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 organized 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 organized — 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 & ORGANIZE
• Auto-organize 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 FAVORITES
• NEW: Premium Photo Books — beautifully laid out, printed to the highest quality
• Auto-created calendars, montages and prints from your favorite 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
I understand why others are frustrated, but my read on the situation is that Lifecake’s founders were forced to shut down by Canon shortly after their acquisition of the service (the real bait and switch). Luckily, they were forward-thinking enough to preserve the ability to continue operating independently under this new brand and to seamlessly be able to transfer all data (photos, videos, and comments) to the new app. The biggest difference is that storage under Lifecake was per user not per family, so in my case my wife and I were the main ones posting to Lifecake and neither of us had posted over the 1GB limit per person (though we were getting close). In Back Then, that limit applies to the whole family’s collection (which actually makes more sense; we always found it a bit odd in Lifecake) so we are over the limit and must pay the monthly subscription. I was frustrated at first but the pricing seems similar to what I recall the paid plan would have been and we were obviously about to start having to pay either way. I hope enough others are able to get past their initial frustration, recognize that this is surely not what the founders wanted or an intentional bait and switch, and decide (as I have) that it is worth paying to keep our little community of family and friends moving right along and connecting over a shared love of our son. I would hate to see Back Then fail because of what seems like many users’ misreading of the situation (which must be very frustrating not to be able to publicly correct). Only wishlist item would be to bring back the ability to access the service via the web for non-smartphone users but this doesn’t affect our family too much.
Unfortunate changes
Lightmeup
Our family has had Back Then for quite a while now for the three kids and family photos and it’s awesome as far as being able to share in one app rather than sending photos out, but they’ve recently instituted a NO download policy for pictures and videos which is supposedly for privacy reasons however since you have to have a paid subscription and users need login credentials it makes no sense. This is why I took one star off. It’s a problem… what’s the point of sharing pictures if you can’t download the ones that you like rather than having to log onto the app every time you want to see photos? The monthly price hasn’t gone up, so I think it’s a bandwidth issue. BT really needs to up their bandwidth or whatever the problem is and get rid of this privacy policy because it’s ridiculous and upsetting and I’m sure users are going to start dropping off.
Now more than ever, we need this app to stay connected
Lifecake devotee
I was a devotee of the app “Lifecake” for many years and absolutely crushed when its parent company made the decision to close up shop. Happily, BackThen stepped up to fill the need. I upload photos, movies, and stories from my phone and Back Then automatically places them in chronological order within the times lines of each of my kids. Given that we can’t fly to see overseas relatives (and even family within the country) due to the current situation, Back Then helps us stay connected. All my children’s grandparents love checking in with Back Then each day and seeing what their grandkids are up to. Transitioning from Lifecake was easy... thank you so much BackThen team! I highly recommend this easy to use, creative, fun app. No more than ever, we need this app to help us feel closer and to share (virtually) what we can’t share in real life.
Fantastic Photo Archiving App for Parents
Spondyloptosis
Intuitive, slick photo and video archiving app that allows family to share photos in a secure, private space that allows parents, grandparents, and others to comment, add content, and have a photo archive with them whenever they want to access it. Allows large photo/video uploads as well as provides access to download your archive whenever you want. Formerly Lifecake - which was unfortunately downsized by the parent company during the pandemic of 2020 - the staff even made the transition of 100s of gigabytes of photos from the former app to this one seamless and relatively rapid. Have been an active user of Lifecake -> BackThen for 4 years and highly recommend it.
Good news: the widget is back and behaving properly. We've also made lots of behind-the-scenes improvements to keep everything safe and smooth.
Got a feature idea or just want to say hi? Write to support@backthen.app — we love hearing from our families.
Version 2.2.1
Subscriptions
VIP - Monthly payment
Keep unlimited photos & videos safe & secure.
$6.49
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, for example, based 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
Seller
BACK THEN DIGITAL LIMITED
Size
109.7 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.
