Comparison

PhotoCircle vs Loop

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

PhotoCircle

Securely share photos, videos, and documents in private, invite-only albums. Perfect for families, friends, and organizations of all sizes, offering robust privacy controls and organizational tools.

Highlights
  • Invite-only albums
  • Secure photo and video sharing
  • Document sharing
  • Custom branding
  • Admin console
  • Canva integration
Features
Read full description

PhotoCircle is a private photo-sharing app trusted by families, friends, social groups, individual professionals, schools, nonprofits, and businesses. Create invite-only albums to connect, share, and organize photos, videos, and documents — all in one simple, secure, and easy-to-use app. WHY 10M+ USERS CHOOSE PHOTOCIRCLE - Simple & Intuitive: Easy for everyone — no technical skills required. - Perfect for All Occasions: From personal memories to managing organizational media, PhotoCircle scales to your needs. - Private & Secure: Share in secure, invite-only albums with full control over who can access your content — backed by SOC 2 Type II compliance, GDPR, and US Data Privacy standards. - Scalable for Organizations: Purchase a premium plan tailored for your school, nonprofit, or business. Explore all features and plans directly on the PhotoCircle website. PERFECT FOR EVERY MOMENT - Family Albums: Share birthdays, holidays, graduations, vacations or special events and everyday moments with loved ones. - Weddings & Events: Create private spaces for weddings, reunions, and celebrations, and let guests upload their memories. - Professionals & Consultants: Keep your projects, clients, and colleagues’ communication and marketing materials organized. - Schools & Groups: Securely share classroom moments, school events, clubs, and campus activities. - Nonprofit & Community: Capture and share events, projects, and community gatherings with ease. - Businesses and Teams: Improve collaboration and securely share your content with team photo-sharing and collaborative albums for small teams and Fortune 500 enterprises alike. FEATURES THAT FIT YOUR NEEDS - For Friends & Families (Free & Ad-Supported Plan): • Privacy First: Only invited members can access your albums and contribute content. • Video Clips: Share video clips up to 1 minute long. • Download Media: Save selected files directly to your device. Upgrade to PhotoCircle+ for more features, starting at $1.29/month or $9.99/year. Manage your subscription via the App Store. - For Schools, Nonprofits, Professionals & Consultants, and Businesses (Premium Plans Only): • Canva Integration: Connect your PhotoCircle account to Canva for easy design and content creation. • Powerful Search: Quickly find photos and videos with advanced search tools. • Custom Branding: Personalize albums with unique group or organization branding. • Admin Console & Moderation: Easily manage users, permissions, and content. • Data Recovery: Retrieve deleted content for up to 90 days. • Account Ownership: Full organizational control over all accounts and content. For the full list of features and plan details, check our website. JOIN MILLIONS OF HAPPY USERS - "A perfect app for sharing family moments, even across long distances!" - Trinity L. - "This is become my favorite app. It is so easy for all of our friends and family to upload picture and share with each other” - MessyJessie1111 - "With PhotoCircle we never miss an opportunity to share our events with our community." - St. Matthew’s House Member DOWNLOAD PHOTOCIRCLE FOR FREE TODAY! Get started with PhotoCircle, the trusted app for secure, private photo sharing. Keep your memories safe, organized, and always accessible — no matter where you are. TERMS & PRIVACY PhotoCircle is designed for schools, families, and communities. While we welcome younger users, current privacy regulations require that accounts be created and managed by users aged 13 and older. Terms of Use: https://www.photocircleapp.com/legal/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://www.photocircleapp.com/legal/privacy/ Support: support@photocircleapp.com, +1 949-228-9310

About

Loop

Easily share photos and videos privately with friends and family in real-time. Create dedicated streams for events, control who can view or upload, and moderate content for a secure, intimate experience.

Highlights
  • Private photo and video streams
  • Real-time uploads
  • Role-based permissions (admin, member, viewer)
  • Content moderation (approve uploads)
  • Commenting and liking
  • Stream locking and date/time restrictions
Features
Read full description

Loop Photostream was inspired by own need to create an easy way to share photos and videos with friends and family that we didn't want to share on social media. Loop focuses on bringing you a private, secure, intimate and simple way to share photos and videos in real time with the people who matter most to you. Choose to make anyone you invite to a stream either an admin, member, or viewer. You have the ability to approve any photo uploaded before it is published into a stream making our app trust worthy and family friendly. How It Works: • Create a stream for any event, adventure or outing in your life.   • Add family and friends to your streams.  • Watch the stream as photos show up within seconds as your circle uploads their photos.   Perfect for: • Great for new moms that want to capture those special moments and share with family • Great for group trips where everyone is capturing photos and can share them easily in one single place • Perfect for weddings. No need for those disposable cameras on reception tables. Just share your invite code and let your guests create an album for you. • Capture images of your youth sports leagues and share with other parents Other Fun Features: • Members of your stream can like and comment on your stream in a simple and clean single threaded conversation • Create a stream and invite others as viewers only if you want to share your adventure or event with them without allowing them to add photos. • Require moderation. As the owner, you can require that you approve photos/videos that get uploaded before they show up for everyone else. • Lock your stream when you don't want to allow any more uploads • Set a start/end date time to only allow uploads during that period Auto-Renewing Subscription: – Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase – Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period – Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal – Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase – Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable Privacy Policy: https://faredgestudio.com/loop-privacy-policy.html Terms of Use: https://faredgestudio.com/loop-terms-conditions.html

Screenshots

PhotoCircle4 screens
Loop4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: PhotoCircle at free with in-app purchases against Loop's subscription. PhotoCircle also leads on ratings volume (127K vs 22) and chart position (#19 vs unranked). Loop's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (100% vs 76%). On price, rating, update cadence and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. PhotoCircle sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.29 per month and Loop sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for PhotoCircle against 4.8 for Loop. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PhotoCircle has 127K ratings behind it against 22, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 76% of PhotoCircle's written reviews are positive against 100% of Loop's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PhotoCircle ships an update fortnightly, Loop every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
PhotoCircle versus Loop: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPhotoCircleLoop
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (127K ratings) — better4.8 (22 ratings)
Positive reviews76.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings127K — better22
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterSubscription
Best chart rank#19 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size81 MB46 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPhotoCircle, Inc.Far Edge Studio LLC

Customer experience

PhotoCircle

All ratings126,646 ratings
Positive97.5%
Neutral1.2%
Negative1.3%
Written reviews629 reviews
Positive76.2%
Neutral7.8%
Negative16.1%

Loop

All ratings22 ratings
Positive95.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative4.5%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

PhotoCircle

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Photos not uploading in chronological order
  • Inability to download multiple photos at once
  • App crashing after recent updates
  • Ads continuing to play after being closed

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to sort photos by date, creator, etc.
  • Implement a search function for albums
  • Allow users to set a cover photo for albums
  • Add option to mute/filter notifications from specific users or groups
  • Extend video length limit beyond 10 seconds

Loop

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

PhotoCircle

Subscriptions2
  • PhotoCircle Pro Monthly$1.291 Month
  • PhotoCircle Pro Yearly$9.991 Year
4 purchases

Loop

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly3 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Annual3 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time2
  • kith Paid Stream$1.99
  • Individual$24.99

Questions

Is PhotoCircle free?
PhotoCircle is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Loop free?
Loop is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, PhotoCircle or Loop?
PhotoCircle is rated higher. PhotoCircle averages 4.9 out of 5 from 127K ratings, while Loop averages 4.8 from 22 ratings.
Do PhotoCircle or Loop have ads?
PhotoCircle shows ads; Loop does not.
Which is updated more often, PhotoCircle or Loop?
PhotoCircle ships an update fortnightly, and Loop every 2 weeks. Most recently, PhotoCircle was updated on October 28, 2026 and Loop on October 14, 2026.

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