Can I apply for an appearance patent after the product is sent to a circle of friends photo album?

Of course.

Although the circle of friends is a new channel to promote goods, we should also pay attention to the time and scale when sending pictures in the circle of friends, otherwise it may destroy the novelty of appearance patents and delay our own or upstream and downstream patent application plans.

After the patent application is successful, competitors may also use themselves or the upstream and downstream WeChat circle of friends to make it public first, but the success is invalid and will eventually hit the company's own feet.