User Guide

Capalation is a photo competition app built around friendly challenges. Inside a collection (a group of people), anyone with the right role can create a themed album — for example “Golden Hour” or “Best Sandwich of the Week”. Everyone submits one photo before the deadline, then the contributors vote on the best entries, and the results are revealed.

The twist: while an album is open and while voting is happening, nobody can see who submitted which photo. Photos are judged purely on the image itself. Names and avatars only appear once the results come out.

• Create an account with your email and a password, or sign in with Google or Apple (iOS).
• Walk through the intro. On your first launch, a short slideshow explains how albums, voting, and results work. You can replay it any time from Settings → Support → How Capalation Works.
• Join or create a collection. Albums always live inside collections, so this is your first stop — browse open collections, accept an invite, or start your own.
• Find something to shoot. The Home tab shows albums you haven’t contributed to yet, so it always answers the question “what can I enter right now?”

A collection is a group of people who compete together. Every album belongs to at least one collection. Collections come in two flavors:

• Open — visible in browse and search; anyone can join instantly.
• Private — hidden from browse and search; invite-only. You get in either by accepting an invite notification from a member, or by opening an invite link someone shares with you.

Members with the contributor role or higher can share a collection’s invite link from inside the app.

Each member of a collection has one of four roles, in ascending order of power:

• Member — can view the collection and take part in its albums.
• Contributor — everything a member can do, plus share invite links to bring in new people.
• Editor — everything a contributor can do, plus create and manage albums in the collection.
• Director — the collection’s owner. There is exactly one director per collection. Directors manage member roles and can transfer ownership to someone else.

If a director deletes their account, ownership automatically passes to the next highest-ranked member — or, if the director was the only member, the collection is deleted.

Every album moves through four phases on a fixed clock, anchored to its submission deadline:

• Active — from creation until the deadline. This is when you submit your photo. Submissions are anonymous.
• Voting — the 24 hours after the deadline. Contributors rank their three favorite photos. Still anonymous.
• Results — the next 48 hours. Rankings, points, and photographer names are revealed, and comments open up.
• Archived — after the results window closes, the album disappears from the app unless someone has archived it (see section 09).

If too few photos are submitted for a meaningful vote, the voting phase is skipped and the album goes straight to results.

Phases are computed from server time, so changing your device’s clock won’t open voting early or extend a deadline.

• One photo per album. Pick your best shot and submit it before the deadline.
• Submissions are anonymous until results. Other players see the photo, not the photographer.
• Photos are screened automatically. Every submission passes through an automated moderation check. If your photo is flagged and you believe it was a mistake, you can send it for manual review — it will show a “Pending review” badge until a human takes a look. Approved photos join the album normally (as long as voting hasn’t already closed); rejected photos are removed and you’ll be notified.
• Save albums for later. Not ready to shoot yet? Save an album from its detail screen and find it again under Profile → Saved Themes.

• Only contributors vote. You must have submitted a photo to an album to vote in it — no drive-by judging.
• You rank exactly three photos. Your first pick earns 3 points, your second 2 points, and your third 1 point.
• Votes are final once submitted, and each contributor votes once.
• Voting lasts 24 hours after the submission deadline. If you don’t vote in time, your ballot simply isn’t counted.

• The reveal. When voting closes, photos are ranked by total points and photographer names and avatars finally appear.
• Comments open up. During the results phase you can leave comments on any photo in the album — congratulate the winner, defend your entry, demand a recount.
• The window is 48 hours. After that, the album is gone unless it’s archived. If you want to keep it, act during the results phase.

Albums are ephemeral by design — but the good ones deserve to stick around. Spending one archive credit on an album keeps it permanently accessible to you under Profile → Archived Themes, complete with its final rankings.

• Getting credits. Credits can be purchased in the app, and you can earn them by inviting friends (see section 11).
• Archiving is per-person. Your archive is yours; archiving an album doesn’t keep it visible for everyone else.
• Archived albums on the web. Your archived albums are also viewable on this website under Archive.

Missed the archive window? If an album you contributed to has expired, you can request a revival from Settings → Support → Bring Back an Album. Requests from multiple contributors stack onto a single ticket, and our team reviews them.

• If approved, the album returns in its results phase for 48 more hours — enough time to relive it or spend a credit to archive it for good.
• One revival per album. Once an album has been brought back, it can’t be revived a second time.

Capalation is better with friends — and inviting them pays. From Settings → Community → Invite Friends you’ll find your personal referral code to share.

• A new user redeems your code when they sign up.
• When the referral is confirmed, you’re rewarded with archive credits and you’ll see a note in your Bulletin.

The Bulletin tab collects everything that needs your attention: collection invites, voting openings, results reveals, comments, referral rewards, and moderation outcomes. Push notifications mirror the important ones — you can mute pushes per collection, or turn them off entirely in your device settings.

• Blocking. Block a user from the ⋮ menu on their profile. Their comments are hidden from you everywhere, and their photos are hidden wherever identities are shown (results and archived albums). Manage your list under Settings → Privacy & Safety → Blocked Users. Blocking doesn’t disturb anonymous phases — during submissions and voting, nobody knows whose photo is whose anyway.
• Reporting. You can report albums, photos, and users from their respective screens. Reports go to our moderation team.
• Anonymity by design. Submitter identities are hidden until results, and photo files themselves carry no identifying information.
• For the fine print, see our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

• Profile. Change your username, email, password, avatar, and app theme (light/dark) from the Settings screen.
• Deleting your account is permanent and available at the bottom of Settings. Your profile and personal data are removed; photos you contributed to shared albums remain, attributed to “Deleted User”, so other players’ competitions stay intact. If you direct any collections, ownership passes automatically (see section 04).

We’re happy to help with anything this guide doesn’t cover. Reach us at support@capalation.com, or use Settings → Support → Help in the app.