Kin Album
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Last updated November 2, 2026
The short answers
Can Kin Album see my photos?
No. We can't open your photos. Photos and videos are end-to-end encrypted. They are locked on your phone before they upload. The keys are held on your family's devices. Three things sit outside that encryption. First, captions and comments. Second, an optional extra: email photos for a relative who doesn't use the app. To show the photos in those emails, we make small preview copies of the album's photos. We delete each copy about 30 days after its photo is posted. That setting is off by default for a member. It is on by default for a relative who only has email. Third, an invitation emailed from the iPhone app. Its link carries the secret that unlocks the album, and the link passes through our servers.
Does anyone in my family pay?
No one has to. On either plan, free or subscribed, everyone you invite views and comments for free.
Is there a free trial?
No trial. There is a free plan instead, and it doesn't run out. It holds 3 GB of photos and videos, about 1,000 photos. Subscribe for unlimited space for $9.99 a month or $89.99 a year. Relatives never have to pay on either plan.
Does Grandma need an account?
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.
What happens if I stop paying?
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. Above that, new photos and videos wait until you subscribe again or make room. 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. The Terms have the details.
Is it used to train AI?
No. Photos and videos are encrypted before they upload. So we can't open them to train anything. We never use the small preview copies made for photo emails to train AI either.
Does it show ads?
No. Ever.
Can people find my photos by searching the internet?
No. Only people with your invitation can join. Nothing is public or searchable.
How long can a video be?
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.
Can relatives on Android use it?
Yes. They can be a member and use any browser. Or they can be an email recipient.
Does it work on a computer?
Yes. The album opens in any browser.
In more detail
How do I invite someone?
Open People and tap “Invite family.” Then pick how they should see photos. “Text an invite” and “Email an invite” get them the app. To text, pick one person from your contacts. Messages opens with their own link, and it goes from your phone. To email, pick one or more people. We email each one their own link. “Just email them photos” needs no app at all. “Share one link in a group chat” makes one link for everyone, and you approve each person. Someone not in your contacts? Tap “Type it instead.” Texts go from the iPhone app. Kin Album never gets your contact list. It only gets the people you tap.
How does “Just email them photos” work?
It is for family who won't install anything. New photos arrive in their email. They need no app, no account and no sign-in. Their first email says who added them. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe link. To send photos by email, we make small preview copies of new photos. That is the same as the photo previews setting, and it is the one time copies leave the encryption. Your full photos stay locked in the album. If they ever want to see the whole album, invite them to join.
My invite didn't arrive — what do I do?
Ask the person who runs your album to send it again. In the iPhone app, they open People and tap “Share link” by your invite. They can text you that link, which skips email spam filters entirely. On kinalbum.com, they open People and tap “Invite family” to email you a new one. Invites come from hello@mail.kinalbum.com. Adding that address to your contacts helps too.
My invitation says it's for a different address — what do I do?
An invitation sent by email opens only for that email address. So sign in with that one. On the iPhone, you may use your Apple account to sign in. If so, choose “Share My Email”. “Hide My Email” gives us a different address. Then the invitation won't open. If you've already signed in with another address, the invitation offers to ask the person who invited you to let you in instead. An invitation sent by text works with any email you use. The first person to open it joins, and nobody can use it after that. So send it only to the person you mean.
Who can see our photos?
Only the people your album's admins invite or approve. If an admin shares one link in a group chat, they approve each person who uses it. There is no public search. Strangers cannot find your album. There are no suggested followers. Photos are also end-to-end encrypted, so even we can't open them. One optional extra: if you email photos to a relative who doesn't use the app, we make small preview copies for those emails. Our Security page explains how. Admins can see who has access in People. Admins can also remove anyone there.
How do I report or block someone?
In the app, press and hold a memory or a comment, then choose Report. On the website, choose Report next to it. You can pick a reason, or just send it. The album's admins are told. We never tell them who sent it. They can delete it or keep it. You can also turn on Also tell Kin Album, so it reaches us too. It reaches us anyway if no one else in the album can act on it. To block someone in the app, press and hold one of their memories or comments. Then choose Block. On the iPhone and the website, you can also block someone in People. After that, you won't see their memories or comments. You won't get notifications about them. They are not told. To unblock someone, go to Settings, then Blocked.
What are screenshot alerts?
They tell an album's admins when someone takes a screenshot in the Kin Album app. Admins choose two things for each album. One is whether screenshots are allowed in the app. The other is whether admins are told about them. If screenshots are allowed, they show the photo, and the admins are told about each one. If not, screenshots of photos come out black. With alerts on, the admins are told when someone tries. The alert says who took the screenshot. Only the album's admins get it. It also stays in the album's activity until the album is deleted. The iPhone app can tell when a screenshot is taken. A web browser can't, so the website never sends an alert. Screen recordings are never announced. And nothing can stop someone taking a picture of the screen with another phone.
Do grandparents have to pay?
No. Everyone you invite views, comments, and hearts for free. That includes grandparents, aunts and uncles, and friends who feel like family. They can use the app or a web browser. It is free whether your album is on the free plan or you subscribe. One subscription covers the whole album. It also covers every other album you start.
Can someone else pay for the album, or give it as a gift?
Yes, if they'd like to. No one ever has to. Anyone in an album can subscribe. Anyone can also give gift time. Gift time is 1, 3, 6 or 12 months, bought once in the Kin Album app on iPhone. Gift time from everyone adds up for that album. While a subscription is paying, gift time waits. None of it is used. When no subscription is paying, gift time takes over. That could be after a subscription is cancelled and its paid time ends. There is no gap. The family never sees who gave or how much. Only the album's admins see two things. They see the date the album is paid through. They also see how much gift time is waiting. Refunds go through Apple. If Apple refunds a gift, that time comes off the album. Say an album is deleted with whole months of gift time unused. Then the person who bought the gift time sees it in the app. That person can ask Apple for a refund on Apple's refund page.
Can I pay for another family's album?
Yes. In the Kin Album app on iPhone, choose "Pay for a family's album". Subscribe, then send the parents the link you get. A parent who starts their album from the link never sees a price. You join the album as a member. Only the album's admins can see who pays. An admin who goes to remove you is also told. That way they know it stops your payment. The family can take over paying whenever they like. Your subscription then stops paying for their album. Any paid time you had left is saved to their album. The same happens if you leave the album or are removed. Your subscription keeps renewing until you cancel it in your Apple ID settings. We can't cancel it for you. Your subscription keeps charging you until you cancel it or the family takes over paying. The family using the link does not stop it.
How do I get my photos out?
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. Our servers only ever see the locked files, because of the encryption. Anyone else can ask their album's admin for a copy. Or they can write to support@kinalbum.com for the personal information we hold about them. Your memories are yours. Leaving with them is a feature, not a loophole.
How do I see, export or delete my data?
To get a copy of your album, an album admin can save one any time. In the iPhone app, go to Settings → Export. On kinalbum.com, go to Settings → Save a copy of your album. If you're not an admin, ask one. To delete your account, go to Settings → Account in the app, or to kinalbum.com/delete-account. For anything else, write to privacy@kinalbum.com. That includes a copy of the personal information we hold about you, a correction, or a question about how we use it. You don't need an account to write to us.
What happens to my photos if Kin Album shuts down?
You'd hear from us at least 90 days ahead. We'd tell you by email and in the app. For those 90 days, your album stays open. Album admins can export everything for free, from the iPhone app or on kinalbum.com. They can do this even if you have stopped paying. We'd stop all charges. We'd ask Apple to refund any time you'd paid for past the shutdown. Apple handles refunds for App Store purchases. Export happens on your own device. Your iPhone or your web browser unlocks the album with the keys held on your family's devices. So what you've saved never depends on us. And if another company ever takes over Kin Album, it has to keep these promises.
Kin Album is closing. How do I save my photos?
Save a copy before the closing date. If you're an album admin, open Kin Album on your iPhone. Go to Settings, then Export. Or, on a computer, go to kinalbum.com/album/export. It's free, even if you stopped paying. If you're not an admin, ask one of your album's admins to do it. Until the closing date, your album stays open. Everyone in it can still see every photo. Nobody can start a new album, send a new invitation or pay for anything. After the closing date, we delete everything we hold. The copies you saved stay yours.
Why are there no ads? How is this funded?
Subscriptions are the entire business. They pay for the free plan too. No ads, no data sales, no AI training on your pictures. The price on the label is the whole model. The free plan is how you try us. We keep it small enough for subscriptions to pay for. Free photo apps are usually paid for with your family's attention and data. We chose the boring, honest way instead.
What does “end-to-end encrypted” actually mean here?
Photos and videos are end-to-end encrypted. They are scrambled on your iPhone before upload. The keys are held on your family's devices. Our servers store scrambled copies that we cannot read. Three things sit outside that. First, captions and comments. We store them in a form we can read. That lets the album work in email updates and on the web. Second, an optional extra: email photos for a relative who doesn't use the app. An album admin chooses this. It is on by default for a relative who only has email. To show the photos in those emails, we make small preview copies of the album's photos. The preview copies are made outside the encryption. We delete each one about 30 days after its photo is posted. We also delete them within a day if email photos are turned off for everyone in the album. Third, invitations emailed from the iPhone app. The link carries the secret that unlocks the album. That secret passes through our servers on the way. There is one more case. You may attach a photo or video when you contact us from the app. It goes to our support team as it is. It isn't end-to-end encrypted. We remove its location first. The full details are on our Security page.
What about videos?
You post videos from the iPhone app, the same way as photos. Videos are encrypted like everything else. Relatives play them in the app or in a browser. With a subscription, a video can be up to about 9 minutes. A video up to 400 MB is kept as you recorded it. The app saves a longer one smaller so it fits. On the free plan, a video can be up to about 3 minutes, and up to 130 MB. The app saves a bigger one smaller so it fits. Very large videos take longer to upload. The app keeps them safely queued. It tries again until they land. So a weak connection can delay a video. It never loses a video.
What if I lose my phone?
Your encryption key is backed up automatically through iCloud Keychain. So when you sign in on a new iPhone, your album comes back. For extra safety, Settings lets you set a recovery password. Or you can write down a recovery phrase instead. Use either one if you don't use iCloud. It's your way back in on a new phone, so it's worth setting one up.
How do I delete everything?
In the app, Settings → Account offers account deletion. So does Settings → Your account on kinalbum.com. On the iPhone and the website, it also offers album deletion to the person who owns the album. Either one starts a 30-day countdown. This is a safety window, in case you tap by mistake or your family changes its mind. You can cancel any time in that window. While an album's countdown runs, adding new photos to it pauses. After 30 days, a deleted album's photos and videos are erased for good. That includes the encrypted files. Closing your account removes you. It removes your sign-in, name, email address, comments and hearts. But some photos and videos stay. These are ones you posted to an album that other people are in. They stay with the family, credited to a former member. Delete any of them first if you'd rather they didn't stay.
Can an album be deleted if no one pays for it?
Only after a long wait, and never by surprise. An album with a subscription is never deleted for these reasons. If the subscription stops, nothing is deleted for two years. 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. Either way, every admin gets 90 days' notice by email, and sees the notice in the app and on the web too. During those 90 days, you can stop the deletion. You can subscribe again. Or you can make the owner's albums 3 GB or smaller. For an album no one had opened, you can simply open it. Admins can export everything for free until the day it would happen. The Terms of Service have the details.
I found a bug or something looks wrong — who do I tell?
Email support@kinalbum.com. It reaches a human. For security issues, use security@kinalbum.com. It goes to the same people, with priority. See the Security page for how we handle reports.
Is FamilyAlbum safe?
It depends which kind of safe you mean. Nobody outside your invited family can see your album. FamilyAlbum's privacy page says data between your device and their servers is encrypted. But your photos are not private from the company. Their privacy policy was last updated 2 October 2026. It lists data they collect, including “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”. Their developer's engineering page describes facial and person recognition done with deep learning. That is how the per-child pages, the search and the automatic movies work. They disclose this. They do not hide it. If you worry about strangers, it is safe. If you worry about software that works out a description of your child's face, read their policy and decide.
Does Tinybeans sell your data?
Their privacy policy was last updated 2 April 2024. It says two things. Read them together. In capitals, it says the company will not sell, share or trade the personal information you submit. That promise covers unrelated third parties and mass marketers. It covers their marketing purposes. It says this applies without your consent. In the California section, it says the company may “sell” and/or “share” personal information. That is with third party partners. It is part of targeted advertising initiatives. The quotation marks are theirs. The policy lists the kinds shared in the previous twelve months. They are identifiers, internet activity and commercial information. The policy also names an advertising tie with Publisher First, dba Freestar. So the answer is no for your photos and your submissions. The answer is yes for advertising identifiers. That is under the broad legal meaning that “sell” and “share” carry in California.
What is the difference between end-to-end encrypted and encrypted in transit and at rest?
“Encrypted in transit and at rest” means two things. The file is scrambled on the wire between your phone and the company. It is scrambled again on the disk it lands on. That stops someone on the café wi-fi. It also stops a stolen drive from being readable. But the company holds the keys. So the company can open the photo. “End-to-end encrypted” means something else. The photo is scrambled on your own device before it uploads. The key is one the company never receives. So what they store is something they cannot open. The first is a promise about how the company behaves. The second does not depend on that. If a page says “encrypted” without saying which, it is almost always the first. Companies that have the second say so.
Can I move my photos from another app to Kin Album?
Not automatically. There is no import tool, and the encryption is the reason. Photos are sealed on your iPhone, with keys made there. So nothing can be brought in on a server. It has to pass through your phone. Here is what to do. First, export from the old app to your camera roll. Check that you got the originals. Then post them to Kin Album from the app. You can post up to ten photos or videos at a time. Posting all your old photos in batches over a few evenings is the realistic way. We would rather tell you that now than after you have paid.
Is there a free plan?
Yes, and it doesn't run out. An album without a subscription is on the free plan. It holds 3 GB of photos and videos, about 1,000 photos. Every album you own without a subscription shares that space. Videos can be up to about 3 minutes each, and up to 130 MB. The iPhone saves a bigger one smaller so it fits. You get email updates daily, weekly or monthly. When the space is full, only new photos and videos stop. Everyone can still look, comment and get their emails. Album admins can still export everything. Nothing is deleted because the space is full. Delete photos or videos you don't need. The space usually comes back right away. A subscription costs $9.99 a month or $89.99 a year. It gives you unlimited photos and videos. Videos can be up to about 9 minutes each. You also get Instant email updates. Any album, on either plan, can add up to 20 GB of photos and videos in a day. Past that, uploads wait and carry on by themselves the next day. Relatives never have to pay on either plan.
Does Kin Album work if my family is on Android?
For the people you share with, yes. A member on Android signs in and opens the album in any browser. They see photos, comments and reactions. The Kin Album app for Android isn't out yet. A relative who only has email can be added as an email recipient instead. The photos arrive in their inbox with no account at all. They cannot comment, because there is nothing for them to sign in to. What Android cannot do yet is post. Albums are created and added to from an iPhone. If the person taking the photos has an Android phone, this is not your app yet. We would rather say so.
Longer reads
- Can family photo apps see your photos? — what each kind of app can technically see, in the companies’ own words.
- FamilyAlbum alternatives — why people leave, and where they go, including the options that are not an app.
- Sharing photos with grandparents who aren’t tech-savvy — the three levels of not-tech-savvy, and what works for each.
- FamilyAlbum vs Tinybeans — a sourced comparison of the two long-established apps.
Still stuck?
Email support@kinalbum.com and a human will answer.