection of over one hundred filters and captivating cartoon effects.

One of its popular features is the ‘Magic Skin’ mode. It is meticulously designed to make selfies and portrait photos look more stunning. Among the intriguing filters the mode offers is the ‘Sexy Lips’ filter, which can make your lips appear irresistibly redder, adding a touch of allure to your photos.

2. Wonderful vibes with Retrica

Released in 2012, Retrica offers a wide variety of filters and effects that turn ordinary photographs into witty art forms.

But the fun never ends there. Retrica offers notable features like blur, vignette effect, and various grids. Strike a pose as much as you want and match it with filters to your liking, such as pouty lips and ready-to-wear extravaganza props that can light up your feed as you flex your hidden confidence. It might seem weird today, but as teenagers, we secretly found it cute.

3. Fab with Snapchat

Let's all agree: we adored Snapchat's flower crown, dog face, and various quirky filters in 2015. These playful features made our teenage years complete and nostalgic. Snapchat isn't your run-of-the-mill selfie application; it's a unique social media platform that allows you to connect with your friends and share photos and videos that vanish from the platform after a brief moment.

Snapchat debuted in 2011, upgrading communication means by allowing users to send real-time facial expressions, outdoing regular emoticons, and enhancing users’ digital experience with modern effects.

4. Let’s get trendy with Musical.ly

Flaunt your amazing transitions, dance moves, and dubbing skills on the social media app Musical.ly.

Before the domination of TikTok, Musical.ly once had its spotlight on the internet. The app showcased videos of users with impressive camera angle movements matching upbeat music, quirky facial expressions, and top-tier groovy hand gestures as they lip-sync to prominent songs. This is the perfect recipe for your Musical.ly moment.

It also offers dynamic editing tools, allowing users to adjust the video speed and filters to enhance visual quality and reverse motion for a distinctive touch.

5. Smashing the Internet with Dubsmash

The 2010s is considered the Dubsmash era. Even E.A.T host Maine Mendoza was hailed as Philippine Dubsmash Queen after her videos and iconic wacky facial expressions trended on the platform.

This app enabled users to craft brief videos using audio clips from well-known sounds and movie dialogues. Dubsmash made its debut in 2014 and quickly captivated Filipino users. However, in February 2022, the app's market presence came to an end due to acquisition-related issues.

Export your memories

As we fondly reminisce about the impact of these cameras and media apps from our youth, we can't help but recognize the evolution of culture and lifestyle in today's generation.

People unlocked their hidden talents and their way to being discovered as new software provides new platforms for people to showcase their abilities.

As an adult, believe it or not, these trendy apps and software make our ears cringe when we hear them. But somehow, we thank them for making our childhood memorable as we found iconic stars, trending video clips, and the best version of ourselves with the confidence we had as kids and teenagers.