FAQ
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What is Stills, in one line?
A disposable camera for iPhone. You fill a roll without seeing the photos, and it develops when the roll is done.
How many frames are on a roll?
12 or 27. You pick when you load one, and you can change the default in Settings.
Can I really not see the photo I just took?
Really. No preview, no peeking, not until the roll's done. That's the whole point, not a bug.
Do I have to fill the roll before it develops?
Nope. You can develop a sealed roll early from the darkroom in Memories, whenever you want.
What does "developing" actually do?
Every frame runs through Stills 400: warm highlights, real grain, halation around bright light, shadows left alone.
It runs on your phone in about a second. No server, no upload, no queue.
Where are my photos stored?
On your phone, in the app's own storage. Never uploaded. Deleting the app deletes them, so back up anything that matters.
Settings → Account and data → Back up everything. You get one file to keep wherever you want.
Is there a cloud? Can you see my pictures?
No and no. There's no photo library on a server anywhere. The only images that leave are your profile picture and up to five cover frames you pick yourself.
The app privacy policy spells out exactly what syncs and what doesn't.
Do I need an account?
Yes, and it takes about ten seconds. Sign in with Apple, pick a handle, done. No password to invent, and no other way in.
It's what lets friends you meet in person see your profile, and what a backup gets locked to. Your photos still never leave the phone.
How does search work if nothing is uploaded?
Your phone reads your own developed frames and builds an index on the device — text visible in the photo, what the scene is, a short caption, and the capture time and place. Searching matches your words against that local index.
There is one exception, and only you can trigger it: if a result comes back wrong you can tap Report, which sends the words you typed and the identifiers of the first few results so we can work out what went wrong. It never sends photographs, and it happens only when you tap it.
How do I add a friend?
Hold your phones together and both tap. Nobody to search for, no requests from randoms.
Can I send photos to people?
Photographs, no. Frames change hands in person, over the Tap, directly between two phones. That is deliberate and it is not being traded for convenience. You can always save a developed frame to your camera roll and share it anywhere you like.
Words, yes. You can message a friend you have already added in person, from anywhere. A message passes through our server on its way to their phone and is deleted the moment it arrives. It is not end-to-end encrypted, and while it is in transit it is readable by someone who could reach the database — the app privacy policy says so in those words rather than implying otherwise.
Is it free?
Yep. Free to download, free to use. No subscription, no in-app purchases, no ads — and there never will be.
Android? iPad?
iPhone only for now. It leans hard on iOS frameworks for the camera, the film and the on-device search, so a port isn't a small job.
Is it out?
Yes. Stills 1.0 is on the App Store, free, for any iPhone running iOS 26 or later. There is nothing to sign up for before you can shoot.
One part is deliberately held back: shared Rolls, which lets two people fill one roll together, comes in a later release rather than shipping half-finished. Everything else is in the build you can download now.