The private family journal trusted with 240+ million memories. From bump to birthdays and beyond — save every photo, video and milestone in one safe place, beautifully organised by child.
NEW! Transform your memories into premium Photo Books you can hold forever — created effortlessly from your most-loved moments already in BackThen. Our most requested feature, minus the hassle.
WHY FAMILIES CHOOSE BACKTHEN
1. Private & secure — You control who sees what. No ads. No data-sharing. Ever.
2. Effortlessly organised — Photos auto-sorted by child on their own timeline.
3. Full resolution — We never compress your images. Your memories, kept at their best.
4. Timelapse magic — Watch how their face changes over time with our unique technology.
5. Photo Books & prints — Create premium keepsakes from the photos already in your app.
6. The whole family — Grandparents, aunts, uncles — everyone included on any device.
DESIGNED FOR EVERY STAGE
• Pregnancy Journal — Track bump photos, maternity moments & milestones
• Newborn & Baby Book — Document firsts, growth markers & everyday memories
• Growing Up — Build a lasting digital family album from year to year
SAVE & ORGANISE
• Auto-organise from any device — mobile or desktop
• Ordered chronologically from the moment you save — every photo and video in the right place
• Photos at full resolution, videos at any length, unlimited milestones including height & weight
• Each child gets their own timeline, viewed together or individually
• Find any moment with instant scroll or search by date
SHARE SECURELY
• Invite family and friends — you set their permissions
• Everyone gets notified when new memories are added
• 100% private — no ads, no data-sharing, no exceptions
LOOK BACK & ENJOY
• Unique timelapse technology shows how their face changes
• Fun sibling and cousin comparisons at the same age
• Auto-created highlights, flashback reels and animated stickers
PRINT YOUR FAVOURITES
• NEW: Premium Photo Books — beautifully laid out, printed to the highest quality
• Auto-created calendars, montages and prints from your favourite photos
• Available in the UK, US, Canada and Europe
• Printed locally using your original-resolution photos for the best results
TRUSTED BY MILLIONS
• From the team behind Lifecake — the original online childhood journal, founded in 2012
• Connecting families across 182 countries
• All devices welcome — iOS, email, web & other mobile platforms
TRY IT FREE
• 1GB free storage to try all features
• VIP subscription: £4.99 / $6.49 / €5.99 per month
• Nothing to lose — all your content returned if you choose to leave
Questions? support@backthen.app
Privacy: backthen.com/privacy
Terms: backthen.com/terms
This app is LifeCake with a different colour scheme. If you paid for extra storage on LifeCake, you can’t get your money back, whatever LifeCake says. You have to pay again. When you use the wizard to migrate your data, BackWhen says you have to buy a new subscription and hangs there offering no way to make the purchase. (PS: This was fixed by deleting and reinstalling the app.) What these people are selling, in essence, addresses the fundamental desire for immortality that is met by our offspring. They are selling continuity. This change of provider is a discontinuity, badly handled. The LifeCake -> BackThen migration wizard DOES NOT WORK for customers who need to subscribe to additional storage. (PS: This was fixed by deleting and reinstalling the app.) These are people’s most precious memories and sharing them when COVID 19 prevents visits is a real comfort. The timing of this move was disastrous in terms of coinciding with the pandemic. The executives of the companies concerned should get their heads out of their profit margin spreadsheets and look at the real world.
Developer Response
BackThen is a NEW company and we are not affiliated to Lifecake or its owners. BackThen was created to give parents and their families an alternative to having to move away from the experience they have grown used to.BackThen is self-funded by the team. We understand any subscription is tough for some, particularly in this horrible period of global pandemic uncertainty. But we need to ensure the business is viable and that we can keep the lights on.Lifecake have assured us that (1) pro-rated refunds are already being processed, and (2) all parents will be provided with 'Download All' links to retrieve their memories within the next 10 days.
Seamless transition
Lola scholessinger
I have been a long time user , approx 4 yrs and I post multiple images every day , therefore I was no longer a free user, I used to pay annually but had recently switched to a £3.99 monthly payment anyway so the changeover was a bit of a pain to get family members changed over, however it’s done now. I haven’t lost any comments or likes , however the likes now say “ unknown rather than the person whom liked them which is a little sad as my mother recently passed and it was nice to look at old photos that she had liked. It seemed a little blunt to change over , no warning , no nice hope to see you on the new app just , blunt we are closing. It seems to no longer be a part of canon which is no loss to me as a user however security issues remain as we have no idea where images of our children are actually going , I was always weary of it but decided to take the risk .. now we have abruptly had to switch it only heightens that concern. Hopefully the app will be even better , only time will tell.
Absolutely the same as life cake
Hanna-Shi
When I got the email from life cake I was heart broken because I have lots of my kids memories from birth until now, but when they said that I was able to back it I was very happy, however I thought “the back then” app was different it has exactly the same features as life cake they just started charging that’s what it is, plus very expensive £3.99pm, it’s ridiculous price because I don’t need 200GB every month, why should I pay, for now I will be fine but once I find out how and where I can transfer them photos I am leaving the “Back then” for sure. Specially during this lockdown they should have understood to their price down, or at least make us pay more if we went over the limited GB, I don’t normally write reviews but I was very compelled to do so
Could have been 5*
LJMotts32
Very disappointed to see Lifecake closing down and Initially very pleased to see the option to move to BackThen - proceeded to register straight away and move over our content but then forced to pay to even complete the registration! There was absolutely no indication this would not be a free app in any of the communications about this new app, as it appeared to be a great direct replacement for what was being lost during this difficult time of lockdown. It would have been more agreeable to at least allow people to register, see the app and then maybe choose from different payment plans based on amount of data they wanted to pay for. This enables the user to feel they are not forced in to paying for something at a difficult time, clearly many family members would not want to lose, which just doesn’t feel right or kind.I understand the developers have attempted to support Lifecake customers with this service and the app does look great from the pictures in App Store, so it’s frustrating it’s been launched the way it has. I hope the developers review their approach to payment then I may revisit the app again.
Small improvements to keep your memories safe and your experience smooth. Got a feature idea or just want to say hi?
Write to support@backthen.app — we love hearing from our families.
Version 2.2.9
Subscriptions
VIP - Monthly payment
Keep unlimited photos & videos safe & secure.
£4.99
The developer, Back Then Digital Ltd, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Used to Track You
The following data may be used to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies:
Identifiers
Data Linked to You
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
Contact Info
User Content
Identifiers
Usage Data
Sensitive Info
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Usage Data
Diagnostics
Privacy practices may vary based, for example, on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
Provider
BACK THEN DIGITAL LIMITED
Size
113.2 MB
Category
Lifestyle
Compatibility
Requires iOS 14.0 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 14.0 or later.
iPad Requires iPadOS 14.0 or later.
iPod touch Requires iOS 14.0 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
