Every month on Dead Format there's a new Vinyl Challenge - a month-long theme with a fresh prompt each day. Post a record that fits the day's prompt, browse everyone else's entries, and build up a streak as the month goes on.
Finding today's challenge
Today's prompt shows up in a card near the top of your home feed. From there you can tap Share yours to post your entry, or Browse entries to see what everyone else has shared so far.
You can also open the full challenge calendar to see every prompt in the month - tap the challenge title on the card, or the calendar icon on any challenge page.
Posting your entry
Tap Share yours on the challenge card (or Post yours today on the challenge page) and the post composer opens with the challenge already attached. Every entry needs a caption and at least one photo or video - this is a record collecting app, we want to see the records!
A few things to know:
- You get one entry per day. If you want to swap it out, delete your entry and post a new one.
- Entries are for the current day only, and future prompts unlock on their day. Missed days have their own rules, covered below.
- A post can be a challenge entry or a regular post type (like Recent pickup), but not both.
- Forgot to tag a post? If you made the post today and haven't entered yet, you can add today's challenge to it from the edit screen.
If you missed the first of the month
Signing up partway through the 1st, or joining and never getting around to posting, happens all the time. The 1st is the one day we make an exception for. If you missed it, you can still post your entry for it on the 2nd, up until midnight in your own timezone, so you can start the month off right.
Open the app on the 2nd and you'll get a note about it that links straight to the day. Post from there and it counts exactly as if you'd posted it on the 1st.
You don't need an existing streak for this, and it doesn't use up a Streak Restore. It's the only day of the month that works this way. After midnight the 1st closes for good, though you can still join the challenge any day you like, you just start from the day you post.
Pick-a-side prompts
Some prompts ask you to pick a side - two (or more) options, and you have to choose one before you can post. Once you've entered, the results are revealed and you'll see how the community split, with a percentage and count for each side. You can tap a side to see just the entries from that camp.
If you haven't entered yet, the results stay hidden until the day is over. No peeking before you pick!
Streaks
Post an entry on consecutive days and you'll build a streak, shown as a flame next to the prompt once you're in for the day. Missing a day breaks the streak - but days without a scheduled prompt don't count against you.
Missed a day? A Streak Restore gives you a short window to go back and complete it. See Restoring a missed challenge day with Streak Restores.
The challenge calendar
The calendar view shows the whole month at a glance: every day's prompt, how many entries each day got, and a checkmark on the days you posted. It also keeps a running tally of how many days you've posted this month. Tap any day to browse its entries, or jump straight to your own with View your entry.
Challenge badges
Participating in challenges can earn you badges - things like posting every day of a month. Your badges live on your profile under Challenge badges, along with when you earned each one.
Your monthly recap
When a challenge month wraps up, you'll get a personal recap: your day streak, likes and comments, days posted, and your top entries from the month. You can share it straight to your Instagram story, save it to your photos, or copy the image with Share your recap.
Hiding the challenge card
Not your thing? Tap the ✕ on the challenge card and choose to hide it for today, for the rest of the month, or forever. You can bring it back anytime in Settings > Home feed with the Show on home feed toggle.