App Review: All Ears

Every equestrian’s dream come true!

We all know the struggle. You have on a cute outfit, your horse is sporting a new saddle pad, you want to show off your ribbons — different scenarios, same end result. While you pose perfectly atop your trusty steed, he is half asleep, donkey eared and not interested in the crazy person a few feet away whistling and dancing around in an attempt to get their photo.

This is literally a weekly fiasco for me.

Typical photo with Joey PRIOR to discovering the All Ears App. Donkey ears at their finest. Photo by Emily Peters.

As an equine journalist, I have to take LOTS of selfies with my horse (my husband says that’s my excuse for being borderline obsessed with him…. duh). I am constantly snapping photos to pair with my articles, but it’s never been an easy endeavor. So when I saw a post about the All Ears app while scrolling through my Instagram feed, I was curious. And for $2.99 for the Selfie version, I figured it was worth the risk.

Spoiler alert — it was.

This app is similar to Snapchat in the way that you take photos while in the app itself. There are tons of buttons at the bottom of the screen: an apple, a donkey, and several cute emoji-like faces of horses. With a click of each button, there is a new sound that plays from your phone’s speakers to catch your horse’s attention.

I had to give it a shot, but wasn’t at the barn when I downloaded it so I settled for the next best thing — a highly-distracted eight-week-old Golden Retriever puppy. One click of the Donkey button and it was done; Bruce posed in the most perfect and adorable manner as he inquisitively looked at the screen with that all-too-adorable head tilt and I was able to snap one of the cutest photos of him to date.

I was sold. On my next trip to the barn, I was teeming with excitement. My horse Joey HATES the camera. I swear he knows how badly I want to take adorable photos with him and purposely looks ticked off or uninterested just to squash my hopes and dreams. Again, I resorted to my trusty Donkey button on the All Ears Selfie app and BOOM — cutest photo I have ever taken of my horse without having to jump up and down, toss sand in the air and do cartwheels to snag one second of his attention.

Ignore Joey’s sloppy turnout blanket and admire the perked ears, intrigued expression, and the non blurry photo since I am not having to do a wicked dance to capture his attention — all thanks to the All Ears Selfie app! Photo by Meagan DeLisle.

For the professional equine photographer, never fear- All Ears has a Professional version of their app for $9.99. This version is geared towards capturing the horse’s attention the while freeing up your hands for optimal camera usage. The Pro version allows you to set the speed and duration of the sounds you wish to play and also allows you the ability to record your own sounds as well!

Designed by equine photographers for both the aspiring selfie queen and other equine photographers alike, All Ears is available for both iPhone and Android users — so everyone will have the opportunity to take quicker, easier pony photos. The struggle is over, horse lovers! With this app you are definitely not going to be disappointed and the frustrations of getting that perfect post-ride shot will be long gone.

Go riding!