The WhatsApp feature we almost didn't ship
Three weeks before Culr's first public release, a beta tester sent a message that stopped the team. She had 847 WhatsApp media files clogging her camera roll. She'd downloaded Culr to fix the mess. And then she hit a wall: we had no way to bulk-delete them. I read her feedback and realised we'd built a camera roll cleaner that couldn't actually clean camera rolls.
The moment we understood what the problem really was
Most people think their camera roll is full of photos they took. It's not. It's full of photos that other apps downloaded for them.
WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, group chats. Every media file gets saved to your library, tucked into the bottom of the screen where you forget it exists. Six months later, you've got 1,500 files you never wanted in the first place, and they're eating storage faster than the photos you actually care about.
When we started building Culr, we focused on what we thought was the main job: helping people decide which of their own photos to keep. Duplicates, blurry shots, burst sequences. That made sense. But after launch, the feedback shifted something in how I understood the product. Users weren't just asking us to help them delete bad photos. They were asking us to help them reclaim space from apps that were stealing it.
Why WhatsApp was the first battle
WhatsApp is everywhere in the UK. It's not an app most people use casually; it's how they talk to family, manage group holidays, coordinate work. And it saves every media file by default. Photos from group chats you left three years ago. Screenshots of messages your mum forwarded. Holiday snaps from people you don't remember. They all live on your phone, quietly consuming storage.
I started getting messages from users asking the same thing: can you delete these? So we built it. A bulk-delete feature specifically for WhatsApp media that integrates into our workflow. You swipe through files, flag the ones you want gone, and delete them in bulk. But before anything leaves your phone, we run an iCloud status check. If it hasn't synced to the cloud yet, you get a warning. We never wanted to be the app that made someone lose a photo they actually wanted.
Telegram got the same treatment. Not quite as critical in the UK market, but the principle was the same: if apps are downloading media you didn't ask for, we should help you reclaim that space fast.
The feature that revealed what Culr actually does
Building WhatsApp bulk-delete taught us something important. Culr isn't just a duplicate finder or a screenshot remover. It's a defence against the clutter that apps create without asking. That sounds dramatic, but it's accurate. Your phone is a device that belongs to you, and a dozen apps are treating your camera roll like their personal storage.
The bulk-delete feature works because it respects how people actually use the app. You're not sorting through thousands of files one by one. You're looking at a manageable list of media from a specific app, deciding in bulk which ones matter. It's fast. It's not scary. And it works the same way whether you're using an iPhone or Android.
That iCloud check before deletion matters more than it sounds. We had a choice: implement a feature quickly, or implement it safely. We chose safety. A deleted photo is permanent if it hasn't synced. That risk is real, so we made the check mandatory on every delete, WhatsApp media or otherwise.
The app we wanted to build vs. the app people actually needed
When we started, Culr was going to be elegant and focused. A clean interface for the photos you took. A way to get rid of duplicates and bad shots. Simple. Minimal. But user feedback kept pointing at the same problem: the camera roll isn't just your photos. It's a dumping ground.
The WhatsApp feature wasn't in our original roadmap. It came from listening. And once we shipped it, the behaviour data changed. Users were spending more time in Culr, deleting more files, freeing up significantly more storage. The bulk-delete on WhatsApp media was the thing that actually solved the problem for most people.
That taught us to trust the feedback. Culr works because it does what users actually need, not just what feels like a polished feature set. The screenshot cleanup is there because people were asking for it. The photographer mode came from event photographers who needed to cull dozens of shots fast. The storage dashboard exists because people wanted to understand where the space went and when they'd freed it back up.
Building trust means no tricks
One thing we were adamant about: Culr would never be the kind of app that scares people into buying a paid tier. No scare messaging. No ads that track your behaviour. No weekly subscription traps. No cloud backup dependency that holds your photos ransom.
The WhatsApp bulk-delete is available in the free tier up to a point, and unlimited in the Plus tier. That's honest. You get something useful without paying, and if you need more, you know exactly what you're paying for. No mystery charges. No surprise renewals hidden in settings.
We're betting that if Culr actually solves the problem, people will pay for the full version because they want to, not because they're trapped. The app works locally on your phone. Your storage data stays on your phone. Your photos are always yours to delete or keep.
The WhatsApp bulk-delete taught us that a good camera roll cleaner isn't about perfect photo selection; it's about helping you reclaim your phone from apps that were never asked to fill it. Have you looked at your camera roll recently and wondered where it all came from?