Picapica

As a student, I’ve always loved photobooths, but let’s face it, they’re expensive and not something I could enjoy regularly with friends. The idea of paying $10+ every time just didn’t feel sustainable. So, I decided to fix the problem myself.

What started as a small hobby project quickly became something much bigger. I wanted to recreate the fun of a real photobooth in a way that was accessible, free, and easy to use from anywhere. I built the first prototype of Picapica, a web-based photobooth with filters, stickers, and customizable frames, and was so excited that I shared it on social media.

To my surprise, it blew up overnight, hitting 1.1 million users in just one week. Since then, it’s grown exponentially to over 6.6 million users and counting.

User feedback has been the biggest motivator. I’ve rolled out features like instant QR code sharing, countdown timers, more stickers and frames, and responsive design that works seamlessly across desktop, tablet, and mobile.

Scaling Picapica has taught me more than any classroom ever could—debugging real-time issues, managing bandwidth, and learning how to keep a production system running at scale. I’ve worked with React, WebRTC, HTML5 Canvas, Node.js, and Cloudflare, all while staying on top of my studies.

This started as a way to save money and have fun with friends. However, it’s become one of the most meaningful and exciting projects I’ve ever worked on.