Need a hand?

In the app, Settings shows the exact build under This build, with a Copy button next to it. Pasting that into your email saves a round trip.

The beta

Stills is heading into a TestFlight beta. Two things in the first build are deliberately incomplete, so they are not worth reporting:

• Rolls is locked. The screen says so. It needs more work before it is handed over.
• Presence is an early beta. You can add friends in person and see their profile. There is no messaging.

Everything else — the camera, developing, memories, search, Dailies — is fair game, and we want to hear about all of it.

The camera

Why can't I see the photo I just took?

That is the whole idea. Stills is a film camera: you fill a roll of 12 or 27 frames without reviewing them, and the roll develops when it is full. You find out what you caught afterwards.

Can I develop a roll early?

Yes. Open the darkroom from Memories — a sealed roll can be developed whenever you like, you do not have to fill it.

Can I delete a bad frame?

After it develops, yes. Not before, because there is nothing to look at yet.

Your photos

Where are they?

On your phone, in the app's own storage. They are never uploaded. Deleting the app deletes them, so keep a backup if they matter to you.

How do I back up?

Settings, then Account & data, then Back up everything. You get one file to keep wherever you like — Files, iCloud Drive, a computer.

Restoring on a new phone

Install Stills, sign in with the same Apple ID, then open the backup file. Backups are encrypted to your account, so one only opens for the person who made it. Signing in as someone else will not work, and that is deliberate.

I lost my phone and had no backup

Then the photographs are gone, and we are sorry. We hold no copy — that is the trade for nothing being uploaded in the first place.

Accounts

Do I need one?

Yes. Setting up Stills creates an account, which takes about ten seconds: Sign in with Apple, pick a handle, done. No password to invent, no email to confirm.

It is what lets the friends you meet in person see your profile, and what a backup gets encrypted to. Your photographs still never leave the phone.

What is stored?

Your display name, handle, optional bio and birthday, three counts (frames, rolls, places), your profile picture, and up to five cover frames you choose. Nothing else, and never your other photographs. Full detail in the app privacy policy.

Deleting your account

Settings, then Account & data, then Delete account. It is immediate and permanent, and removes your profile, images and friendships from our server. It does not touch the photographs on your phone.

Friends

How do I add someone?

Hold your phones together and both tap. There is nobody to search for and no requests from strangers — if you were not in the same room, you are not connected.

It won't find the other phone

Both phones need Bluetooth on and the nearby-devices permission granted, and both need Stills open on the Tap screen.

Removing someone

Open their profile and use the menu. They stop being able to see your profile. Frames you already exchanged stay on both phones, like a handed-over print.

Permissions

Camera is the only one Stills cannot work without. Photos is for saving frames out to your library. Location tags where a frame was taken, which is what makes trips and places exist. Nearby devices is the Tap. Notifications is one optional daily nudge.

Decline any of them and the related feature simply switches off. You can change your mind any time in iOS Settings.

Something is wrong

A photo developed looking wrong

Tell us, and send the frame if you can. Getting the film look right in every kind of light is the hardest part of the app.

Search isn't finding things

Search reads your frames on the device, which takes a while after a big import. Settings shows how many are still unread under On-device intelligence.

The app is slow or the phone is warm

Usually developing or indexing running in the background. It settles. If it does not, we want to know.

Privacy and legal

• App privacy policy — what the app does with your data.
• Site privacy policy — what this website does.
• Terms of use.