How photo capsules work.

One private album for your group

Fern is a shared photo capsule for a trip, wedding or get-together. Choose a start and end time, invite your group, and contribute photos while the capsule is active. The photos are revealed together when it ends.

Fern is free on the App Store for iPhone and iPad running iOS 15 or later. An account is required to create or join a capsule. Android is not yet available.

Join through an invitation

An invitation is not public access to the album. Sign in with the account the invitation was intended for, then follow the app's acceptance steps. If a link is unavailable or your sign-in email differs, ask the sender to check the invitation or get support. Do not forward invitation tokens to support.

Before, during and after the reveal

• Upcoming: the capsule has not started. Contributions are not accepted yet.
• Active: members can contribute photos. Counts and contributor names may be visible, but contributed photos and their image metadata stay sealed.
• Revealed: at or after the end time, current members can view the album and use the available photo interactions.

The owner cannot reveal photos early. Dates lock when the capsule becomes active, and server time determines the state. A pending upload is not a confirmed contribution; check the final status in the app.

Removing a contribution

The owner chooses a removal grace period of 15 minutes, 12 hours or 24 hours; the default is 15 minutes. That choice locks when the capsule becomes active. Only the contributor can remove their photo within its permitted removal window, even if that window continues after reveal.

Removing a revealed photo cannot retract copies that someone has already viewed or downloaded. It is not a promise of immediate physical erasure from every retained system.

Downloads and sharing

After reveal, downloads use authorized photos and local files. Fern photo-sharing links are member-only navigation links that expire after 24 hours, not public image URLs. A recipient still needs the required account access. Do not publish private links or use them as an invitation substitute.

What private means

Membership and timed reveal control who can see contributed photos and when. This is not a promise of end-to-end encryption against the operator. Service providers help operate Fern; the privacy policy explains information handling and its limits.

For an account, invitation or upload problem, read Fern support. For waitlist data, read the waitlist privacy notice. Never include private photos, passwords or invitation tokens in a support message.