Guides

Is it private?

One page per app, each answered in its first paragraph from the app’s own pages — safe from strangers, secure against the company, and legit — then who can see the album, ads, the App Store label, and what happens to the files.

• Is FamilyAlbum safe? — invite-only, encrypted in transit, staff access for support, ads on the free tier.
• Is Tinybeans safe? — invite-only, no end-to-end claim, ads around the journal, the widest tracking section of the fourteen.
• Is Google Photos safe for family sharing? — by invitation or by link, Google’s systems read the library, face grouping on by default.
• Are iCloud Shared Albums safe? — excluded from Advanced Data Protection; Apple says it doesn’t look; on-device analysis.
• Is Amazon Photos safe? — image recognition, face records and shopping recommendations, by Amazon’s own account.
• Is WhatsApp safe for family photos? — end-to-end encrypted chats; not an album; compressed; ads in the Updates tab.
• Is PhotoCircle safe? — invite-only, ads removed for the subscriber only, 3.2 megapixels.
• Is Keepr Circle safe? — no ads, no ad tracking, encrypted in transit and at rest, its own search index with an off switch.
• Is 23snaps safe? — ad-free forever, support staff can access photos, usage data on the tracking label.
• Is TinyNest safe? — no ads, a screenshot lock, no end-to-end claim, identifiers and precise location on the label.
• Is BackThen safe? — invite-only with per-person permissions, originals kept, computer vision on the photos, identifiers on the label, and deletion 60 days after a subscription lapses.
• Is Qeepsake safe? — a private journal by design, SSL in transit, staff who can open it for support, a policy that allows personalised advertising, usage data on the label.
• Is Cluster safe? — invite-only groups, no ads ever, no tracking section on the label, no end-to-end claim, compressed copies.
• Is the Kin Album app safe and private? — end to end, with the three exceptions its own security page discloses. Made by the company that runs this site.

Using what you already have

Most families arrive with one of these already on the phone. Each guide walks through sharing with grandparents the way the service’s own help pages describe it, then says what you give up.

• Share baby photos with grandparents using Google Photos — a shared album or a link; originals only in “Original quality”; face grouping on by default.
• Share baby photos with grandparents using iCloud Shared Albums — invite Apple users, or publish a public web page for everyone else; 2048-pixel copies.
• Share baby photos with grandparents using Amazon Photos — a group and a link, originals with Prime; image recognition on by default.

How the apps work

• Does Grandma need an app? — the no-download paths in each app, and what each one asks of the relative.
• What “end-to-end encrypted” means for family photos — and why “encrypted in transit and at rest” is a different promise.
• Video limits in family photo apps — 2 minutes, 60 seconds, 15 minutes at 720p, 400 MB: every stated limit in one place.
• Which apps compress your photos? — the resolution each app keeps, from 3.2 megapixels to the original file.

Every question answered anywhere on this site is also collected on one page.