A new South African app, being launched on Friday, is hoping to be partygoers’ real-time digital catalogue for places to go and people to see this festive season and beyond.

Trender is a location-based photo app that allows users to see where your friends are, where they’re going and the photos they’ve been taking, all in real time.

Trender is the brainchild of co-founders Calvin Terblanche, 27, and Deane Hitge, 26, who came up with the idea one evening when they paid a cover charge to get into a nightclub only to find there was no one inside and party was happening elsewhere.

The app allows its users to see which places around them are trending. They’ll even be able to see what it looks like before they arrive, provided someone has taken pictures using the app.

“After an unsuccessful night out, we knew we wanted to build an app that could consolidate all the venues in our area and the events that are happening and then rank the popularity of venues and events,” says Terblanche.

Users who sign up for Trender only get a high-level view of trends. It’s not until you add friends that they will be able to see detail of the people at particular events.

Terblanche says the photos people upload only stay on the server for a short period of time. This is because it is “pointless” to have outdated pictures when people just want to see what’s happening now.

Tender can be used for any venue or place where people congregate — restaurants, pubs, even beach parties. Users can search for trends by location or age.