A little help.
Dear Photo is a small place for your photos and the stories around them. Here’s how to keep things running smoothly.
Getting started
The iPhone beta is in preparation. A public TestFlight link will appear on the Dear Photo page when it’s ready.
To make a note, tap the plus button and choose a photo. Add words, a place or date, an emoji, or a mark. You can position additions on the photo, undo a change, and return to a draft later.
The editor’s four tools are text, emoji, place or date, and marks. Touch and hold a tool icon to see its name.
The current beta has no account, subscriptions, or in-app purchases.
Finding an old memory
Memory suggestions use the photos you allow Dear Photo to see. The app looks for older photos from this day or around this time, then other older photos. If there isn’t a suggestion, you can always choose a photo yourself.
In Dear Photo settings, use show an old photo each day to turn suggestions on or off. If you’ve allowed only selected photos, use choose more photos or photo access in Settings to update access.
Use hide to stop a photo from appearing in suggestions. This does not delete it from Photos. To undo that choice, open settings and tap bring back hidden photos.
Your forest and favorites
Your forest holds your saved notes and drafts. Open a note to keep editing. Mark favorites to make the memories you return to easier to find.
Deleting a note removes its source copy and edits from Dear Photo. It does not delete your original photo or copies already saved to Photos or shared elsewhere.
Saving a copy
Tap save copy in the editor to add a new image to Photos. Your original photo stays unchanged. Dear Photo needs permission to add images; you can update that permission in iOS Settings.
If a save fails, check Photos before trying again so you don’t accidentally create an extra copy. Make sure your device has available storage. If the original is stored in iCloud, it may need time and an internet connection to download before you can edit it.
Drafts live in Dear Photo on this device. Keep an exported copy of anything you want to preserve before deleting the app. Apple may include app data in backups, depending on your settings.
Sharing a memory
Tap share to open the iPhone share sheet, then choose the person or app. Preparing a share doesn’t send anything automatically. You choose the destination and complete the action.
The exported image includes your additions. Review the image and its words before sharing it. The receiving app or service handles the copy under its own privacy practices.
Your privacy choices
Your photos and note text aren’t sent to our analytics service. Optional usage analytics starts off and can be changed with share usage analytics in the app’s settings.
The website has a separate choice in the footer. Read the Dear Photo privacy policy for details about local storage, Apple services, widgets, and optional analytics.
Something still not right?
Email [email protected] with your iPhone model, iOS version, Dear Photo version, and what you were doing when it happened.
You don’t need to send a personal photo. If a screenshot helps, remove anything you don’t want to share first.