Kin Album

Terms of Service

Last updated November 3, 2026

These terms are the agreement between you and Kin Album, operated by Cobblestone, LLC (“Kin Album,” “we”), for the Kin Album apps and website. By creating a Kin Album account, you agree to these terms.

What Kin Album is

A private, end-to-end encrypted photo and video album for one family: an admin starts it, on the free plan or a subscription, invites relatives, and controls who sees what. There is no public feed, no discovery, and no advertising.

Who may use it

Kin Album accounts are for adults 18 and over, whether you start an album or join one by invite. You are responsible for having the right to share what you upload.

Your content

Everything your family uploads belongs to your family — we claim no ownership. You grant us only the limited license needed to run the service: storing and transmitting your encrypted files, showing captions and comments to your family, and preparing email renditions for people an admin has explicitly opted in. Album admins can export a complete archive at any time, from the iPhone app or on kinalbum.com. Anyone else can ask their album’s admin for a copy, or write to support@kinalbum.com for the personal information we hold about them.

Encryption and your keys

Photos and videos are encrypted with keys held on your family’s devices, and we hold no key that can open them. That is the point of Kin Album — and it has a consequence you must understand: we cannot recover encrypted content if you lose access to all of your devices and your recovery options. The app backs your identity up to iCloud Keychain automatically and offers a recovery password or written recovery phrase; keeping at least one recovery path intact is your responsibility. One exception to the first sentence is described in full in the Privacy Policy: an invitation emailed from the iPhone app carries, in its link, the secret that unlocks the album, and that link passes through our servers and our email provider, which keeps a copy of the email — so until the invitation ends, we could in principle use it to unlock the album. A second limit, described on our Security page: the first time a new phone opens an album, it trusts what our servers show it about the album key until someone in the family compares security codes with that phone, so until then a dishonest server could in principle hand that phone a key of its own.

Acceptable use

Use Kin Album only for lawful, personal, family sharing. Do not upload content that is illegal, that you have no right to share, or that harms anyone. That includes memories and comments meant to hurt or bully someone: they are not allowed, any album admin can remove them, and anyone in an album can report one to its admins or block the person who posted it. We have no tolerance for objectionable content or abusive users, and we may remove that content and suspend or terminate the accounts responsible. We have zero tolerance for content that sexually exploits or endangers children and will terminate accounts and report to authorities where the law requires. Do not probe, overload, or attempt to break the service or its encryption. Storage is for personal family memories. A subscription’s space has no size limit, and we judge fair use by what storage is used for, never by how much of it there is: storage used for something other than a family album (for example, bulk archival of a business’s files) is not fair use, and we would reach out to discuss it before taking any action.

Anyone, with or without an account, can report content or behaviour that may break these terms or the law at kinalbum.com/report.

Do not use scrapers, spiders, robots, or other automated means to access, copy, or collect content or data from Kin Album, and do not build or distribute a tool whose purpose is to do that to other people’s albums. Do not place automated load on the service beyond ordinary personal use. None of that restricts you from getting your own memories out. Exporting your family’s own photos and videos — with the export built into the app, or by any other means you choose — is yours to do, and we will not read this section against you for doing it. Your content is yours; this section is about everyone else’s.

Copyright and takedowns

Because your photos and videos are end-to-end encrypted, we cannot see or monitor what a family uploads, apart from the exceptions the Privacy Policy describes, such as the small preview copies made while an album sends photos in emails. But if you believe content in an album infringes your copyright, you can send a notice to our designated agent and we will act on valid notices, including removing the content and terminating the accounts of repeat infringers. Send notices (with the information required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3) — your signature, identification of the work, identification of the material and where it is, your contact details, a statement that you believe in good faith the use is not authorized, and a statement that your notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act for the owner) to our designated agent: Managing Member, Cobblestone, LLC, 8735 Dunwoody Pl, Ste N, Atlanta, GA 30350-2995, support@cobblestonehq.com, (770) 847-6927. If your content was removed by mistake, you may send a counter-notice to the same agent, with the information required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3).

The free plan

An album no subscription covers is on the free plan. Its storage is shared by every album one person owns without a subscription. Plans, prices and limits are described on kinalbum.com and in the app, and they may change. We’ll give you reasonable notice before a change that affects you, and we won’t delete your photos without first giving you a chance to download them.

When the albums a person owns without a subscription reach the free plan’s storage, only new photos and videos stop. Everyone can still look, comment and get their email updates, album admins can still export everything, and nothing is deleted because the space is full. Deleting your own photos or videos frees their space straight away — a photo that another memory still shows frees its space when the last of them is deleted.

With a subscription, photos and videos are unlimited, for family use (see “Acceptable use”). Every album, on either plan, has a daily limit on how much it can add, shown in Help on kinalbum.com. Past it, uploads wait and carry on by themselves the next day, and nothing is lost.

Subscription and billing

One subscription — monthly or yearly, at the price shown when you buy — covers every album you own and everyone in them; invited relatives and viewers never have to pay, on either plan. There is no free-trial gimmick: the free plan is a plan, not a countdown. The subscription renews automatically each billing period until you cancel, which you can do anytime: in your Apple ID subscription settings if you subscribed in the iPhone app, or from Billing in Kin Album if you subscribed on the website. Purchases made through Apple are subject to Apple’s payment and refund policies; purchases made on the website are covered in “Paying on the website” below. If the price of a subscription you already have goes up, you’ll be told before the new price applies, and you can cancel before you pay it. If payment stops, your albums move to the free plan: viewing, comments and export continue; new photos and videos can be added while the albums you own without a subscription fit in the free plan’s storage; and anyone who chose Instant email updates gets a daily email until a subscription returns. Nothing is deleted for two years. After that, albums larger than the free plan’s storage are deleted, with 90 days’ notice and a free export first, as the next section explains. Album admins can export everything before or after.

Gift time

Anyone in an album can choose to pay for it, in the Kin Album app on iPhone or, where it offers it, on kinalbum.com: by subscribing, or with gift time. No one is ever required to. Gift time is one or more months of the album’s subscription, bought once; it does not renew, and you are not charged again. Gift time from everyone who gives it is added together for that album, and it stays with that album.

While a subscription pays for the album, gift time waits and none of it is used. When no subscription is paying — for example, when a cancelled subscription reaches the end of the time it paid for — the gift time takes over straight away, with no gap, and runs until it is used up. While gift time runs, the album is paid for in everything these terms say about subscriptions, including “Albums without a subscription” below.

The album’s admins can see the date the album is paid through, and how much gift time is waiting; other members can’t. The family is never shown who gave gift time or how much it cost. Only the person who bought gift time sees their purchase.

Gift time bought in the iPhone app is sold through Apple and is subject to Apple’s payment and refund policies: refunds are requested from Apple, not from us. If Apple refunds a purchase, that time is taken off the album’s gift time. If an album is deleted while it still has gift time bought in the iPhone app, the unused whole months are shown on the purchase to the person who bought them, who can ask Apple for a refund on Apple’s refund page. We can’t refund App Store purchases ourselves. Gift time bought on the website is covered in “Paying on the website” below.

Paying for another family’s album

In the Kin Album app on iPhone, or on kinalbum.com where it offers it, you can pay for another family’s album before it exists: you subscribe, through Apple or on the website, and we give you a link to send to the family. A parent who starts their album from that link is never shown a price, and your subscription pays for that album. You join the album as a member, the same as anyone the family invites. Your subscription can pay for one other family’s album at a time, as well as any album you start yourself.

The album’s admins can see who pays for the album; other members of the family aren’t shown it. If an admin goes to remove you, they are also told that you pay for it, so they know removing you stops your payment.

The family can take over paying at any time, by subscribing themselves. When they do, your subscription stops paying for their album, and any paid time you had left is saved to the album, so none of it is lost. The same happens if you leave the album or are removed from it. Each time, we tell you by email and in the app.

When a subscription you bought through Apple stops paying for an album, it keeps renewing until you cancel it. We can’t cancel it for you: Apple manages your subscription, and you cancel it in your Apple ID settings. A subscription you bought on the website is different: we stop it renewing at the end of the time you paid for, as “Paying on the website” below says.

A link that hasn’t been used keeps costing you: your subscription renews each billing period until you cancel it or the family takes over paying. The family using the link does not stop it. A link doesn’t expire, and it can be used once, to start one album. If a link is lost or reaches the wrong person, you can make a new one, in the app or, if you paid on the website, under Billing on the website, and the old one stops working.

Paying on the website

This section applies when you pay for Kin Album on kinalbum.com rather than through the App Store. Kin Album is for families in the United States. On the website you may be able to subscribe, buy gift time (bought once, it does not renew), or pay for another family’s album. The price is shown before you pay. It does not include tax: tax, where it applies, is added on top, and the payment page shows your total, with tax, before you pay. If you pay from outside the United States, your payment works the same way, but the price may be shown in your own currency and your country’s tax is added. The total on the payment page is what you pay.

Website payments are taken by our payment provider, named in our Privacy Policy. Where the payment page and your receipt say a purchase is sold through the provider, the provider is the seller of record for it and its terms apply to that payment; it takes your payment, sends your receipt, and handles sales tax, fraud checks and disputes. Questions about a charge can go to the provider, or to support@kinalbum.com.

Subscriptions. A subscription bought on the website renews automatically each billing period, monthly or yearly, until you cancel. You can cancel at any time from Billing in Kin Album. If you cancel, you are not charged again, and the album stays paid until the end of the time you paid for. Cancelling doesn’t refund time already paid for; it stops the next renewal. (If Kin Album shuts down, unused time is refunded: see “If Kin Album shuts down”.) From Billing you can also change your card. You get a reminder by email before a yearly subscription renews. If you delete your Kin Album account, we stop your website subscription at the end of the time you paid for.

Switching plans. You can switch between monthly and yearly, in either direction, and the switch happens immediately. From monthly to yearly, the part of the month you already paid for is taken off the yearly price. From yearly to monthly, the time you haven’t used is kept and pays your later monthly bills; it isn’t paid back in cash.

If a payment fails. The card is tried again for a while, and the album keeps working while it is. If the payment still can’t be taken, the subscription ends.

Nobody pays twice. If an album is already paid for by a subscription, we don’t start a second one. If you pay for an album through Apple, cancel that in your Apple ID settings first, then subscribe on the website. Apple and the website are separate: cancelling one does not cancel the other.

Refunds. Payments aren’t refundable, including for part of a period, unless we choose to refund them. This doesn’t limit any refund the law gives you.

Gift time and refunds. Gift time bought on the website works as “Gift time” above describes, except that its refunds don’t go through Apple. If an album is deleted while gift time bought on the website is unused, we refund the unused whole months to the card you paid with, automatically, if the purchase is still inside the refund window our payment provider allows. We can’t refund an older purchase to a card, and the receipt says so when that is the case. If a purchase is refunded, that time is taken off the album’s gift time.

Paying for another family’s album. On the website this works as “Paying for another family’s album” above describes. The link for the family is shown once, on the page you see after you pay, and you can get it again at any time from Billing; a new link stops the old one. We never email the link.

When someone takes over. If a family takes over paying from someone who paid on the website, or that person leaves the album or is removed, we stop that person’s subscription at the end of the time they paid for, so it doesn’t renew, and we email them so they know they won’t be charged again. The one exception is a subscription that still pays for an album they own: then nothing changes. Any paid time they had left is saved to the album, as described above.

Albums without a subscription

An album with a subscription is never deleted for any of the reasons in this section. An album without one is deleted in two cases, and only after the album’s admins have had 90 days’ notice by email:

During the 90 days, the album’s admins also see the notice in the app and on the web. Any of these stops the deletion: subscribing again (everything in the album stays), making the owner’s albums without a subscription no larger than the free plan’s storage, or — for an album that has not been opened — any member opening it. Album admins can export everything for free until the album is deleted. When an album is deleted, the whole album goes, with every photo, video, caption, comment and heart in it, and it is purged the way the Privacy Policy describes for a deleted album.

The free plan. Where Kin Album offers a free plan, we may change or end it. If we end it, we’ll give at least 90 days’ notice by email and in the app, with a free export. Albums that don’t move to a paid plan are then deleted.

Ending things

You can delete your account from Settings, and an album’s owner can delete the whole album there. Deletion starts a 30-day grace window during which you can change your mind; when it ends, what you deleted is permanently purged (unless the law requires us to keep something for longer), with two things to know. Photos and videos you posted to an album other people are still in stay with that album, credited to a former member, unless you delete them first. And old profile pictures are not deleted: they are left only as scrambled files no one can open (see the Privacy Policy for details). Albums without a subscription can also be deleted in the two cases above, with 90 days’ notice. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms, with export honored wherever the violation makes that lawful and safe.

If Kin Album shuts down

If we decide to stop running Kin Album, or can no longer run it, we will:

  1. tell every account holder at least 90 days before it stops, by email to the address on the account and in the Kin Album app;
  2. for that whole period, keep every album open for viewing, and keep export available to album admins in the iPhone app and on kinalbum.com at no charge, whether or not the subscription is current;
  3. stop new subscriptions and renewals once we give notice, and ask Apple to refund any time you paid for that runs past the shutdown date (purchases made through Apple are refunded by Apple);
  4. for purchases on kinalbum.com, refund to the card you paid with: when we announce the shutdown, the unused whole months after the shutdown date of a subscription; and, automatically, the unused whole months of gift time. Any credit left on your account from switching plans is refunded to the card too. Each refund needs the payment to be inside the refund window our payment provider allows (we can’t refund an older payment to a card);
  5. not shorten any 30-day deletion window already running; and
  6. after the shutdown date, permanently delete what remains, as the Privacy Policy describes, unless the law requires us to keep something for longer.

If something outside our control, such as losing our hosting or a court order, makes 90 days impossible, we will give as much notice as we can and keep export available for as long as we can. Export runs on your own device — your iPhone, or your web browser on kinalbum.com — which decrypts your album with the keys held on your family’s devices, so the copies you have already exported never depend on us.

A sale or transfer of Kin Album is not a shutdown. These commitments bind anyone who takes over Kin Album, whether by merger, acquisition, purchase of the service or otherwise, and we will make agreeing to them a condition of any such transfer. This section continues to apply after these terms end.

The unavoidable legal part

Kin Album is provided “as is.” To the maximum extent the law allows, we disclaim implied warranties and are not liable for indirect or consequential damages; our total liability for any claim is capped at the greater of the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim or $50. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited. These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Georgia, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules; disputes will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Georgia, and you and we each consent to their jurisdiction.

The app stores

The iOS app is distributed through Apple’s App Store. Apple is not a party to these terms, has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the app, and is not responsible for addressing any claims about it, including product liability, regulatory, or intellectual-property claims; those are between you and us. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms and may enforce them against you. You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. government embargo and are not on any U.S. government list of prohibited or restricted parties.

We give you a personal, non-transferable license to use the Kin Album iPhone app on Apple-branded devices you own or control, as the App Store’s Usage Rules allow. If the app fails to meet any warranty that applies to it, you may tell Apple, and Apple will refund the app’s purchase price, if any; Apple has no other warranty obligation for it. When you use the app you also follow the terms of any third party you rely on, such as your mobile carrier.

The Android app is distributed through Google Play. Google is not a party to these terms and is not responsible for the app or for supporting it; those are between you and us. Your use of Google Play itself is governed by Google’s terms.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as Kin Album changes. The date at the top of this page shows when they were last updated, and we keep every earlier version; ask and we will send you the one you agreed to.

Most changes are routine: corrections, clearer wording, or descriptions of new features. They apply when we post them.

A change is material if it takes away something you have, adds something you must do, changes what you pay, or changes how disputes are handled. For a material change we tell you in the Kin Album app before it applies, with a short note saying what changed, and ask you to confirm that you agree. It applies no sooner than 30 days after we first show you that note, unless the law requires it sooner or it is needed urgently to protect the security of the service or the people who use it. In those cases we tell you as soon as we can. If you don’t agree, you can stop using Kin Album before the change applies. Cancel your subscription (in your Apple ID settings, or from Billing in Kin Album if you paid on the website), and if you are an album admin, export your album first.

A change never applies to a dispute that arose before the change applied. A change applies only from the day it applies: it doesn’t take away time you have already paid for, and it doesn’t delete photos or videos without first giving your album’s admins a chance to download them. Once a change applies, continuing to use Kin Album means you accept it. We will not treat you as having accepted a material change we never showed you.

General

If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still applies. Not enforcing a part of these terms is not a waiver of it. These terms, with the Privacy Policy, are the whole agreement between you and us about Kin Album. You may not transfer your account; we may transfer these terms only as “If Kin Album shuts down” describes for a sale or transfer.

Contact

Questions: support@kinalbum.com, or by mail: Cobblestone, LLC, 8735 Dunwoody Pl, Ste N, Atlanta, GA 30350-2995.

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