How to choose a disposable camera app

1. Do guests have to install anything?

This is the question that decides your join rate. If a guest has to find an app in a store, download it, and make an account before the first photo, most will not, and the ones who do are the ones who were going to take photos anyway. Look for a QR code that opens a camera directly. On iPhone that means an App Clip. On Android it means the browser. Kept does both.

2. Is the reveal real?

Ask whether photos are hidden in the interface or never delivered. The first can be peeked at, screenshotted, or seen by the host. The second cannot, because the photo is not on any device. How to tell the difference. Kept never delivers photos before the develop time, to anyone.

3. Who gets the photos afterwards?

Some products treat guests as contributors and the host as the owner. The host downloads a zip; guests get a link if the host remembers. Others open the roll to everyone who was on it. Kept does the second: when the roll develops, every guest sees every photo and can save the full set in one tap.

4. What shape is the pricing?

An event is a one-off. A subscription is the wrong shape for it, and free tiers with storage limits are a subscription with a delay. Look for a one-time price for the event, ideally by guest count so a small party costs little or nothing. Kept is free for up to 5 guests and one payment after that, from $1.29 to $69.99.

5. What can the host do on the night?

• Develop the roll early, for everyone at once.
• Add guests when more arrive than planned.
• Download a print-ready QR code and a short code people can type.
• Kept does all three from the host’s phone.

6. How long are photos kept?

Read the retention policy, not the marketing. Some products delete after a period unless you pay. Kept deletes nothing on a schedule. Photos are instant for 30 days, still instant from cheaper storage after that, and in deep archive from day 120 with a 12 to 48 hour retrieval. The privacy page has the schedule.

7. What does the privacy policy say?

Two hundred guests’ faces are in these photos. Check whether the product sells or shares personal information for advertising, whether it uses third-party trackers in the app, and whether guests are made to create accounts. Kept does not sell or share personal information for advertising, carries no third-party advertising or analytics trackers in the app, and does not create accounts for guests.

The checklist

Questions