Questions parents ask about family photo apps

Every page on this site ends with the questions people ask about its subject. This page collects all of them, each answered in one paragraph from the apps’ own pages, with a link to the page where the sources and the working are. Kin Album, which appears in several answers, is made by Cobblestone, LLC, which runs this site.

Best for…

Best app for baby photos: what to start on before the first photo goes anywhere

What is the best free app for baby photos?

iCloud Shared Albums if everyone is on Apple (free, no ads, but photos reduced to 2048 pixels), Google Photos shared albums if you want a link that opens for anyone (free within 15 GB, originals if you choose Original quality, with Google processing the library), and FamilyAlbum if you want unlimited storage at no cost and accept third-party ads and resized uploads. 23snaps and TinyNest are also free with unlimited photos and no ads; neither states the resolution it keeps. BackThen gives 1 GB free with the originals kept and no ads.

What is the cheapest paid baby photo app?

PhotoCircle+ at $9.99 a year, but it stores photos at 3.2 megapixels. FamilyAlbum Premium Family is $59 a year. Tinybeans+ is $74.99 a year. BackThen VIP is $64.99 a year on its website. Kin Album is $9.99 a month with no free tier.

Which baby photo app keeps the original files?

Amazon Photos with Prime, Kin Album and BackThen state that they keep the original; Google Photos does if you back up in Original quality. FamilyAlbum, iCloud Shared Albums, PhotoCircle, Cluster and WhatsApp reduce or compress. Tinybeans and Qeepsake don’t state it on the pages we checked.

Best way to share photos with grandparents who won’t install an app

Which photo app can grandparents use without downloading anything?

Keepr Circle (a link, no app and no account to view), Google Photos (link, no account to view), Amazon Photos (group link while link sharing is on), 23snaps (the website, with an account), FamilyAlbum (a ‘browser version’ invitation, with a web login), BackThen (sign up on the web, then view, comment and add), Cluster (the web, logged in), iCloud Shared Albums (only via the Public Website option) and Kin Album (any browser after signing in, or photos by email with no account as an ‘email recipient’).

Can grandparents get baby photos by email?

Kin Album can add a relative as an ‘email recipient’ so ‘the photos arrive in her inbox, no account at all’. Tinybeans+ sends update emails to followers, and Qeepsake sends the relatives you name a weekly recap of up to ten entries. The other apps here notify by email but expect the relative to open the app or a link.

Does Grandma need an account for Google Photos?

Not to look: Google’s help page says ‘Anyone that has the shared link will be able to view the album’. Adding photos needs a Google Account.

Best private family photo app: what ‘private’ means in each one

Which family photo app is end-to-end encrypted?

Among the albums compared here, only Kin Album states that photos are end-to-end encrypted and that the company cannot decrypt them. WhatsApp chats are end-to-end encrypted, but WhatsApp is a chat, not an album. iCloud Shared Albums are excluded from Apple’s Advanced Data Protection. FamilyAlbum, Tinybeans, PhotoCircle, Google Photos, Amazon Photos, BackThen, Qeepsake and Cluster make no end-to-end claim.

Which family photo apps have no ads?

Google Photos, iCloud Shared Albums, Keepr Circle, 23snaps, TinyNest, BackThen, Cluster and Kin Album show no ads; Qeepsake doesn’t say. FamilyAlbum, Tinybeans and PhotoCircle show ads on their free tiers. Amazon Photos has no ad placements but may scan photos for shopping recommendations. WhatsApp shows ads in the Updates tab.

Which apps run AI or face recognition on your photos?

Google Photos (face grouping on by default, switchable) and Amazon Photos (tagging, people grouping and shopping scans, on by default, switchable) say they do. Apple says its analysis runs on the device. Keepr Circle runs its own image models for search and duplicate detection by default, without face recognition, and lets you switch them off. Kin Album says it runs no AI on photos and can’t, because they’re encrypted. BackThen’s privacy policy says it uses computer vision to organise photos. FamilyAlbum, Tinybeans, PhotoCircle, 23snaps, TinyNest, Qeepsake and Cluster don’t state it.

Best free family photo-sharing app — and what each one charges instead

Is there a free family photo app with no ads?

Yes: iCloud Shared Albums (free with an Apple Account, no ads, photos reduced to 2048 pixels) Google Photos shared albums (free within 15 GB, no ads, Google processes the library), 23snaps (unlimited uploads, no ads, HD storage only on Premium), TinyNest (unlimited photos, no ads, videos capped until Pro, app only) Keepr Circle (5 GB free, no ads, no app needed to view), BackThen (1 GB free, no ads, originals kept) and Cluster (free within unpublished limits, no ads, compressed photos). FamilyAlbum, Tinybeans and PhotoCircle show ads on their free tiers.

Is FamilyAlbum free forever?

FamilyAlbum’s help centre says the free version ‘includes unlimited storage and uploads’, with 2-minute videos, and the company funds it with third-party ads and print products. Uploads are resized.

Does Kin Album have a free version?

No. Kin Album is $9.99 a month with no free tier and no free trial.

Best family photo app with no ads: which apps show none, which sell them, and what removing them costs

Which family photo apps have no ads at all?

Kin Album (‘shows no ads’, subscription only), iCloud Shared Albums (the Photos app carries no advertising) and Google Photos (no ads in the app, and Google says photos are not used for ads, though its App Store label lists photos under ‘Third-Party Advertising’), Keepr Circle (‘No ads · No ad tracking’, storage subscriptions), 23snaps (‘Ad-free forever’), TinyNest (‘no strangers, no ads’), Cluster (‘we will never sell ads or sell your data’) and BackThen (‘Ad-free timelines forever’).

How much does it cost to remove ads from FamilyAlbum, Tinybeans or PhotoCircle?

FamilyAlbum Premium Family: $5.99 a month or $59 a year, for everyone in the album, first month free. Tinybeans+: $7.99 a month or $74.99 a year, for you and your followers. PhotoCircle+: $1.29 a month or $9.99 a year, for the subscriber only — relatives still see ads.

Does Amazon Photos show ads?

No ad placements are described, but Amazon says it ‘may also scan your photos to show shopping recommendations based on the content of your images’, and a Lens button shops for products recognised in your photos. Tagging features can be switched off in account settings.

Does WhatsApp have ads now?

Yes, in the Updates tab (Status and Channels) since June 2025; Meta says chats are unaffected. The App Store listing now shows a paid ‘No ads’ option at $4.00 for one account.

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

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

Kin Album says it ‘runs no AI on your photos’ 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 or Tinybeans use AI?

Neither states it either way on the pages we checked. FamilyAlbum auto-sorts albums by month and compiles ‘1s Movies’ automatically; Tinybeans makes no published statement about AI or face recognition. ‘Not stated’ is not a mark against them, 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.

Best paid family photo app: what the money buys in each

Is a paid family photo app worth it?

It depends what the payment removes. In FamilyAlbum and Tinybeans it removes ads and lifts limits but does not change what happens to the photos: FamilyAlbum still resizes them, and both companies can still process them. In Google Photos and Amazon Photos it buys storage for originals. In Kin Album it buys the one thing no other paid tier here offers: a company that cannot open the photos.

What is the cheapest paid family photo app?

PhotoCircle+ at $9.99 a year, which removes ads for the subscriber only and stores photos at 3.2 megapixels. Google One’s 100 GB plan is $1.99 a month, Keepr Circle’s 100 GB tier $4.99 a month, 23snaps Premium $5.49 a month. FamilyAlbum Premium Family is $59 a year, Tinybeans+ $74.99 a year, BackThen VIP $64.99 a year on its website, Qeepsake Essential $47.88 a year, Cluster Club from $49.99 a year, and Kin Album $9.99 a month.

Which paid family photo app removes ads for the relatives too?

FamilyAlbum Premium Family and Tinybeans+ cover the whole album. PhotoCircle+ removes ads for the subscriber only; invited members still see them. Kin Album, Google Photos, Amazon Photos, BackThen and Cluster show no ads on any tier, though Amazon says photos may be scanned for shopping recommendations.

Does paying for FamilyAlbum get you the original photos?

No. FamilyAlbum’s help centre says uploads and downloads are resized; Premium lifts the video limit to 10 minutes and removes ads, and Premium Family Pro keeps video at 1080p.

Head to head, and alternatives

Kin Album app vs FamilyAlbum Premium (2026)

Does FamilyAlbum Premium keep photos at full quality?

No. FamilyAlbum’s help centre says uploads are ‘slightly resized’ and that downloads and DVDs are the resized versions; the Premium plans page lists a maximum video resolution of 1280 × 720 for Premium Family and 1920 × 1080 for Premium Family Pro. Kin Album says it stores the encrypted original and exports ‘the original files’.

Which costs more, Kin Album or FamilyAlbum Premium?

Kin Album: $9.99 a month, about $120 a year, no free tier or trial. FamilyAlbum Premium Family: $5.99 a month or $59 a year, with a free month for first-time subscribers; Premium Family Pro is $10.99 a month or $109 a year. Both cover everyone in the album.

Does paying for FamilyAlbum remove the tracking?

The Premium plans page lists ‘No Third-Party Ads’ as a Premium feature. The App Store privacy label, which applies to the app as a whole, lists Identifiers under data used to track you, and location, identifiers and usage data linked to you for third-party advertising. Kin Album’s label had not been published when we checked.

Kin Album app vs Tinybeans+ (2026)

What does Tinybeans+ include?

$7.99 a month or $74.99 a year: unlimited uploads, 200 GB of storage, videos up to 5 minutes, no ads for you or your followers, bulk export, and a shared subscription for one follower. The free plan is 20 uploads a month and 5 GB, with ads.

Does Tinybeans keep the original photo?

Tinybeans doesn’t state photo resolution on the help pages we checked; Tinybeans+ is described as offering ‘high-quality videos up to 5 minutes’. Kin Album says it stores the encrypted original and exports ‘the original files’.

Which tracks more?

Tinybeans’ App Store label lists Location, Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers and Usage Data as data that may be used to track you across other companies’ apps and websites — the longest such list among the fourteen apps compared here. Kin Album’s label had not been published when we checked; its site states no ads and nothing tracking you.

FamilyAlbum vs Tinybeans (2026): free tiers, paid tiers, and what each does to the photos

Is FamilyAlbum or Tinybeans cheaper?

Free: FamilyAlbum, which has unlimited storage at no cost; Tinybeans’ free plan stops at 20 uploads a month and 5 GB. Paid: FamilyAlbum Premium Family is $59 a year for the whole album; Tinybeans+ is $74.99 a year.

Which has the longer video limit?

Tinybeans+ allows videos up to 5 minutes; FamilyAlbum allows 2 minutes free and 10 minutes on Premium.

Do both show ads?

Yes, on their free tiers. FamilyAlbum lists ‘No Third-Party Ads’ as a Premium feature; Tinybeans’ free plan ‘includes ads around your family’s journal’, removed by Tinybeans+ for you and your followers.

Google Photos vs iCloud Shared Albums (2026): originals and processing, or reduced and not

Which keeps better quality, Google Photos or iCloud Shared Albums?

Google Photos, if you back up in ‘Original quality’. iCloud Shared Albums reduces every shared photo to 2048 pixels on the long edge and video to 720p, though your originals stay in your own library.

Can Android relatives see an iCloud Shared Album?

Only via the Public Website option, which publishes the album to a page anyone can view in a browser. Google Photos links open for anyone.

Which is more private?

Neither is end to end encrypted. Apple says its analysis runs on the device and that it ‘does not access your photos or videos’; Google groups faces by default and processes the library for search and Gemini features. Both say no ads.

FamilyAlbum free vs Premium (2026): what $59 a year changes, and what it doesn’t

How much is FamilyAlbum Premium?

Premium Family is $5.99 a month or $59 a year and covers everyone in the album. Premium Family Pro is $10.99 a month or $109 a year and keeps video at 1080p. Premium One is $2.99 a month and covers only the subscriber. First-time subscribers get a month free.

Does FamilyAlbum Premium keep full-quality photos?

No. FamilyAlbum’s help centre says uploads are ‘slightly resized’ and that the photos you download back, and the ones on its DVDs, are the resized versions. Premium changes the video limit and resolution, not the photo resizing.

Is FamilyAlbum free forever?

The help centre says the free version ‘includes unlimited storage and uploads’, with videos under two minutes and third-party ads. It is funded by those ads and by print products.

Tinybeans free vs Tinybeans+ (2026): what $74.99 a year changes, and what it doesn’t

What does Tinybeans+ include?

$7.99 a month or $74.99 a year: unlimited uploads, 200 GB of storage, videos up to 5 minutes, an ad-free experience including for followers, bulk export, and a shared subscription for one follower.

What happens when I hit the free 5 GB limit?

Tinybeans says you keep access to everything uploaded but can’t add new photos or videos unless you upgrade; recent memories stay visible and older ones are archived. Archived memories can be exported at no cost from the app.

Does Tinybeans+ keep the original photo?

It doesn’t say. Tinybeans+ is described as offering ‘high-quality videos up to 5 minutes’; photo resolution isn’t stated on the help pages we checked, for either plan.

FamilyAlbum alternatives (2026): thirteen apps ranked on what you’d be leaving for

What is the best alternative to FamilyAlbum?

On this site’s criteria, Kin Album: it keeps the original files, shows no ads, and is the only album here whose company cannot open the photos — at $9.99 a month with no free tier and no Android app. If the price rules it out, Google Photos in ‘Original quality’ is the free alternative that fixes the resizing, within 15 GB and with Google processing the library.

Is there a FamilyAlbum alternative with no ads?

Kin Album, Google Photos, iCloud Shared Albums, Keepr Circle, 23snaps, TinyNest, BackThen and Cluster show no ads. FamilyAlbum itself removes third-party ads on Premium ($5.99 a month or $59 a year, with a free first month). Tinybeans and PhotoCircle show ads on their free plans; Amazon Photos may scan photos for shopping recommendations; WhatsApp shows ads in the Updates tab.

Which FamilyAlbum alternative keeps full-resolution photos?

Kin Album, Amazon Photos (with Prime) and BackThen say they keep the original; Google Photos does if you choose ‘Original quality’. iCloud Shared Albums reduces photos to 2048 pixels, PhotoCircle to 3.2 megapixels, Cluster ‘partially’ compresses, and WhatsApp sends Standard or HD quality. Tinybeans doesn’t state its resolution.

Can I move my photos from FamilyAlbum to another app?

Only as resized copies. FamilyAlbum’s help centre says the photos you download back are the resized versions, and an Album Admin can disable downloads. The originals are wherever you kept them — usually the phone that took them — so move from there, not from FamilyAlbum.

Tinybeans alternatives (2026): thirteen apps ranked for people leaving the caps, the ads, or the price

What is the best alternative to Tinybeans?

On this site’s criteria, Kin Album: no upload caps published, originals kept, no ads, and a company that cannot open the photos — at $9.99 a month with no free tier and no Android app. If free matters most, Google Photos (15 GB, originals in ‘Original quality’) or FamilyAlbum (unlimited, with ads and resizing) remove the caps at no cost.

Is there a free alternative to Tinybeans without upload limits?

FamilyAlbum’s free version ‘includes unlimited storage and uploads’, with third-party ads, resized uploads and 2-minute videos. iCloud Shared Albums is free with 5,000 items per album, no ads, and photos reduced to 2048 pixels. Google Photos is free within 15 GB shared with Gmail and Drive. 23snaps and TinyNest give unlimited photos free with no ads; Keepr Circle gives 5 GB free with no ads; BackThen gives 1 GB free with no monthly cap; Cluster is free within limits it doesn’t publish.

Can I get my photos out of Tinybeans?

Bulk export is a Tinybeans+ feature: the owner or a Full Access follower requests it on the website and receives download links by email, a month at a time. Free users whose memories were archived at the 5 GB limit can export at no cost from the app.

Which Tinybeans alternative has the least tracking?

Tinybeans’ App Store label lists five data types used to track you. iCloud Shared Albums has no tracking label to speak of, Google Photos, Amazon Photos and Cluster have no ‘Data Used to Track You’ section, and Kin Album’s label had not been published when we checked; its site states nothing tracking you.

BackThen vs FamilyAlbum (2026): a free gigabyte of originals, or unlimited free storage with ads

Is BackThen or FamilyAlbum cheaper?

Free: FamilyAlbum, whose free version has unlimited storage with third-party ads; BackThen’s free tier is 1 GB, ‘typically up to three months’. Paid: FamilyAlbum Premium Family is $59 a year for the whole album; BackThen VIP is $64.99 a year on its website or $6.49 a month through the app stores, and its benefits extend to everyone you share with.

Which one keeps the original photos?

BackThen. Its pages say photos and videos are ‘always preserved in their original quality’, VIP lists ‘Full resolution preservation’, and downloading a memory returns ‘your originally uploaded file’. FamilyAlbum says uploads are ‘slightly resized’ and that the copies you download back are the resized versions.

Which has the longer video limit?

BackThen: ‘HD videos of any length’, with storage as the only constraint. FamilyAlbum allows 2 minutes per video free and 10 minutes on Premium.

Can grandparents add their own photos?

In BackThen, yes: invited family ‘can view your timeline, like memories, comment on memories and add their own photos and videos’, with each ability switchable per person. In FamilyAlbum, only app members can upload, and only if an album admin enables it; browser-version relatives can view, comment and download but not upload.

BackThen vs Tinybeans (2026): the timeline that keeps originals against the journal with a 20-upload cap

Is BackThen or Tinybeans cheaper?

Free: BackThen gives 1 GB with no ads and every feature; Tinybeans gives 20 uploads a month and 5 GB with ads. Paid: BackThen VIP is $64.99 a year on its website ($6.49 a month through the app stores); Tinybeans+ is $74.99 a year ($7.99 a month). Both offer 200 GB.

Which keeps the original photos?

BackThen says photos are ‘always preserved in their original quality’ and downloads return ‘your originally uploaded file’. Tinybeans doesn’t state photo resolution on the help pages we checked.

Which has the longer video limit?

BackThen: ‘HD videos of any length’. Tinybeans+: up to 5 minutes; the free plan’s limit isn’t stated.

Does either show ads?

Tinybeans’ free plan ‘includes ads around your family’s journal’, removed by Tinybeans+ for you and your followers. BackThen shows none on any tier: ‘Ad-free timelines forever’.

Qeepsake vs Tinybeans (2026): two journals, one owner, and what each charges for

Is Qeepsake or Tinybeans cheaper?

Tinybeans has a real free plan — 20 uploads a month, 5 GB, with ads. Qeepsake starts with a 7-day trial and then charges: Essential $4.99 a month or $47.88 a year, Premium $9.99 a month or $95.88 a year; its free ‘Lite’ tier of five photos a month is being wound down. Paid against paid, Essential is cheaper than Tinybeans+ ($74.99 a year) and Premium is dearer.

Are Qeepsake and Tinybeans the same company?

Yes, now. Qeepsake’s help centre says it ‘is now part of the Tinybeans family’, and its privacy policy is Tinybeans USA Ltd’s.

Which has the longer video limit?

Tinybeans+: videos up to 5 minutes. Qeepsake: video is Premium-only and each clip is a minute or less, trimmed in the app; videos can’t be sent by text.

Can grandparents see the journal without an account?

In Qeepsake, partly: they can receive a weekly recap email with the ten most recent entries, videos as GIFs, but reading the whole journal means a contributor account, which needs Premium. In Tinybeans, followers log in, in the app or on the website.

Cluster vs FamilyAlbum (2026): the ad-free group album against the ad-funded baby album

Is Cluster or FamilyAlbum cheaper?

Both have a free tier. FamilyAlbum’s is unlimited storage with third-party ads; Cluster’s has no ads but is capped by numbers of groups, members and uploads it doesn’t publish. Paid: Cluster Club starts at $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year (Friend), with Family at $9.99 or $99.99; FamilyAlbum Premium Family is $5.99 a month or $59 a year.

Does either keep the original photos?

No. Cluster says ‘we partially compress them … The images saved are not original, but they are still considered high resolution.’ FamilyAlbum says uploads are ‘slightly resized’ and downloads are the resized copies.

Which has the longer video limit?

FamilyAlbum: 2 minutes free, 10 on Premium. Cluster: 15 seconds, trimmed in the app, unless you subscribe, and the subscriber limit isn’t stated.

Does either show ads?

FamilyAlbum’s free version does; ‘No Third-Party Ads’ is a Premium feature. Cluster says ‘we will never sell ads or sell your data’, though its terms allow emails promoting its own merchandise.

Guides

Is FamilyAlbum safe? What its own pages say about privacy

Can strangers see my FamilyAlbum?

No. FamilyAlbum’s home page says ‘Only family members you invite can see your album’, and only Album Admins can send invitations.

Can FamilyAlbum staff see my photos?

FamilyAlbum’s privacy policy describes encryption between your device and its servers and says authorised employees or affiliates may access data to provide customer support and operate the service. It makes no end-to-end encryption claim.

Does FamilyAlbum sell my data?

Its privacy policy says ‘We don’t sell your data to any third parties’. Its App Store label lists Identifiers under ‘Data Used to Track You’ and location, identifiers and usage data linked to you for third-party advertising.

Does Grandma need an app? The no-download path in each family photo app

Which family photo apps work in a web browser?

Keepr Circle (a link, no app and no account), Google Photos (link, no account to view), Amazon Photos (group link while link sharing is on), 23snaps (the website, with an account), FamilyAlbum (browser-version invitation with a web login), Tinybeans (website login for followers), iCloud Shared Albums (only via Public Website), Kin Album (any browser after signing in), BackThen (sign up on the web), Cluster (the web, logged in) and PhotoCircle (web app; viewing without joining isn’t stated). WhatsApp and TinyNest need the app; Qeepsake sends a weekly recap email instead.

Which app asks the least of the relative?

Keepr Circle and Google Photos ask for a tap on a link. Kin Album’s ‘email recipient’ path asks for nothing — the photos arrive in the inbox — but the relative can’t comment. Everything else asks for an account, an Apple device, or the app.

What ‘end-to-end encrypted’ means for family photos — and what ‘in transit and at rest’ doesn’t

What does ‘encrypted in transit and at rest’ mean?

The photo is scrambled while it travels to the server and while it sits on the disk — but the company holds the key, so its own systems can read the photo whenever they need to. That is what lets an app search your photos, group faces, make previews or show shopping suggestions. Google Photos, Amazon Photos, iCloud Shared Albums and Keepr Circle all work this way, and Keepr says so in those words.

What does ‘end-to-end encrypted’ mean?

The photo is scrambled on your phone with a key the company never receives, so the company cannot read it even if it wants to or is ordered to. Kin Album says this of its album; WhatsApp says it of chats. The cost is that the company can’t do anything with the photos — no server-side search, no face grouping, and if you lose your keys the company can’t recover the photos for you.

Are iCloud Shared Albums end-to-end encrypted?

No. Apple’s Advanced Data Protection page says ‘the Shared Albums feature in Photos’ does ‘not support Advanced Data Protection’. Your own library can be end to end encrypted with ADP on; shared albums stay under standard encryption with keys Apple holds.

Video limits in family photo apps: every stated cap in one place

Which family photo app allows the longest videos?

iCloud Shared Albums allows the longest stated limit, fifteen minutes, delivered at 720p. FamilyAlbum Premium allows 10 minutes; Tinybeans+ 5 minutes; PhotoCircle+ 4 minutes; 23snaps 3 minutes. Kin Album’s limit is by size — 400 MB, about six minutes at the iPhone default. Google Photos states no per-video length limit on its quality page; Amazon Photos limits video by storage allowance, not length; Keepr Circle sets no length limit and stores every video at 720p; BackThen states no limit and keeps the file; TinyNest doesn’t state its free limit. Cluster’s 15 seconds and Qeepsake’s one minute are the shortest.

What is FamilyAlbum’s video limit?

2 minutes on the free version; up to 10 minutes on Premium. Premium Family keeps 720p and Premium Family Pro 1080p.

Which family photo apps compress your photos?

Does FamilyAlbum compress photos?

Yes. FamilyAlbum’s help centre says uploads are ‘slightly resized’ to improve upload speed, reduce data use and reduce server costs, and that the photos you download back are the resized versions.

Does iCloud Shared Albums reduce photo quality?

Yes. ‘When shared, photos are reduced to 2048 pixels on the long edge’; videos are delivered at up to 720p. The originals stay in your own library.

Which apps keep the original photo?

Amazon Photos says photos are stored ‘unlimited at full resolution’ for Prime members. Kin Album says export ‘builds a zip of the original files right on the device’. BackThen lists ‘Full resolution preservation’ and returns ‘your originally uploaded file’. Google Photos keeps the original if you choose ‘Original quality’.

Is Tinybeans safe? What its own pages say about privacy

Can strangers see my Tinybeans journal?

No. Only the followers you invite can view the journal, in the app or on the tinybeans.com website, and each follower has their own login.

Does Tinybeans use my photos for AI or face recognition?

It doesn’t say. We found no published statement either way on the pages we checked, so the table says ‘not stated’.

Does Tinybeans show ads to grandparents?

On the free plan, yes — Tinybeans says the free plan ‘includes ads around your family’s journal’. Tinybeans+ removes them for you and your followers, though Tinybeans’ own articles stay in the Home feed.

Is Google Photos safe for family sharing? What Google’s own pages say

Can anyone see my Google Photos shared album?

Only the people you invite — unless you create a link, in which case Google says ‘Anyone that has the shared link will be able to view the album.’ No Google Account is needed to view a link; one is needed to be invited directly or to add photos.

Does Google look at my photos?

Google’s systems process the library for search, face groups and Memories, and face grouping is on by default where available. Google says it doesn’t use the content you store in Photos for ads.

Does Google use my photos to train AI?

Gemini features run on your library. Google says it doesn’t train generative models outside Photos on your personal data.

Are iCloud Shared Albums safe? What Apple’s own pages say

Are iCloud Shared Albums end-to-end encrypted?

No. Apple’s own support page says Shared Albums ‘do not support Advanced Data Protection’, so they sit outside Apple’s end-to-end encryption and Apple holds the keys.

Does Apple look at the photos in a Shared Album?

Apple’s Photos privacy notice says Apple ‘does not access your photos or videos, and does not use them for research and development’. Face recognition and scene analysis run on the device.

Can people outside my family see my Shared Album?

Only if you turn on the album’s Public Website, which lets anyone with the address view it in a browser. Otherwise only the subscribers you invite can see it.

Is Amazon Photos safe? What Amazon’s own pages say

Does Amazon scan my photos?

Yes, by its own description: image recognition tags objects, actions and scenes, ‘People grouping’ stores records of individual faces, and Amazon ‘may also scan your photos to show shopping recommendations based on the content of your images’.

Can I turn off Amazon Photos face recognition?

Amazon says the tagging features can be switched off in account settings.

Does Amazon Photos show ads?

No ad placements are described, but Amazon says it may scan photos to show shopping recommendations based on their content, and a Lens button shops for products recognised in your photos.

Is WhatsApp safe for family photos? What Meta’s own pages say

Can Meta see photos I send on WhatsApp?

No. Meta says personal messages, calls and statuses ‘remain end-to-end encrypted, meaning no one can see or hear them’ — ‘not even WhatsApp’.

Does WhatsApp show ads?

Since June 2025, ads and promoted channels appear in the Updates tab (Status and Channels). Meta says chats are unaffected, and a paid ‘No ads’ option is listed on the App Store.

Are WhatsApp photos full quality?

No. Media goes out at Standard quality unless you choose HD per item or as the default, neither of which is the original, and ‘You can’t upgrade the quality of an existing photo you’ve sent’.

Is PhotoCircle safe? What its own pages say about privacy

Does PhotoCircle+ remove ads for my family?

No. PhotoCircle says PhotoCircle+ is ad-free for the subscriber only; invited members still see ads.

Does PhotoCircle keep original photos?

No. ‘Our standard resolution is 3.2 megapixels’ and 720p video; 12 megapixels and 1080p are only on organisation premium plans, and PhotoCircle says PhotoCircle+ ‘does not include high resolution photos or videos’.

Does PhotoCircle run AI on my photos?

It doesn’t say. Search on PhotoCircle+ is by circle name and caption; we found no statement about AI or face recognition on the pages we checked.

Is the Kin Album app safe and private? What its own pages say

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 pictures.’ It discloses what is readable: captions, comments and names, and an optional email preview image prepared outside the encryption if you turn on email delivery for a relative.

Does Kin Album run AI on my photos?

No — Kin Album says it ‘runs no AI on your photos’. Photos are encrypted before upload, so its servers can’t process them; captions and comments are readable.

What happens to my photos if I stop paying?

The album pauses and nothing is deleted. Export is available any time at no fee: the phone decrypts and zips the original files on the device.

Is Keepr Circle safe? What its own pages say about privacy

Is Keepr Circle end-to-end encrypted?

No, and it says so: ‘Encrypted in transit and at rest’. Its security page adds that media ‘is stored in object storage and delivered through controlled access paths’ and that Keepr’s own image models index photos for search on its servers — which requires the servers to read them.

Does Keepr Circle use AI on my photos?

For search and duplicate detection, yes — ‘its own image models on its own servers’, never a third-party AI service, no face recognition, nothing used to train a model. You can switch indexing off in Profile → Privacy and delete the index.

Has Keepr Circle been audited?

No. Its security page says it ‘does not currently claim a formal security certification or a published independent penetration test’, and describes the automated checks it runs instead.

Is 23snaps safe? What its own pages say about privacy

Can 23snaps staff see my photos?

Some can, when their duties require it: ‘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.’ There is no end-to-end encryption claim.

Does 23snaps sell or share my data?

Its privacy help page says your data ‘is private and will not be exposed to advertising networks’, and the privacy policy says it won’t share data with third parties for marketing without express consent. The App Store label lists usage data used to track you and data linked to you for the developer’s own advertising or marketing.

Is 23snaps a real company?

Yes: 23 Snaps Limited, company registration 07853831, registered at 160 City Road, London, with a privacy policy effective June 2012 and an App Store listing under 23 Snaps Ltd.

Is TinyNest safe? What its own pages say about privacy

Is TinyNest end-to-end encrypted?

It doesn’t claim to be. The privacy policy describes SSL for transmission and Amazon S3 for storage, and says service providers may access data for storage and maintenance.

Does TinyNest run AI on my photos?

The pages don’t say. The maker is Tiny Nest AI LLC and Pro includes ‘unlimited memory generation’, but neither the site nor the privacy policy states whether photos are analysed or used for face recognition.

Can relatives screenshot TinyNest photos?

Only if you allow it: each invited person has a ‘Can screenshot’ permission you can turn off, in which case ‘they get a blank image instead of your photo’, and every screenshot is logged.

How to share baby photos with grandparents using Google Photos — and what you give up

Does Grandma need a Google Account to see a Google Photos album?

Not to look. Google’s help page says ‘Anyone that has the shared link will be able to view the album.’ She needs a Google Account to be invited directly or to add her own photos.

Are the photos I share on Google Photos full quality?

Only if your backup setting is ‘Original quality’. In ‘Storage saver’, photos over 16 megapixels are resized to 16 megapixels and videos over 1080p to 1080p, and the file may be converted to a different format.

Does Google look at the photos in a shared album?

Google’s systems process the library for search, face groups and Memories; face grouping is on by default where available, and Gemini features run on the library. Google says the content is not used for ads, while its App Store label lists photos under third-party advertising.

How to share baby photos with grandparents using iCloud Shared Albums — and what you give up

Can grandparents on Android see an iCloud Shared Album?

Only through the album’s Public Website option, which Apple says publishes the photos ‘to a website that anyone can see in an up-to-date web browser’. Without it, subscribers need an Apple Account and an Apple device or iCloud for Windows.

Are iCloud Shared Album photos full quality?

No. Apple’s support page says ‘When shared, photos are reduced to 2048 pixels on the long edge’, and video is delivered at up to 720p. Your originals stay in your own library; the shared copy is what relatives see and save.

Is an iCloud Shared Album private?

Invited subscribers only, unless Public Website is on — then anyone with the address can view it. Shared Albums are excluded from Apple’s Advanced Data Protection, so they are not end-to-end encrypted, though Apple says its photo analysis runs on the device and that it does not access your photos.

How to share baby photos with grandparents using Amazon Photos — and what you give up

Does Grandma need an Amazon account for Amazon Photos?

To be invited to a group, yes: Amazon says non-members ‘need to create an Amazon account’. While link sharing is on, anyone with the group’s link can view it without one; switch link sharing off and ‘only you and people you invite can access photos in a group’.

Are Amazon Photos originals?

Yes for Prime members: photos are stored ‘free and unlimited at full resolution’. Video counts against 5 GB for everyone, Prime or not, and needs a storage plan beyond that.

Does Amazon scan the photos in a shared group?

Amazon’s image recognition ‘analyzes and applies tags’ to photos and videos, ‘People grouping’ stores ‘records of individual faces’, and Amazon ‘may also scan your photos to show shopping recommendations based on the content of your images’. The tagging features can be switched off in account settings.

Is BackThen safe? What its own pages say about privacy

Is BackThen end-to-end encrypted?

It doesn’t claim to be. The FAQ says photos are stored ‘on a series of secure servers’ in Amazon’s AWS and served to your account and the people you share with; the privacy policy says no transmission or storage ‘can be guaranteed to be 100% secure’. The company holds the keys.

Does BackThen sell your data or show ads?

It says no to both: ‘BackThen promises not sell, rent or otherwise misuse your data’, and ‘We don’t believe in displaying your private and precious memories alongside a piece of advertising’. Its App Store label does list identifiers as data used to track you across other companies’ apps and websites.

Does BackThen delete your photos?

In two cases, by its own pages. If a VIP subscription lapses: no adding or exporting after the last day, friends and family lose access, and ‘After 60 days, your account will be closed, and all information, photos & videos deleted’. On the free tier: content ‘will be stored for a period of 120 days from the date of last logged in access’ and then deleted.

Is Qeepsake safe? What its own pages say about privacy

Is Qeepsake end-to-end encrypted?

No. It says ‘Qeepsake uses 256-bit SSL encryption’, which protects the connection, and that a team member may access a family’s journal ‘for troubleshooting an issue or to ensure the printed quality of Qeepsake Books’ — which is only possible because the company can read it.

Does Qeepsake sell your journal?

It says not: ‘Qeepsake does not sell, rent, license, or distribute the contents of anyone’s journal for any reason’, and the privacy policy says it does not sell personal information. The same policy says it may ‘display personalized content and advertising tailored to your interests’.

Who can see a Qeepsake journal?

The account holder; Family Contributors you add (a Premium feature), who post into the same journal; and recap-email recipients, who receive a weekly email of up to ten entries. There is no public sharing.

Is Cluster safe? What its own pages say about privacy

Is Cluster end-to-end encrypted?

No claim. ‘Your photos are only accessed over an encrypted connection’ and ‘We employ SSL to encrypt communications between our servers and client applications’ describe the connection; the photos are ‘stored in redundant locations in the cloud’ where the company’s systems can read them — and do, to compress them.

Does Cluster sell your data or show ads?

It says never: ‘we will never sell ads or sell your data’, ‘We neither rent nor sell your Personal Information’, and ‘We do not currently have any third-party advertising cookies, nor do we currently have any third-party data agreements’. The terms allow Cluster to email members with promotions for its own merchandise, such as photo books.

Can strangers see a Cluster album?

No. ‘Everything you post is only accessible to members who were explicitly added to the each individual group album and/or people who joined with the invitation link.’ The old option to make an album public ‘is no longer supported’.

Each app

FamilyAlbum: what the free version really includes

Is FamilyAlbum really free?

Yes. FamilyAlbum’s help centre says the free version ‘includes unlimited storage and uploads’, with videos limited to 2 minutes. The free version shows third-party ads — ‘No Third-Party Ads’ is listed on the Premium page as a paid feature — and the company also sells photobooks, DVDs and prints from inside the app.

How much is FamilyAlbum Premium?

Premium Family is $5.99 a month or $59 a year and covers everyone in the album. Premium Family Pro is $10.99 a month or $109 a year and adds 1080p video uploads. Premium One is $2.99 a month and covers only the subscriber. First-time subscribers get a month free.

Does FamilyAlbum reduce photo quality?

Yes. Its help article ‘Do you resize uploads?’ says photos and videos are ‘slightly resized’ on upload, and that the versions you download back — and the ones put on FamilyAlbum DVDs — are the resized versions. Keep your originals on your phone.

Can grandparents use FamilyAlbum without the app?

Yes. An Album Admin can send a ‘browser version’ invitation — a unique link that lets a relative view, comment and download without installing the app. Browser-version members can’t upload photos.

Tinybeans: the free plan’s limits and what Tinybeans+ costs

Is Tinybeans free?

Yes, with limits. Tinybeans’ help centre says 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’. When you hit 5 GB you can’t add more until you upgrade, and older memories are archived.

How much is Tinybeans+?

$7.99 a month or $74.99 a year. It includes unlimited uploads, 200 GB, videos up to 5 minutes, no ads for you or your followers, bulk export, and a shared subscription for one follower.

Can I export my photos from Tinybeans?

Bulk export is a Tinybeans+ feature, requested from the website by date range and delivered as download links by email. The journal owner or a follower with Full Access can request it. Free users whose memories were archived at the 5 GB limit can export them at no cost from the app.

Do grandparents see ads on Tinybeans?

On the free plan, yes — ads appear ‘around your family’s journal’. Tinybeans+ ‘removes ads for you and your followers’ in the app and on the website, and from the update emails; Tinybeans’ own articles remain in the Home feed.

Google Photos shared albums: free, easy, and processed by Google

Do you need a Google Account to view a shared Google Photos album?

Not to view a link — Google’s help says ‘Anyone that has the shared link will be able to view the album’. To be invited directly, or to add photos, you need a Google Account.

Does Google use your photos for ads?

Google’s Photos privacy page says it doesn’t ‘use the content you store in Photos for ads purposes’, and its Gemini privacy notice says ‘Your personal data in Photos is never used for ads’. Its App Store privacy label, also written by Google, lists ‘User Content: Photos or Videos’ under the purpose ‘Third-Party Advertising’. We report both statements; we can’t reconcile them for you.

Does Google Photos keep original quality?

Only if you choose ‘Original quality’. ‘Storage saver’ resizes photos over 16 megapixels to 16 MP and videos over 1080p to 1080p, and may change the file format.

Can you turn off face recognition in Google Photos?

Yes. ‘Face Groups’ can be turned off in settings, and Google says doing so deletes your face groups and the face models used to create them.

iCloud Shared Albums: free and private on the device, but 2048 pixels and 720p

Do iCloud Shared Albums count against iCloud storage?

No. Apple says ‘Shared Albums are kept in iCloud, but they don’t count against your iCloud storage limit’. Each album holds up to 5,000 photos and videos, and an owner can share up to 200 albums.

Can someone without an iPhone see an iCloud Shared Album?

Only if the owner turns on ‘Public Website’, which publishes the album to ‘a website that anyone can see in an up-to-date web browser’ — view only. Otherwise subscribers need an Apple Account and an Apple device or iCloud for Windows.

Are iCloud Shared Albums end-to-end encrypted?

No. Apple’s Advanced Data Protection page says ‘the Shared Albums feature in Photos’ does ‘not support Advanced Data Protection’, so shared albums keep standard encryption, with keys Apple holds, even when you turn ADP on for the rest of iCloud.

Does Apple reduce photo quality in Shared Albums?

Yes. ‘When shared, photos are reduced to 2048 pixels on the long edge’, and videos ‘are delivered at up to 720p resolution’, up to fifteen minutes long. Your originals stay at full quality in your own library.

Amazon Photos: unlimited full-resolution storage for Prime, with image recognition on by default

Is Amazon Photos free?

5 GB is free for any Amazon account. Prime members get ‘unlimited full-resolution photo storage, plus 5 GB of video storage’. Storage plans for more video start at $1.99 a month for 100 GB.

Can family members share Amazon Photos storage?

Yes. ‘You can share your Amazon Photos storage allowance with up to 5 other family members’, each with an Amazon account. Their uploads stay private to them; sharing between people happens through groups.

Does Amazon scan your photos?

Yes. Amazon’s help page says it uses ‘image recognition technology to analyze and apply tags to your photos and videos’, that ‘People grouping’ stores ‘records of individual faces’, and that Amazon ‘may also scan your photos to show shopping recommendations based on the content of your images’. The tagging features can be turned off in account settings.

Can someone view an Amazon Photos group without an account?

Yes, while link sharing is on. Switch it off and ‘only you and people you invite can access photos in a group’; invited members need an Amazon account.

WhatsApp for family photos: encrypted, compressed, and not an album

Are photos sent on WhatsApp private?

The chat is end-to-end encrypted. Meta’s June 2025 announcement says ‘Your personal messages, calls and statuses remain end-to-end encrypted, meaning no one can see or hear them’, and WhatsApp’s App Store description says ‘no one, not even WhatsApp, can read or listen’. That covers the transport; what each relative does with the photo on their phone is up to them.

Does WhatsApp reduce photo quality?

Yes, by default. Media is sent at ‘Standard quality’ unless you choose ‘HD quality’ for an item or set HD as the default under Settings > Storage and data > Media upload quality. WhatsApp’s help page adds that ‘You can’t upgrade the quality of an existing photo you’ve sent’.

Does WhatsApp have ads now?

In the Updates tab. Since June 2025 Meta shows ads in Status and promoted channels there; it says chats are unaffected. The App Store listing also shows in-app purchases named ‘No ads’, from $4.00 for one account.

Can grandparents see WhatsApp photos without the app?

No. Everyone in a group chat needs WhatsApp installed and an account tied to a phone number.

PhotoCircle: invite-only circles, 3.2-megapixel photos

Is PhotoCircle free?

For personal use, yes — ‘The app is free for personal use (i.e. sharing with friends and family). Ads help us keep it that way.’ Organisations need per-seat premium plans.

What does PhotoCircle+ include?

$1.29 a month or $9.99 a year buys an ad-free experience ‘for the subscriber only’, videos up to 4 minutes, search by circle name and caption, uploads of 200 photos at a time, bulk download of a circle, and slideshows on the web. It does not raise photo resolution: ‘PhotoCircle+ is NOT a premium plan. It does not include high resolution photos or videos.’

Does PhotoCircle reduce photo quality?

Yes. ‘Our standard resolution is 3.2 megapixels’, with video at 720p and 60 seconds per clip. 12-megapixel photos and 4-minute 1080p video are available only on organisation premium plans.

Do relatives still see ads if I pay for PhotoCircle+?

Yes. The ad-free experience is ‘for the subscriber only’.

Kin Album app: end-to-end encrypted, one price for everyone, no ads, no AI — and no free tier

Can Kin Album see your photos?

Kin Album says no. Its security page states that photos and videos are encrypted on the iPhone before upload, that ‘Our servers store ciphertext and wrapped keys’, and ‘We cannot decrypt your pictures’. It also lists what sits outside the encryption: captions, comments and names, plus a small preview image if you turn on email photo updates for a relative.

How much does Kin Album cost?

$9.99 a month, one subscription for everyone you invite. There is no free tier and no free trial. Relatives never pay.

Do relatives need an account for Kin Album?

Members sign in — the album’s key is sealed to their account — and can view in the app or in any browser. An ‘email recipient’ gets the photos by email with no account at all, but can’t comment or react.

Is Kin Album available on Android?

There is no Android app. Relatives on Android can view as members in a browser or receive photos by email.

Keepr Circle: link-based sharing with metered storage

Is Keepr Circle free?

There is a free tier: 5 GB personal storage plus 10 GB shared for up to three people, no credit card. Paid tiers are storage: $4.99 a month for 100 GB, $7.99 for 250 GB, $12.99 for 500 GB, with annual billing two months cheaper. Relatives never pay — ‘you only pay for the storage you share’.

Do grandparents need an account for Keepr Circle?

No. Keepr’s home page says ‘No app or account needed just to view’ — a shared link opens in the browser. Relatives who want to add their own photos make a free account.

Is Keepr Circle end-to-end encrypted?

No. Keepr states ‘Encrypted in transit and at rest’. Its security page explains that media ‘is stored in object storage and delivered through controlled access paths’, and that Keepr runs its own image models on its own servers to index photos for search — which requires the servers to read them. Indexing can be switched off in Profile → Privacy.

Does Keepr Circle keep the original photo?

Only on plans of 500 GB and above, and only for photos. Keepr’s help centre says photos are stored ‘optimised for browsing — up to 1920 pixels on the long edge — and video at 720p, on every plan’; on 500 GB and up the untouched original can be kept alongside, for the photos you choose, never for video. Its comparison page’s ‘Original quality, always’ is not what the help centre says.

Does Keepr Circle have an iPhone app?

Not one we could find. The site says ‘No app for your family. One for you, if you want it’ and links to an Android app on Google Play; no App Store link was on the site when we checked. The web app works in any browser.

23snaps: free, ad-free, and a decade old — with HD behind Premium

Is 23snaps free?

Yes: ‘The app is completely free of charge to use’, with unlimited uploads. Premium is an in-app purchase — $5.49 for Premium and $7.99 for Premium Plus on the App Store — that adds ‘Unlimited storage for all your HD photos and videos’ and ‘longer videos (up to 3 minutes)’.

Does 23snaps show ads?

No. ’23snaps is completely ad-free’, the home page says ‘Ad-free forever’, and the privacy help page says your data ‘will not be exposed to advertising networks’.

Can 23snaps staff see my photos?

Some can. Its Privacy & Security page says ‘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.’ There is no end-to-end encryption claim; content is stored with Amazon and Microsoft over secured connections.

Can I get my photos out of 23snaps?

Yes. ‘You can export the photos and videos you’ve posted to 23snaps at any time’; the export arrives as an email link that stays live for 24 hours. Whether you get the originals or the stored copies isn’t stated.

TinyNest: free unlimited photos, no ads, and a screenshot lock — app only

Is TinyNest free?

Yes: ‘TinyNest is free to download with unlimited photo storage.’ Pro is an in-app purchase — ‘Family Unlimited Access’ at $12.99 and at $79.99 on the App Store, which doesn’t state the periods, plus a $199.99 ‘Gift Lifetime Access’ — and ‘unlocks unlimited videos, unlimited memory generation, and many more features’.

Can grandparents use TinyNest without the app?

No. Relatives ‘can join by downloading TinyNest and tapping the invite link’. No browser view is described on the pages we checked.

Does TinyNest stop screenshots?

Per relative, yes. ‘Every person you invite has a “Can screenshot” permission that you can turn off. If they try anyway, they get a blank image instead of your photo. Every screenshot is logged too.’

Is TinyNest end-to-end encrypted?

It doesn’t claim to be. The privacy policy describes SSL for transmission and Amazon S3 for storage, and says service providers may access data for storage and maintenance. Its App Store label lists identifiers used to track you and precise location linked to you.

BackThen: originals kept, any-length video, relatives who post — and deletion clauses to read first

Is BackThen free?

1 GB is free — ‘typically up to three months’ of memories — with the same features as VIP. VIP is £4.99 / $6.49 / €5.99 a month through the app stores, or £49.99 / $64.99 / €59.99 a year on backthen.com, for 200 GB; BackThen says it ‘currently allow[s] unlimited uploads at no extra cost’.

Does BackThen keep the original photos?

Yes. VIP lists ‘Full resolution preservation’, the free tier keeps photos ‘always preserved in their original quality’, and downloading a memory returns ‘your originally uploaded file’. The bulk export tool, which zips ‘all your original files’, is VIP-only; free users download one item at a time.

What happens to my photos if I stop paying for BackThen?

By its price-increase FAQ, you can no longer add content or export after the last day of the subscription, friends and family lose access, and ‘After 60 days, your account will be closed, and all information, photos & videos deleted’. The terms also delete free-package content 120 days after the last login, and delete the oldest content when an account is over its allowance.

Can grandparents use BackThen without the app?

Yes, with an account. Invited family ‘can follow their invite mail on any computer or web browser and sign up on the web’, then view, like, comment and — if you allow it — upload. Managing timelines stays in the app.

Does BackThen use AI on the photos?

Its privacy policy says it uses ‘computer vision and analysis of photo metadata’ to help organise photos, and its timelapse feature ‘shows you how their face changes over time’. The FAQ says it does not auto-detect a child in a photo for tagging. No off switch is described.

Qeepsake: a text-message baby journal, now owned by Tinybeans

Is Qeepsake free?

Not in practice. Every membership starts with a 7-day free trial and then charges: Essential is $4.99 a month or $47.88 a year, Premium $9.99 a month or $95.88 a year. Cancelling moves you to ‘Qeepsake Lite’ — one prompt a week and five photos a month — which Qeepsake says it is deactivating when inactive ‘as we move to a paid-only system’.

Can grandparents see a Qeepsake journal?

Partly. Friends and family can be added as recipients of a weekly recap email with ‘the 10 most recent entries saved from the previous week’; videos appear in it as animated GIFs. Reading the whole journal means being a Family Contributor, which needs the account holder to be on Premium and an account of their own.

Does Qeepsake support video?

On Premium only, and ‘a minute or less’ per video: a longer video is trimmed to a one-minute segment in the app. Videos can’t be sent by text.

Is Qeepsake owned by Tinybeans?

Yes. Qeepsake’s help centre says ‘Qeepsake is now part of the Tinybeans family’ in an article updated 6 June 2026, the App Store seller is Tinybeans USA Ltd, and the privacy policy is Tinybeans’. Plans and pricing were unchanged when we checked.

Cluster: a private group album with no ads, from a small independent company

Is Cluster free?

Yes, within limits: ‘We still maintain a free tier of service’, capped by the number of groups you administer, members per group and total posts uploaded; the free numbers aren’t published on the pages we checked. Cluster Club is $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year (Friend), $9.99 or $99.99 (Family, 100 members per group) and $19.99 or $199.99 (Pro, 1,000 members).

Does Cluster keep the original photos?

No. ‘During the upload process we partially compress them to make the experience on your end better. The images saved are not original, but they are still considered high resolution.’ The per-album archive export sends those copies.

How long can a Cluster video be?

15 seconds, trimmed in the app, and only through the app. Subscribers can post ‘longer videos’, which everyone in the group can view; the subscriber limit isn’t stated.

Does Cluster show ads?

No: ‘we will never sell ads or sell your data’, and the family page says ‘No algorithms, no ads, no data mining’. The terms reserve the right to email you and your group members about merchandise Cluster sells, such as photo books.

Who makes Cluster?

Fotoloce, LLC — ‘a tiny team of people’ with ‘no big corporation behind this, and no big name investors’ — listed as Cluster Labs, Inc. on the App Store. The same team makes Tripcast and Homeroom.

The home page

Which family photo-sharing app is right for you?

Which family photo app is completely free?

Three apps here have a free tier that is genuinely usable: FamilyAlbum (unlimited storage, with third-party ads and a 2-minute video limit), iCloud Shared Albums (free with an Apple Account, with photos reduced to 2048 pixels) and Google Photos shared albums (free within your 15 GB Google storage). 23snaps and TinyNest are free with unlimited photos and no ads, though 23snaps keeps HD storage for Premium and TinyNest caps videos until Pro, and Keepr Circle gives 5 GB free. Tinybeans and PhotoCircle are free with ads and tighter limits. BackThen gives 1 GB free with the originals kept and no ads; Cluster is free within limits it doesn’t publish, with compressed photos; Qeepsake’s free tier is a seven-day trial and a five-photos-a-month fallback. Kin Album has no free tier.

Which family photo app can’t see your photos?

Of the fourteen apps compared here, Kin Album is the only family album whose company cannot open the photos, because they are encrypted on the phone before upload. WhatsApp chats are also end-to-end encrypted, but WhatsApp is a chat, not an album, and compresses what you send. Every other app here encrypts photos only in transit and on its servers, which means the company can process them — and several say they do, for search, face grouping or shopping recommendations.

Which apps let grandparents look without downloading an app?

Google Photos (a link, no account to view), iCloud Shared Albums (only via the Public Website option), Amazon Photos (a group link while link sharing is on), FamilyAlbum (a ‘browser version’ invitation), Keepr Circle (a link, no account), 23snaps (the website, with an account) and Kin Album (any browser after signing in, or photos by email as an ‘email recipient’). BackThen and Cluster open in a browser after signing up, and Qeepsake sends relatives a weekly recap email. WhatsApp and TinyNest need the app on every phone.

Do these apps keep the original photo quality?

Amazon Photos (with Prime), Kin Album, BackThen and Google Photos in ‘Original quality’ keep the original file. FamilyAlbum resizes uploads, iCloud Shared Albums reduces photos to 2048 pixels and video to 720p, PhotoCircle compresses to 3.2 megapixels, and WhatsApp sends ‘Standard’ or ‘HD’ quality, neither of which is the original, and Cluster ‘partially’ compresses. Tinybeans and Qeepsake don’t state it on the pages we checked.

Tools

Which family photo app fits your family?

How is the score worked out?

Each thing you weight earns an app one point for the good answer, half a point for ‘partly’ or ‘not stated’, and nothing for the bad answer. Your slider multiplies it: nice to have by one, important by two, must have by three. The percentage is points earned out of points available. An app that fails a must-have outright moves to a second list whatever its percentage. Ties are broken by fewer missed answers, then alphabetically. Nothing else is in the formula.

Why does ‘not stated’ earn half a point?

Because the methodology says ‘not stated’ is not a mark against an app. It means we looked on the app’s own pages and found no statement either way; scoring silence as a ‘no’ would punish the apps we were honest about. Half credit is the neutral middle, and every ‘not stated’ answer is labelled in the app’s list so you can decide for yourself.

Why does the tool ask which phone I have?

Because ‘has an app for my phone’ is only worth scoring for the phone you actually hold. The toggle picks which of the two app questions counts — an iPhone app in the App Store, or an Android app on Google Play — and the other is left out of the arithmetic. A web app in a browser doesn’t count as an app; relatives’ browser access is scored by its own question. The default is iPhone, which favours the apps without an Android app, including Kin Album, made by the company that runs this site; tap Android and the arithmetic changes to match.

Is this tool tilted towards Kin Album?

It is scored by the same rule as the other thirteen, and it loses points where its facts are worse: no free tier, no Android app, an iPhone app that isn’t in the App Store yet, a 400 MB cap per video, and an App Store privacy label that was not yet published when we checked. With every slider at ‘nice to have’ and the phone set to iPhone, Kin Album and Google Photos tie at 73 percent and Amazon Photos and iCloud Shared Albums are next at 69; the published tie-break — fewer missed answers, then the name — lists Kin Album first. Set the phone to Android and Kin Album drops to 69, because it has no Android app, while Google Photos and Keepr Circle lead at 73. Set ‘free, at least to start’ to must have and it drops to the second list, like any other app that fails a must-have. The ‘Start from’ chips mirror the seven best pages’ published weightings: on the iPhone setting five of the seven start with Kin Album first (new baby, privacy first, no ads — tied with Google Photos and iCloud Shared Albums — no AI and paid), Grandparents starts with Google Photos and Free leaves Kin Album out; on the Android setting Kin Album leads four. That is the same pattern as the pages themselves, and the default is still everything equal.

Why isn’t the price in dollars a slider?

A slider needs a yes-or-no answer for every app, and prices don’t reduce to one. The free-tier question captures the part that can be scored: whether you can start without paying. The dollar amounts, the storage caps and the trade-offs on each paid tier are in the full table, with a source under every cell.

About the site

How we check

Do you test the apps yourselves?

Not for the facts on this site. Every fact is a statement the app makes about itself on its own pricing page, help centre, privacy policy, security page or App Store privacy label. That is a deliberate limit: it means every cell can be checked by anyone, and it means we never report something an app has not put in writing. Where an app says nothing, the table says ‘not stated’.

Why isn’t the app I use listed?

The fourteen apps here are the ones families ask about most. Others we have seen mentioned but not yet checked include Viallo and Trove. If you’d like one added, email hello@familyphotoapps.com — we add apps when we can source every criterion from the app’s own pages.

What if a fact is wrong?

Email hello@familyphotoapps.com with the app and the page that contradicts us. We check it against the source and correct the fact and the date. Apps change their terms often, so the ‘checked’ date on every page is the newest source it cites.