Guide
Is the Kin Album app safe and private? What its own pages say
Yes, with three disclosed exceptions. Kin Album's security page says its servers store ciphertext and cannot decrypt your photos or videos; captions, comments and names are readable, preview copies are made for photo emails, and an emailed invitation carries a key secret until it ends. Made by the company that runs this site, and held to the same reading as every other app here.
Safe from strangers: yes. Secure against the company itself: yes for the photos and videos, with three disclosed exceptions. Legit: made by Cobblestone, LLC, which also runs this site, and held to the same reading as every other app here. In detail: members sign in, and the album’s key is sealed to their account. Kin Album’s security page says photos are encrypted on the phone before upload, its servers “store ciphertext and wrapped keys”, and “We cannot decrypt your photos or videos.” The exceptions it states: captions, comments and names are readable; preview copies of the photos are made outside the encryption while anyone in the album gets photos by email; and an invitation emailed from the iPhone app carries a secret in its link until the invitation ends. No ads, no AI on the photos, and an App Store privacy label that had not been published when we checked. Kin Album is made by Cobblestone, LLC, which runs this site; this page is written from Kin Album’s own pages under the same rule as every other app’s, and the exceptions are here because Kin Album’s security page puts them there.
What the security page says
Photos and videos are encrypted on the phone before upload; the servers hold ciphertext and wrapped keys and cannot decrypt them. Because the servers can’t read the photos, the company can’t run AI on them — “No AI on your photos. Ever.” — and it shows no ads; subscriptions are the whole business. Push notifications, the page says, “never contain a photo, a caption, or the text of a comment.”
What is readable
Captions, comments and names. These are stored in a form the company can read, so the album works in email updates and on the web.
Photo emails. An “email recipient” gets the photos by email with no account. 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 by Kin Album, then deleted about 30 days after its photo was posted, or within a day of photo emails being turned off for everyone in the album. It is on by default for a relative who only has email and off by default for a member.
Emailed invitations. An invitation emailed from the iPhone app carries in its link a secret that unlocks a copy of the album key, so until the invitation ends the company could in principle recover the album key. The link stops working 14 days after it is sent. Invitations sent by text from the iPhone go from your own phone.
Support attachments. A photo or video you attach when contacting support from the app goes to Kin Album’s support team as it is, with its location removed first.
The App Store label
Kin Album’s App Store listing had not been published when these facts were checked, so there is no label to quote yet. The site states no ads and nothing tracking you; the label will be quoted here as soon as it exists, whatever it says.
The files
What’s stored is the encrypted original. An album admin can save a copy any time, at no fee, from the iPhone app (Settings → Export) or on kinalbum.com (Settings → Save a copy of your album); the phone or browser “saves a zip of the original files right on your device”. Anyone else asks an admin. If payment stops, the albums move to the free plan: everyone can still look, and nothing is deleted for two years. After that, an album is deleted if the owner’s unpaid albums hold more than 3 GB, or if no one has opened it in two years — always after 90 days’ notice and a free export first. Deleting an account or an album starts a 30-day countdown that can be cancelled.
The short version
Private from strangers: yes. Private from the company: yes for the photos and videos, with captions, comments and names readable, preview copies for photo emails, and emailed invitations as the disclosed exceptions, as Kin Album itself states. Ads and AI: none. Label: not yet published. The privacy ranking sets this beside the other thirteen apps.
| Criterion | Kin Album* |
|---|---|
| Can the company open your photos? | No — end to end, with disclosed exceptions[1] |
| AI or face recognition run on your photos? | No — can't; photos encrypted before upload[2][1] |
| Ads? | No[2] |
| App Store label: data used to track you | Label not yet published when checked[2] |
| Photos kept at full quality? | Yes — originals[3][1] |
* 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.
Sources
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
Questions people ask
Can Kin Album staff see my photos?
Not the photos. Kin Album’s security page says ‘Our servers store ciphertext and wrapped keys. We cannot decrypt your photos or videos.’ It discloses what sits outside that: captions, comments and names are stored readably; while anyone in an album gets photos by email, a preview-size copy of every photo posted is made outside the encryption and deleted about 30 days later; and an invitation emailed from the iPhone app carries a secret that, until the invitation ends, could in principle let the company recover the album key.
Does Kin Album run AI on my photos?
No — ‘No AI on your photos. Ever.’ Photos are encrypted before upload, so its servers can’t process them, and Kin Album says the preview copies made for photo emails are never used for AI either. Captions and comments are readable.
What happens to my photos if I stop paying?
The albums move to the free plan. Everyone can still look and comment, and new photos can be added while the albums you own fit in its 3 GB. Nothing is deleted for two years. After that, an album is deleted if the owner’s unpaid albums hold more than 3 GB, or if no one has opened it in two years — always after 90 days’ notice and a free export first. An album admin can export any time at no fee, from the iPhone app or on kinalbum.com; the phone or browser unlocks the photos and saves a zip of the original files on the device.