Family Photo Apps

Best with no AI

Best family photo app with no AI on your photos: who can't, who doesn't say, and who does by default

Only one album here can't run AI on your photos, because it can't read them. One does its analysis on the device. Six say nothing either way. Three run it on their servers by default and let you switch it off: one for search without face recognition, two for face grouping and tagging. Two run it with no switch described: one computer vision, one face recognition across several features. Ranked on the AI row, with the encryption row as the tie-breaker, because 'we don't' is a policy and 'we can't' is a design.

Facts checked 2026-10-18 · Updated 2026-10-17 · Covers 14 apps

ShowHiding Google Photos, iCloud Shared Albums, Amazon Photos and WhatsApp — the services most families already have. Nothing is re-scored. Why this filter exists.

In short: 1. Kin Album* · 2. iCloud Shared Albums · 3. WhatsApp · 4. Tinybeans · 5. PhotoCircle · 6. 23snaps · 7. TinyNest · 8. Qeepsake · 9. Cluster · 10. Keepr Circle · 11. Google Photos · 12. Amazon Photos · 13. BackThen · 14. FamilyAlbum. The reasons ↓

Jump to the ranking ↓

How this page weights the criteria

The AI or face recognition row decides the order: can’t, then on-device only, then not stated, then on by default and switchable — a search index without face recognition ahead of face grouping and tagging — then on with no switch described. The encryption row breaks ties, because a company that holds the keys can change its mind about AI in a policy update, and a company that doesn’t hold them can’t. Price and quality are reported, not weighted. Start the find tool from this weighting.

ShowHiding Google Photos, iCloud Shared Albums, Amazon Photos and WhatsApp — the services most families already have. Nothing is re-scored. Why this filter exists.
Kin Album, iCloud Shared Albums, WhatsApp, Tinybeans, PhotoCircle, 23snaps, TinyNest, Qeepsake, Cluster, Keepr Circle, Google Photos, Amazon Photos, BackThen and FamilyAlbum on 5 criteria. Each cell is the app’s own statement; the bracketed numbers link to the sources below.
CriterionKin Album*iCloud Shared AlbumsWhatsAppTinybeansPhotoCircle23snapsTinyNestQeepsakeClusterKeepr CircleGoogle PhotosAmazon PhotosBackThenFamilyAlbum
AI or face recognition run on your photos?No — can't; photos encrypted before upload[1][2]Partly On the device only[3]No — chats are end-to-end encrypted[4]Not stated[5]Not stated[6]Not stated[7][8]Not stated — 'memory generation' is a Pro feature[9][10]Not stated[11][12]Not stated[13][14]Yes — own image models index photos for search by default; switchable; no face recognition[15]Yes — face groups on by default, switchable[16][17]Yes — tags, face grouping, shopping; switchable[18][19]Yes — 'computer vision' to organise photos; a timelapse of the child's face; no switch described[20][21][22]Yes — face recognition for 1s Movies, stickers and Personal Pages; AI search on Premium Pro; no switch described[23][24]
Can the company open your photos?No — end to end, with disclosed exceptions[2]Yes — excluded from Advanced Data Protection[25]No — chats end-to-end encrypted[4][26]Yes — no end-to-end claim[5]Yes — no end-to-end claim[27]Yes — secured connections; support staff can access photos[7]Yes — SSL in transit; stored on Amazon S3; no end-to-end claim[10]Yes — SSL in transit; staff can open a journal for support or print checks[12][11]Yes — SSL in transit, stored in the cloud; no end-to-end claim[14][13]Yes — 'in transit and at rest', not end to end[28][15]Yes — Google processes the library[16][17]Yes — servers analyse the photos[18]Yes — stored on its own AWS servers; no end-to-end claim[29][20]Yes — in transit only; staff access for support[30]
Ads?No[1]No[3]Partly — Updates tab since 2025; not in chats[4][26]Yes, on the free plan[31][32]Yes — removed for the subscriber only[33][6]No — 'Ad-free forever'[34][35][7]No — 'no strangers, no ads'[9][36]Not stated for the app; the privacy policy allows 'personalized content and advertising' and an 'offer wall'[11]No — 'we will never sell ads or sell your data'; merchandise promotions by email[37][38][39]No — 'No ads · No ad tracking'[40][28]No ads in the app; the App Store label lists photos under third-party advertising[41][42]Partly — photos may be scanned for shopping suggestions[18]No — 'Ad-free timelines forever'[43][44][45]Yes, on the free version (third-party ads)[46]
App Store label: data used to track youLabel not yet published when checked[1]No Built into iOS; Apple doesn't access photos[3]Partly Label has no tracking section; ad data linked to you[26]Yes Location, contacts, content, identifiers, usage[47]Yes Contact info, identifiers, usage data[27]Yes Usage data used to track you[48]Yes Identifiers used to track you; precise location linked[36]Yes Usage data used to track you; purchases, contacts, photos, identifiers linked[49]No 'Data Used to Track You' section; email, name, phone, address, payment info and photos linked[50]No Label has no tracking section; email used for the developer's marketing[51]Partly Label has no tracking section; photos listed under third-party advertising[42]Partly Label has no tracking section; marketing data linked to you[52]Yes Identifiers used to track you; email, name, photos, user ID and device ID linked[53]Yes Identifiers used to track you[54]
PriceFree for 3 GB; $9.99/mo or $89.99/yr for unlimited[1][55]Free; doesn't use iCloud storage[56]Free; 'No ads' in-app purchase listed[26]Free (20 uploads/mo, 5 GB, ads); Tinybeans+ $7.99/mo or $74.99/yr[57][58]Free with ads; PhotoCircle+ $1.29/mo or $9.99/yr[33][6]Free; Premium $5.49/mo, Premium Plus $7.99/mo[34][48][59]Free; Pro $12.99 or $79.99 in-app (periods not stated); $199.99 lifetime gift[9][36][60]7-day trial, then Essential $4.99/mo or $47.88/yr, Premium $9.99/mo or $95.88/yr; free Lite tier of 5 photos a month[61][62][63][49]Free with unpublished limits; Cluster Club: Friend $4.99/mo or $49.99/yr, Family $9.99 or $99.99, Pro $19.99 or $199.99[37][64][50]Free 5 GB; storage tiers from $4.99/mo (100 GB)[28][40]Free 15 GB; 100 GB $1.99/mo; 2 TB $9.99/mo[65]5 GB free; unlimited photos with Prime; plans from $1.99/mo[19][52]Free 1 GB; VIP $6.49/mo (app stores) or $64.99/yr (website), 200 GB[66][44][45][53]Free with ads; Premium Family $5.99/mo or $59/yr[46][67]

* Kin Album is made by Cobblestone, LLC, which runs this site. Compared on the same criteria as every other app here; no app pays us anything.

1. Kin Album — can’t, because the photos are encrypted before upload

“No AI on your photos. Ever.” Kin Album says it “can’t open your photos or videos, and the preview copies made for photo emails are never used for AI either.” The servers store “ciphertext and wrapped keys”, so there is nothing readable to run a model on; captions, comments and names are the disclosed exceptions. That is the only “no” on this page that doesn’t depend on a policy staying the same. The app isn’t in the App Store yet. Kin Album is made by the company that runs this site. Free for 3 GB, then $9.99 a month or $89.99 a year; no Android app. Kin Album in full.

2. iCloud Shared Albums — analysis on the device, not on Apple’s servers

Apple says Photos “uses on-device machine learning” and “on-device analysis to recognize the faces of people in photos”, and that “Apple does not access your photos or videos”. Shared Albums are excluded from Advanced Data Protection, so Apple holds the keys; the no-AI claim is a policy, kept so far. iCloud Shared Albums in full.

3. WhatsApp — chats are end-to-end encrypted, so no AI on chat photos

“Your personal messages, calls and statuses remain end-to-end encrypted, meaning no one can see or hear them.” That covers the photos in a chat. WhatsApp is a chat, not an album, and it compresses what you send. WhatsApp in full.

4–9. Tinybeans, PhotoCircle, 23snaps, TinyNest, Qeepsake, Cluster — not stated

None of the six publishes a statement about AI or face recognition on the pages we checked. Tinybeans, PhotoCircle and 23snaps say nothing either way; TinyNest, whose maker is Tiny Nest AI LLC, sells “memory generation” in Pro without saying what it does with the photos; Qeepsake’s privacy policy, now Tinybeans’, and Cluster’s help centre say nothing either way. Each holds the keys, so each could run analysis without telling you; none says it does. Ask before assuming. Tinybeans · PhotoCircle · 23snaps · TinyNest · Qeepsake · Cluster

10. Keepr Circle — its own models for search, on by default, with an off switch

Keepr “runs its own image models on its own servers for search and duplicate detection — never a third-party AI service, and nothing is used to train any model. There is no face recognition.” It is on by default, and indexing can be switched off in Profile → Privacy and the index deleted. Narrower than face grouping and fully reversible, but server-side and on unless you act: the photos are readable to the company that runs the models. Keepr Circle in full.

11. Google Photos — face grouping on by default, switchable

Face grouping is on by default where available, and turning it off deletes the face models. Gemini features run across the library. Google says it doesn’t train generative AI models outside Photos on your personal data, and that photos are never used for ads. Google Photos in full.

12. Amazon Photos — tagging, face grouping and shopping scans, on by default

Amazon’s image recognition tags objects, actions and scenes, “People grouping” stores “records of individual faces”, and photos “may also” be scanned for shopping recommendations. All of it can be switched off in account settings. Amazon Photos in full.

13. BackThen — computer vision on the photos, and no switch described

The privacy policy says “With computer vision and analysis of photo metadata, we can help you more easily organize and enjoy your collection of photos”, and the timelapse feature “shows you how their face changes over time”. BackThen says it “does not autodetect a child in a photo” for tagging — a wrong guess could show a photo to the wrong followers — but describes no way to turn the analysis off, which is why it sits below the three apps that do. No ads, originals kept. BackThen in full.

14. FamilyAlbum — face recognition across several features, and no switch described

MIXI, FamilyAlbum’s maker, says FamilyAlbum “utilizes machine learning”: “deep learning to identify faces/people in photos” for 1s Movies, face detection that estimates “pose and age” to pick sticker photos, faces clustered into Personal Pages, and “AI-based similarity search” across photo content on Premium Pro. Its full privacy policy lists “feature vectors of users’ faces” and “the estimated gender and age of each user’s face” as “biometric information” it generates. No way to switch the face analysis off is described, and the policy doesn’t say whether photos train models. It sits last because it documents the most face analysis of any app here with no off switch. What FamilyAlbum’s AI does. · FamilyAlbum in full.

Sources

  1. Kin Album — kinalbum.com home page, checked 2026-10-14
    Kin Album is a private family photo album for the people you invite and no one else. Photos and videos are end-to-end encrypted, so Kin Album can't look at them … Free for 3 GB, about 1,000 photos, shared by every album you own · unlimited for $9.99 a month or $89.99 a year · relatives never have to pay … You are not the only one who can post — make someone else an admin and their photos land in the same album … There are no ads in Kin Album. It is paid for by subscriptions, and that is the whole business … No AI on your photos. Ever. … Stop paying and the album moves to the free plan; nothing is deleted for two years, and never without 90 days’ notice and a free export … Family can look in the app on an iPhone or iPad, or in any browser on a computer. Or just email them the photos, with no app and no account at all … If you invite her as a member, she signs in once. If you add her as an email recipient, the photos just arrive in her email. She needs no account … Albums are created in the iPhone app. Invited family on a computer or an Android phone join right here. On an iPhone or iPad, their invite link gets them the app. The app isn't in the App Store yet.
  2. Kin Album — Kin Album — Security (updated 6 Oct 2026), checked 2026-10-14
    Photos and videos are end-to-end encrypted for everyone who uses Kin Album, in the app or on the website. They are encrypted on your iPhone before they are uploaded … Our servers store ciphertext and wrapped keys. We cannot decrypt your photos or videos … Captions, comments, and names are stored readably … While anyone in an album gets photos in their emails, a preview-size copy of every photo posted to that album, by every member, is made outside the encryption and stored with us, beside the encrypted originals, so the emails can show the photos. Each preview copy is deleted about 30 days after its photo was posted … An invitation emailed from the iPhone app carries, in its link, a secret made for that invitation, which unlocks a copy of the album key we store for it … So until the invitation ends, we could in principle recover the album key. The link stops working 14 days after it is sent … Push notifications never contain a photo, a caption, or the text of a comment … a photo or video you choose to attach when you use Contact us in the iPhone app goes to our support team as it is — it isn’t end-to-end encrypted
  3. iCloud Shared Albums — Apple: Photos & Privacy, checked 2026-09-12
    Photos uses on-device machine learning to deliver a personalized experience … Photos additionally uses on-device analysis to recognize the faces of people in photos … Apple does not access your photos or videos, and does not use them for research and development.
  4. WhatsApp — Meta Newsroom: Helping you find more channels and businesses on WhatsApp (16 Jun 2025), checked 2026-09-12
    You'll be able to find a new business and easily start a conversation with them about a product or service they're promoting in Status … Your personal messages, calls and statuses remain end-to-end encrypted, meaning no one can see or hear them.
  5. Tinybeans — Tinybeans: Introducing Tinybeans+ (27 Aug 2023), checked 2026-09-12
    Tinybeans+ subscribers won't be seeing any ads. No ads in albums, in-app, and no emails … 200GB of storage … Only the family and friends you invite … have access to viewing them.
  6. PhotoCircle — PhotoCircle Help: What is a PhotoCircle+ subscription?, checked 2026-09-12
    The price is $1.29 per month or $9.99 per year … An ad-free experience for the subscriber only · Longer videos (up to 4 minutes) · Search (based on Circle name and photo captions) · Larger upload limit (up to 200 photos at a time) · Option to download all media in a Circle at once · Slideshow (available on web).
  7. 23snaps — 23snaps Help: Privacy & Security, checked 2026-09-12
    The posts you make to 23snaps are only ever visible to those you choose to share them with … The only staff who can access photo content are those who require access temporarily in order to perform their specific duties; primarily answering support requests … All of the content added to 23snaps is uploaded to our secure storage provided by Amazon and Microsoft … All communication is over secured connections … your data, and that of the people you invite to use 23snaps, is private and will not be exposed to advertising networks.
  8. 23snaps — 23snaps Privacy Policy (effective June 2012), checked 2026-09-12
    23 Snaps Limited (Company Registration 07853831) … 160 City Road, Kemp House, London, EC1V 2NX, United Kingdom … We will not share your data with third parties for marketing purposes unless We have procured your express consent to do so.
  9. TinyNest — tinynestapp.com home page and FAQ, checked 2026-09-12
    Invite-only & private: Only people you invite can see your photos. No public profiles, no strangers, no ads … Unlimited storage: Never worry about running out of space … Is TinyNest free to use? TinyNest is free to download with unlimited photo storage … We also offer a Pro plan … They can join by downloading TinyNest and tapping the invite link. No account setup headaches … Your photos are never shared publicly, never used for ads, and never seen by anyone outside your family circle … Every person you invite has a "Can screenshot" permission that you can turn off … Every screenshot is logged too … TinyNest is available on both iOS (iPhone & iPad) and Android … Pro unlocks unlimited videos, unlimited memory generation, and many more features.
  10. TinyNest — TinyNest Privacy Policy (last updated 15 Jan 2025), checked 2026-09-12
    we secure its transmission using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology … Amazon S3 for storing some of your data (like your photos or files) … We do not sell your personal information to third parties … We will keep your information for as long as your account is active … backup copies might remain.
  11. Qeepsake — Qeepsake privacy policy (Tinybeans USA Ltd), checked 2026-09-13
    The Service is provided to you by Tinybeans USA Ltd … We may process your information to develop and display personalized content and advertising tailored to your interests, location, and more … We do not sell or share your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising purposes … Our application(s) may display a third-party hosted “offer wall.” … The Qeepsake website uses 256-bit SSL encryption … all Tinybeans staff members who have access to journal information have passed a criminal background check and sex-offender registry check … If you delete your account or request deletion, we will remove your personal information from our active systems within a reasonable timeframe, typically within 30 days.
  12. Qeepsake — Qeepsake help — Is Qeepsake private and secure?, checked 2026-09-13
    Qeepsake uses 256-bit SSL encryption, which means your interaction with Qeepsake through texts, the app, or website is completely private and secure. Qeepsake does not sell, rent, license, or distribute the contents of anyone's journal for any reason … The only reasons a team member would access a family's journal is for troubleshooting an issue or to ensure the printed quality of Qeepsake Books.
  13. Cluster — Cluster privacy policy, checked 2026-09-13
    We neither rent nor sell your Personal Information in personally identifiable form to anyone … We employ SSL to encrypt communications between our servers and client applications … We do not currently have any third-party advertising cookies, nor do we currently have any third-party data agreements that would share any of our customer's info … We provide a tool for downloading user data … You can also delete your account and all your data here: https://cluster.co/user/delete.
  14. Cluster — Cluster support — How are my photos kept safe?, checked 2026-09-13
    Your photos are saved in high quality and stored in redundant locations in the cloud. Your photos are only accessed over an encrypted connection, so they cannot be located by anyone who does not have access to the group itself.
  15. Keepr Circle — Keepr Circle — Security & Trust (reviewed 9 Sep 2026), checked 2026-09-12
    Keepr Circle runs its own image models on its own servers for search and duplicate detection — never a third-party AI service, and nothing is used to train any model. There is no face recognition. You can switch indexing off in Profile → Privacy and delete the index it built … Media is stored in object storage and delivered through controlled access paths … Keepr Circle does not currently claim a formal security certification or a published independent penetration test.
  16. Google Photos — Google Photos Help: Set up & manage your face groups, checked 2026-09-12
    You can start or stop grouping photos based on faces that appear in your photos. If you turn off "Face Groups," you delete: Your face groups · Face models used to create those face groups · Face labels you created.
  17. Google Photos — Google Photos Help: Gemini features in Photos privacy hub, checked 2026-09-12
    We don't train any generative AI models outside of Google Photos with your personal data in Google Photos … Your personal data in Photos is never used for ads.
  18. Amazon Photos — Amazon Help: Learn more about image recognition in Amazon Photos, checked 2026-09-12
    We use image recognition technology to analyze and apply tags to your photos and videos … We may also scan your photos to show shopping recommendations based on the content of your images … Amazon will collect, store, and use records of individual faces to enable these and similar features … You may enable or disable the tagging features any time through your account settings.
  19. Amazon Photos — Amazon Help: What is Amazon Photos?, checked 2026-09-12
    5 GB of free storage for all Amazon customers. Unlimited full-resolution photo storage, plus 5 GB of video storage, for Amazon Prime members … Image recognition for people, places, and things … Prints, photo books, and digital greeting cards.
  20. BackThen — BackThen privacy policy, checked 2026-09-13
    With computer vision and analysis of photo metadata, we can help you more easily organize and enjoy your collection of photos on our online photo storage services … Device and platform identifiers let us know which device you are using to access our Services in order to customize and optimize them to your device … We do not share location information with third parties nor sell it to anyone … Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or data storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.
  21. BackThen — backthen.com home page, checked 2026-09-13
    Save photos of any size, videos of any length, plus unlimited milestones and stories. The original quality of your content is preserved (we don’t compress!) … 100% privacy - no ads and no data-sharing … Our timelapse tech shows you how their face changes over time … Enjoy 1GB of free storage … VIP Subscription £4.99 / $6.49 / €5.99 Storage limit: 200GB … Our pet-app is included for FREE. 1 account, 2 apps, working seamlessly together.
  22. BackThen — BackThen FAQ — Who can see my memories?, checked 2026-09-13
    The only people who can see your timelines are you, anyone you invite, and anyone another parent invites … BackThen does not autodetect a child in a photo, simply because doing so incorrectly may mean someone sees a photo you didn't want them to.
  23. FamilyAlbum — MIXI — The tech behind FamilyAlbum, checked 2026-10-17
    FamilyAlbum utilizes machine learning … all while protecting privacy … First, we utilize deep learning to identify faces/people in photos … This feature makes use of AI-based similarity search … AI is used to detect, filter, and rate the best photos for stickers … Detect faces in photos, determine pose and age … AI is also used in the creation of Personal Pages … automatically identify faces by getting the feature vectors for each face … use a machine learning technique called clustering to separate them into groups.
  24. FamilyAlbum — FamilyAlbum Privacy Policy (full text), checked 2026-10-18
    Last updated 10/02/2026 … Perceptual hashes of photographs and video clips, feature vectors representing visual content of photographs and video clips, feature vectors of users' faces, face detection results of each user (including face orientation data and face detection confidence scores), the estimated gender and age of each user's face, results of classifications of facial images of each user (used for album function for each user) … Certain information described above may be processed solely on the user's device and may not be transmitted to us … Biometric information … We use Anthropic's AI models to process only text data within AWS-managed infrastructure.
  25. iCloud Shared Albums — Apple Support: Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, checked 2026-09-12
    iWork collaboration, the Shared Albums feature in Photos, and sharing content with "anyone with the link," do not support Advanced Data Protection.
  26. WhatsApp — App Store listing: WhatsApp Messenger — description and App Privacy, checked 2026-09-12
    Stay close to friends and family through end-to-end encrypted group chats and calls. Share messages, photos, videos and documents across mobile, tablet, and desktop … And no one, not even WhatsApp, can read or listen … In-App Purchases: No ads (1 account) $4.00 · No ads (4 accounts) $21.99 … Data Linked to You — Third-Party Advertising: Location, User ID, Product Interaction, Advertising Data.
  27. PhotoCircle — App Store listing: PhotoCircle — description and App Privacy, checked 2026-09-12
    Privacy First: Only invited members can access your albums and contribute content. Video Clips: Share video clips up to 1 minute long … Data Used to Track You: Contact Info, Identifiers, Usage Data … In-App Purchases: PhotoCircle Pro Monthly $1.29 · PhotoCircle Pro Yearly $9.99.
  28. Keepr Circle — Keepr Circle — Pricing, checked 2026-09-12
    Start free. Your whole family joins free — you only pay for the storage you share. Free Vault 5 GB storage · Photo Vault $4.99/month 100 GB storage · Pro Vault $7.99/month 250 GB storage · Life Archive $12.99/month 500 GB storage, print-ready file archival · Annual: 2 months free … New uploads simply pause until you free up some space or choose a larger plan … Private by design · Encrypted in transit and at rest · No ads, no AI training on your photos.
  29. BackThen — BackThen FAQ — Is BackThen safe?, checked 2026-09-13
    We store and backup your photos and videos on a series of secure servers, inaccessible directly from the outside world. Your timeline is then served up only to your account and those you share it with … Our servers are based in Amazon's cloud infrastructure (AWS), with all industry standard security measures enforced … Your timeline cannot be discovered, it can only be accessed via invites you send.
  30. FamilyAlbum — FamilyAlbum User Privacy Policy, checked 2026-09-12
    Data transferred between your device and our servers is encrypted using the latest encryption technology … We don't sell your data to any third parties … Authorized employees or affiliates to provide customer support, operate our services …
  31. Tinybeans — Help: What's the difference between free Tinybeans and Tinybeans+?, checked 2026-09-12
    Free Tinybeans allows you to upload a maximum of 20 photos and videos per month and includes ads around your family's journal. Additionally, free Tinybeans journals are subject to 5GB storage limit.
  32. Tinybeans — Help: How do I remove ads from my Tinybeans?, checked 2026-09-12
    Our Tinybeans+ subscription removes ads for you and your followers when viewing your journal in the app or website … You will still see our in-house articles in the Home feed.
  33. PhotoCircle — PhotoCircle Help: Is there a charge to use PhotoCircle?, checked 2026-09-12
    The app is free for personal use (i.e. sharing with friends and family). Ads help us keep it that way … A PhotoCircle premium plan seat is required for anyone who works for or represents your organization.
  34. 23snaps — 23snaps Help: About 23snaps, checked 2026-09-12
    The app is completely free of charge to use … you can upload an unlimited amount of photos and videos to your 23snaps account … 23snaps is completely ad-free … all content remains private and is only visible to the people you choose to connect with.
  35. 23snaps — 23snaps.com home page, checked 2026-09-12
    Ad-free forever … share those moments, milestones, and adventures with a trusted circle of loved ones … especially for the grandparents.
  36. TinyNest — App Store listing: TinyNest - Family Album App — description and App Privacy, checked 2026-09-12
    Tiny Nest AI LLC … Share unlimited photos and videos with only the people you choose … No noisy feeds, no strangers, no ads, just a private family album … Screenshot Detection & Prevention … In-App Purchases: Family Unlimited Access $12.99 · Family Unlimited Access $79.99 · Gift Lifetime Access $199.99 … Data Used to Track You: Identifiers. Data Linked to You — App Functionality: Financial Info (Payment Info), Location (Precise Location), Identifiers (User ID).
  37. Cluster — Cluster support — Why is Cluster charging a subscription? (January 2023), checked 2026-09-13
    Part of respecting that privacy means we will never sell ads or sell your data. Instead, we are supporting the service and our communities by selling merchandise, like photo books, and now opening up our service to subscriptions with enhanced features. We still maintain a free tier of service.
  38. Cluster — Cluster — The Private Family Album, checked 2026-09-13
    Grandparents, siblings, cousins — create a single family album where everyone can post and see every photo and video. No social media accounts needed … No algorithms, no ads, no data mining … Control who can upload photos. Set permissions so only the right people can post.
  39. Cluster — Cluster terms of use (updated August 2022), checked 2026-09-13
    You own all your content (uploaded photos, videos and comments) … We will not sell your personal data … Cluster is not a backup service and you agree that you will not rely on the Service for the purposes of Content backup or storage … While we will not share your information with third parties, we will contact you and your group members directly via email and other means with promotions for merchandise we offer to support Cluster Services … When you sign up for a monthly or annual Cluster Club subscription tier.
  40. Keepr Circle — keeprcircle.com home page, checked 2026-09-12
    Private by default · No ads · No ad tracking · Never used to train AI … They open the photos straight away. They can make a free account later if they want to add their own … No download needed to view … Per-circle controls for who views, adds and downloads … Comments, reactions and full-length videos, on every plan … 5 GB personal, plus 10 GB shared for up to three people. No credit card … Take everything with you: Download your photos whenever you want, and delete the account in one click … Encrypted in transit and at rest · One-click account deletion with a 30-day grace period … Keepr is paid for by subscriptions, which is the whole of it … No app for your family. One for you, if you want it.
  41. Google Photos — Google Photos Help: How Google Photos protects your privacy, checked 2026-09-12
    We don't sell your personal information to anyone or use the content you store in Photos for ads purposes.
  42. Google Photos — App Store listing: Google Photos — App Privacy, checked 2026-09-12
    Data Linked to You — Third-Party Advertising: User Content (Photos or Videos), Identifiers (User ID) … In-App Purchases: 100 GB $1.99 · 200 GB $2.99 · Google AI Plus (2 TB) $9.99.
  43. BackThen — BackThen FAQ — Are you going to put adverts everywhere?, checked 2026-09-13
    No. We don’t believe in displaying your private and precious memories alongside a piece of advertising - it takes away from how special the experience can be. For this reason, while BackThen is free for the first 1Gb, which should allow you to grow a sizeable timeline, there is a small subscription fee beyond that.
  44. BackThen — BackThen FAQ — How much does a BackThen VIP subscription cost?, checked 2026-09-13
    A monthly subscription at £4.99 / $6.49 / €5.99 via your app store provider, or an annual subscription at £49.99 / $64.99 / €59.99 through our website at backthen.com … Up to 200GB family storage … Ad-free timelines forever … Full resolution preservation … never trading your data, showing advertisements within your timelines, reducing the quality of your photos or videos, or restricting the length of videos you can upload … BackThen VIP officially includes up to 200GB storage, but we currently allow unlimited uploads at no extra cost.
  45. BackThen — BackThen FAQ — July 2025 Price Increase, checked 2026-09-13
    Starting from July 3rd, 2025, our monthly VIP subscription will increase as follows … From $4.99 to $6.49 (US) … The BackThen VIP subscription has remained unchanged since launch in April 2020 … If you choose to cancel, you’ll no longer be able to add new content or export your memories after the last day of your subscription. Friends and family will no longer be able to access your child’s story … After 60 days, your account will be closed, and all information, photos & videos deleted … the free version of BackThen with up to 1GB of free storage to try BackThen before you subscribe continues to offer the same features as before.
  46. FamilyAlbum — FamilyAlbum Premium — plans page, checked 2026-09-12
    One $2.99 USD/month · Family $5.99 USD/month, $59 USD/year · Family Pro $10.99 USD/month, $109 USD/year … No Third-Party Ads — [Premium] … Some of the best memories last longer than 2 minutes. With a FamilyAlbum Premium plan, upload videos up to 10 minutes long … Max Resolution: Premium Family Pro 1920 x 1080, Premium Family 1280 x 720.
  47. Tinybeans — App Store listing: Tinybeans Private Family Album — App Privacy, checked 2026-09-12
    Data Used to Track You: Location, Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers, Usage Data. Data Linked to You — Third-Party Advertising: Location, Identifiers, Usage Data, Other Data … In-App Purchases: Tinybeans Plus Subscription $7.99 · $74.99.
  48. 23snaps — App Store listing: 23snaps: Private Family Album — description and App Privacy, checked 2026-09-12
    Safe and Private by Design: Share photos, videos, and milestones with only approved loved ones … No annoying ads or distractions … Unlimited storage for all your HD photos and videos … Post longer videos (up to 3 minutes) … Multi-Device Access: Use the app on mobile, tablet and computer … In-App Purchases: Premium $5.49 · Premium Plus $7.99 · Premium 12 Month Gift $65.99 · Premium 1 Month Gift $9.19 … Data Used to Track You: Usage Data. Data Linked to You — Developer's Advertising or Marketing: Purchases, Location, Contact Info, Identifiers, Usage Data.
  49. Qeepsake — App Store listing: Qeepsake: Family Photo Album (privacy label, purchases), checked 2026-09-13
    Only for iPhone … Developer Tinybeans USA Ltd. … Data Used to Track You: Usage Data · Data Linked to You: Developer’s Advertising or Marketing — Identifiers (User ID, Device ID); Analytics — Purchases, Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers, Usage Data; Product Personalization — Purchases, Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers, Usage Data; App Functionality — Purchases (Purchase History), Contact Info (Email Address, Name, Phone Number), User Content (Photos or Videos, Customer Support, Other User Content), Identifiers, Usage Data, Diagnostics · Data Not Linked to You: Analytics — Usage Data, Advertising Data; App Functionality — Diagnostics … In-App Purchases: Qeepsake Monthly Essential $4.99 · Qeepsake Monthly Premium $9.99 · Qeepsake Essential Free Trial $47.99 · Qeepsake Premium Free Trial $95.99.
  50. Cluster — App Store listing: Cluster (privacy label, purchases), checked 2026-09-13
    Cluster Private Photo Sharing … Developer Cluster Labs, Inc. … iPhone, iPad, Apple TV … Data Linked to You: Developer’s Advertising or Marketing — Contact Info (Email Address); Analytics — Identifiers (User ID); Product Personalization — Contact Info (Name); App Functionality — Financial Info (Payment Info), Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number), User Content (Photos or Videos), Identifiers (User ID) · Data Not Linked to You: Analytics — Usage Data (Product Interaction); Diagnostics — Crash Data, Performance Data … In-App Purchases: Cluster Friend $4.99 · Cluster Friend $49.99 · Cluster Family $9.99 · Cluster Pro $19.99 · Cluster Family $99.99 · Cluster Pro $199.99 … Cluster Club is a monthly or annual subscription to give admins more control over their groups … Cluster Club! Our first subscription offering since our first App Store launch almost a decade ago.
  51. Keepr Circle — App Store listing: Keepr Circle (description, privacy label), checked 2026-09-28
    Keepr Circle … Keepr is a private family photo sharing app for the people who matter most. Share baby photos, family albums and videos with grandparents and close family — no ads, no feeds, no algorithms … Data Linked to You: Developer’s Advertising or Marketing — Contact Info (Email Address); App Functionality — Location (Precise Location), Contact Info (Email Address, Name), User Content (Photos or Videos).
  52. Amazon Photos — App Store listing: Amazon Photos — App Privacy, checked 2026-09-12
    Data Linked to You — Developer's Advertising or Marketing: Purchase History, Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number, User ID, Device ID, Product Interaction … In-App Purchases: 100 GB Monthly Plan $1.99 · 1 TB Monthly Plan $6.99 · 2 TB Monthly Plan $11.99.
  53. BackThen — App Store listing: BackThen - Baby Book & Albums (privacy label, purchases), checked 2026-09-13
    Full resolution — We never compress your images … All devices welcome — iOS, email, web & other mobile platforms … Data Used to Track You: Identifiers · Data Linked to You: Developer’s Advertising or Marketing — Identifiers (Device ID); Analytics — Usage Data; App Functionality — Contact Info (Email Address, Name), User Content (Photos or Videos), Identifiers (User ID, Device ID), Sensitive Info · Data Not Linked to You: Developer’s Advertising or Marketing — Usage Data, Advertising Data; App Functionality — Diagnostics (Crash Data) … In-App Purchases: VIP - Monthly payment $6.49 … From the team behind Lifecake — the original online childhood journal, founded in 2012.
  54. FamilyAlbum — App Store listing: FamilyAlbum — App Privacy, checked 2026-09-12
    Data Used to Track You: Identifiers. Data Linked to You — Third-Party Advertising: Location, Identifiers, Usage Data, Diagnostics … In-App Purchases: Premium Family $5.99 · Premium Family Pro $10.99 · Premium Family (Yearly) $59.00 · Premium Family Pro (Yearly) $109.00 · Premium One $2.99.
  55. Kin Album — Kin Album — Help (updated 12 Oct 2026), checked 2026-10-14
    An album without a subscription is on the free plan. It holds 3 GB of photos and videos, about 1,000 photos … A subscription costs $9.99 a month or $89.99 a year … Relatives never have to pay on either plan … Your albums move to the free plan. Everyone can still look and comment. You can still export everything, so you can take it all with you whenever you like. New photos and videos can still be added while the albums you own fit in the free plan’s 3 GB … Relatives who get Instant emails get a daily one until you subscribe again. Nothing is deleted for two years, and never without 90 days’ notice and a free export first … With a subscription, a video can be up to about 9 minutes. The iPhone keeps a video up to 400 MB as you recorded it, and saves a longer one smaller so it fits. On the free plan, a video can be up to about 3 minutes … If you're an album admin, you can save a copy of your whole album any time. There is no fee and no waiting period. In the iPhone app, go to Settings → Export. On kinalbum.com, go to Settings → Save a copy of your album. Your phone or your web browser unlocks the photos. Then it saves a zip of the original files right on your device … Every album you own without a subscription shares that space. Videos can be up to about 3 minutes each, and up to 130 MB … You get email updates daily, weekly or monthly … You also get Instant email updates. Any album, on either plan, can add up to 20 GB of photos and videos in a day … After that, an album without a subscription is deleted in two cases. The first is if its owner's albums without one hold more than the free plan's 3 GB. The second is if no member has opened it for two years, in the app or on the web … Gift time is 1, 3, 6 or 12 months, bought once in the Kin Album app on iPhone … The family never sees who gave or how much … A parent who starts their album from the link never sees a price … Kin Album never gets your contact list … Your encryption key is backed up automatically through iCloud Keychain … There is no import tool, and the encryption is the reason … You can post up to ten photos or videos at a time … Either one starts a 30-day countdown … You'd hear from us at least 90 days ahead … And if another company ever takes over Kin Album, it has to keep these promises … Subscriptions are the entire business. They pay for the free plan too … The share sheet is photos-only for now. Videos post from inside the app.
  56. iCloud Shared Albums — Apple Support: How to use Shared Albums in Photos (published 8 May 2026), checked 2026-09-12
    Shared Albums let you share photos and videos with the people you choose — and they can add their own photos, videos, and comments … Turn on Public Website. Your photos publish to a website that anyone can see in an up-to-date web browser … When shared, photos are reduced to 2048 pixels on the long edge … Videos can be up to fifteen minutes in length and are delivered at up to 720p resolution … A shared album can hold up to 5000 photos and videos … Shared Albums are kept in iCloud, but they don't count against your iCloud storage limit.
  57. Tinybeans — Help: How much is a Tinybeans+ subscription?, checked 2026-09-12
    Tinybeans+ is available for $74.99/year or $7.99/month … Unlimited upload of photos and videos (up to 5 minutes in length each) · An ad free experience (including for followers) · 200GB of storage · Shared subscription – grant full subscription features to a follower of your journal! · The ability to export your memories.
  58. Tinybeans — Help: Can I use Tinybeans for free?, checked 2026-09-12
    Free subscribers are able to upload up to 20 memories (photos or videos) per month – up to a total of 5GB – with an ad-supported experience.
  59. 23snaps — Google Play listing: 23snaps: Private Family Album, checked 2026-09-12
    Easily share baby photos & videos - safe, secure, no ads and no data sharing … In-app purchases $1.49 - $49.99 per item.
  60. TinyNest — Google Play listing: TinyNest - Family Album, checked 2026-09-12
    Family Photo Sharing App for Baby Photos … In-app purchases $12.99 - $79.99 per item.
  61. Qeepsake — Qeepsake — Pricing, checked 2026-09-13
    Essential $4.99 / month Billed monthly … Premium $9.99 / month Billed monthly … Essential $47.88 / year $3.99 / month - billed yearly 7 DAYS FREE … Premium $95.88 / year $7.99 / month - billed yearly … Unlimited protected storage … Maximum monthly photo uploads 50 100 … Maximum spontaneous entries 200 500 … Add Family Contributors … In-app video entries.
  62. Qeepsake — Qeepsake help — Are memberships priced per journal?, checked 2026-09-13
    All Qeepsake memberships are priced per account — not per journal … Qeepsake Essential costs $47.88 annually or $4.99 monthly, regardless of how many journals are created … Qeepsake Premium costs $95.88 annually or $9.99 monthly.
  63. Qeepsake — Qeepsake help — I cancelled my membership. Can I still access my account?, checked 2026-09-13
    Once you’ve cancelled your paid membership, you’ll be moved to our free tier, Qeepsake Lite … Receive up to one prompt a week … Upload up to five photos per month, through the mobile app … Qeepsake has recently begun deactivating inactive free accounts as we move to a paid-only system … we will hold recently deactivated accounts for 1 year to allow for account restoration.
  64. Cluster — Cluster support — How are limits calculated and enforced?, checked 2026-09-13
    Group creation limits will be enforced based on the number of groups you are currently an admin in … Upload limits will be based on how many total posts you have uploaded to any group … if one admin of a group has a Pro plan and another admin has the Family plan, the number of allowed members for the group is the larger of 100 or 1,000, so 1,000 members will be allowed within the group.
  65. Google Photos — Google One — Plans & pricing, checked 2026-09-12
    All Google accounts come with up to 15 GB of storage … Basic (100 GB) $1.99/mo … Google AI Plus (2 TB) $9.99/mo … Share storage with up to 5 others.
  66. BackThen — BackThen FAQ — Can I try BackThen for free?, checked 2026-09-13
    Start saving your little one's story today with our free starter pack - 1GB of memories (typically up to three months) safely stored, organized, and privately shared … Save photos and HD videos of any length, always preserved in their original quality … When invited to a timeline, BackThen is always free. They continue enjoying it all at no cost when a parent becomes VIP.
  67. FamilyAlbum — Help: What's the difference between FamilyAlbum Premium and the free version?, checked 2026-09-12
    The free version of FamilyAlbum includes unlimited storage and uploads. (Videos must be shorter than 2 minutes in length) … When one member subscribes an album to a family plan, all members of that album get access to Premium features.
Across all fourteen apps

Does Grandma need an app? · What 'end-to-end encrypted' means for family photos · Video limits in family photo apps · Which family photo apps compress your photos?

Also

Is Google Photos safe for family sharing? → Is Amazon Photos safe? → Google Photos vs iCloud Shared Albums → Does Facebook use your photos to train AI? →

Questions people ask

Which family photo app doesn't use AI on your photos?

Kin Album says ‘No AI on your photos. Ever.’ and, because photos are encrypted on the phone before upload, its servers can’t process them. iCloud Shared Albums runs face and scene analysis on the device, not on Apple’s servers. WhatsApp chats are end-to-end encrypted, so Meta can’t process chat photos, but WhatsApp is a chat, not an album.

Does Google Photos use AI on my photos?

Yes. Face grouping is on by default where available (turning it off deletes the face models), and Gemini features run across the library. Google says it doesn’t train generative AI models outside Google Photos with your personal data.

Does Amazon Photos use face recognition?

Yes. Amazon’s image recognition tags objects, actions and scenes, ‘People grouping’ stores ‘records of individual faces’, and photos may be scanned for shopping recommendations. Tagging features can be switched off in account settings.

Does FamilyAlbum use AI on my photos?

Yes. MIXI, which makes FamilyAlbum, says it uses deep learning to identify faces and people for 1s Movies, estimates a child’s pose and age to pick sticker photos, groups faces into Personal Pages, and runs AI search on photo content for Premium Pro. Its full privacy policy lists face feature vectors and each face’s estimated gender and age as biometric information. No off switch is described, and the policy doesn’t say whether photos are used to train AI.

Does Tinybeans use AI?

Tinybeans makes no published statement about AI or face recognition on the pages we checked. ‘Not stated’ is not a mark against it, and not a guarantee.

Does BackThen use AI on my photos?

Its privacy policy says it uses ‘computer vision and analysis of photo metadata’ to organise photos, and its timelapse feature ‘shows you how their face changes over time’. It says it does not auto-detect a child in a photo for tagging, and describes no way to switch the analysis off.

Every question on the site, on one page →