Guide

FamilyAlbum compared: what it does well, and where it may not fit

Updated on 24 September 2026

FamilyAlbum is the app most parents land on first when they want to share baby photos without putting them on a public feed. It is free, storage is unlimited, and in the Netherlands it holds 4.7 stars from more than four thousand ratings. If you are weighing it up, start from the assumption that it is good, because it is.

This page covers what it does well, what it leaves out, and the few cases where those gaps are worth changing app for. We make one of the alternatives, so read the last section knowing that.

What FamilyAlbum does well

Three things, and they are not small. Storage is unlimited and free, for photos and video both. Albums sort themselves by month, so there is nothing to file. And the free tier carries no third-party advertising, which is rarer in free apps than it should be.

Their privacy policy is also better than the category average. It states plainly that they do not sell your data to third parties, including as anonymised statistics. That is worth saying out loud, because the usual reason to leave a free app is that the answer to that question is yes.

It has been running for years, it has millions of users, and it is available everywhere. For most families that is the end of the decision, and that is a reasonable place to stop reading.

Three things it leaves out

These are the gaps that come up most, and whether any of them matters depends entirely on your household.

The app has no Dutch

FamilyAlbum ships in English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Spanish. Not Dutch. You can check this yourself on the App Store listing, under Languages.

If you read English this sounds like nothing. It stops sounding like nothing when you invite the grandparents. The whole point of an app like this is that the people who are not on social media can still see the photos, and a Dutch grandparent handed an English-only app often quietly stops opening it. The Google Play page is shown in Dutch, which makes this easy to miss until after everyone has signed up.

Where your photos are stored is not stated

FamilyAlbum is made by MIXI, Inc., a Japanese company. Their privacy policy explains what they do with your data and says it is encrypted in transit, but it does not say which country the files sit in or whose law applies to them. It does not mention the GDPR or the EU.

That is not an accusation. Plenty of good services are vague about hosting. But if you specifically want your child’s photos held in the European Union under the GDPR, an app that does not tell you where they are cannot give you that. It is a fair question to ask of any app before you upload a few hundred pictures.

Separate groups for each side of the family are a paid feature

On the free tier, everyone you invite sees the same album. Custom sharing groups, where you control who sees what, come with Premium Family at £5.49 a month or £54.99 a year. Premium One is £2.99 a month and does not include them.

For a lot of families one shared album is exactly right. For separated parents, blended families, or two sides who do not especially want to read each other’s comments, it is the one thing you need on day one rather than after a subscription.

When FamilyAlbum is the better choice

Often. Take it if unlimited free storage is the thing you care about most, because we do not match that and will not pretend to. Take it if you want a large, proven app that has been around for years. Take it if you want the printing built in; eleven free prints a month is a real perk and we do not print anything.

And take it if you want to install something today. we moments is not in the Dutch App Store yet, because Apple is still verifying our DSA trader status for EU storefronts. In the Netherlands you can only join the waitlist right now.

Where we moments is different

This is our app, so treat this section as what it is. Four differences, all of them checkable.

• Dutch and English at parity, the full app in both, including notifications. Oma gets an app in her own language.
• Photos and data stored in the European Union, GDPR native. You can export or delete everything from inside the app.
• Separate private groups per side of the family, each with their own likes and comments, included rather than a paid tier.
• One timeline from the first scan onward. It counts the weeks during pregnancy and switches to your child’s age by itself on the day they are born.

What we do not have: unlimited free storage, printing, and years of track record. We are free while in beta, and afterwards the essentials stay free with a paid plan for longer video and more storage. Prices are not set yet, so we are not quoting any.

How to decide

Ask which of these is true for you. If nobody in the family needs Dutch, if you do not mind where the files are hosted, and if one shared album suits everyone, FamilyAlbum is the better app today and you can stop here.

If two of those three matter, it is worth looking at what else exists, ours included. And whichever you pick, check that you can export everything before you upload a year of photographs. That advice holds for every app on this page.

Sources

Everything stated about FamilyAlbum above comes from these, checked on 24 September 2026:

• FamilyAlbum — Premium plans and pricing
• FamilyAlbum — User Privacy Policy
• FamilyAlbum on the Dutch App Store (publisher, languages, ratings)

Frequently asked questions