Widget-first
Photos arrive on the home screen, in a widget, rather than inside an app someone has to remember to open.
Circle
Send a photo straight to their home screen.
Take a photo or draw a doodle, pick one of your private rooms, and it appears in the Circle widget on the home screens of the people in it.
Free to start. Nobody you invite ever pays.
What it is
A camera that sends to a widget
Circle opens straight into the camera. The camera is the home screen of the app, so there is nothing to scroll past first. Take a photo, or switch to a blank page and draw a doodle.
Then choose where it goes: one of your rooms, to everyone in it, or to one person who is already in that room.
Send it, and close the app. The photo appears in the Circle widget on their home screen, where they will see it the next time they pick up their phone.
That is the whole loop. Circle is not a social network, a feed app or a chat app. It is a short way to put a picture in front of a few people.
Open→Capture→Choose→Send→Close
CaptureThe app opens on the camera.
Choose a roomEveryone in it, or one person.
On their home screenIt appears in their widget.
Private rooms
Everything happens inside a room
A room is a small, private, invite-only group. It is the only way people reach each other in Circle. People only exist for each other if they share a room.
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Join with a 6-letter invite code
There is no global friends list and no contact scraping. A code is the only way in.
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A hard boundary
Someone outside a room cannot see anything in it, and does not appear anywhere in the app.
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A widget tile per room
Each room has its own widget tile on your home screen. Free includes one widget; Plus gives every room its own.
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Everyone, or one person
Send to everyone in the room by default, or directly to one person who is already in it.
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Named for the people in it
Most people have a few: Partner, Friends, Family. “Partner” is just what people call a two-person room, not a separate product.
There is a feed, and it stays small. It only merges the rooms you are already in, newest first. It is never ranked, and every card names the room it came from.
Reactions and comments stay in the room. They exist, but only the people in that room can see them.
Benefits
Built around the widget, closed by default
Private by construction
No public profile, no discovery, no Explore, no searching for people. Rooms are invite-only, and membership is the boundary.
Photos stay on your device
What you send and receive is saved on your phone. The cloud copy that feeds the widget is deleted after 30 days.
Nothing to keep score of
No like counts, no streaks, no followers, no leaderboards, no ranking. There is no number attached to anyone.
Doodles
Not every moment is a photo. Draw something instead, and send it the same way.
Quiet delivery states
Enough to know it arrived, and nothing more.
SendingDeliveredSeen
Doodles
Draw instead
Switch from the camera to a blank page and draw. A doodle goes through the same loop as a photo: pick a room, send, and it appears on their home screen.
Plus adds extra inks and papers.
Privacy and your data
The cloud is transport. The device is the archive.
Circle uses the cloud to get a photo from your phone to theirs. Keeping it is your phone’s job.
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When you send
Saved on your device
Photos you send and photos you receive are saved on your phone. What you keep, and for how long, is up to you.
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After 30 days
The cloud copy is deleted
The copy that feeds the widget is deleted from the cloud after 30 days. The photo on your device stays.
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If a room is deleted
30 days to save
Members get a 30-day grace period to save what they want before the room is gone.
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How Circle is different
Small on purpose
Circle leaves out a lot of what photo sharing usually comes with. Here is what it does instead.
| Topic | Circle | Instead of |
|---|---|---|
| Who can see it | Only the people in a closed room | A public profile anyone can find |
| Where it shows up | A widget on their home screen | A feed you scroll through |
| Order | Newest first, never ranked | An order chosen for you |
| Response | Reactions and comments, inside the room | Like counts, streaks and follower numbers |
| Size | Small rooms by design: 3 people, or 5 in rooms you host with Plus | An audience with no ceiling |
| Your archive | On your own device | Only on a server somewhere |
Plans and pricing
Free for a small room. Plus if you want more.
Plus is an upgrade to your app, not a tax on the group.
Free
A complete app for a tiny closed group.
- 3 people per room
- Start 1 room of your own, be in 2 rooms total
- Camera, doodles, widget, feed, reactions, comments
Plus
More widgets, more looks, bigger rooms.
- A widget for every room, not just one
- Big widgets, and up to six photos on one tile
- Four looks — Paper, Ink, Film and Polaroid
- Captions that say who and when, or nothing at all
- Keep a moment on the widget so it never scrolls away
- Shuffle: the tile moves between sends
- Extra inks and papers when you doodle
- 5 people in every room you host
- Start up to 5 rooms of your own, be in 10 altogether
Monthly
- United States
- $3.99
- India
- ₹99
3 months
- United States
- $9.99
- India
- ₹249
Saves about 16%
Year
- United States
- $23.99
- India
- ₹599
Saves about 49%
Savings are against paying monthly. Prices are charged by the app store in your local currency. Other regions are priced locally, and the store shows the real price before you pay.
Nobody you invite ever pays.
Anyone you invite joins free and never sees a paywall, and every widget updates just as fast either way. Seats follow the host: if you have Plus, the rooms you host have 5 seats for everyone in them.
With Plus
Four looks
Paper is warm white, like the app. Ink is near-black and quiet. Film puts rounded frames between thin gaps. Polaroid has a white border with the caption below.
Free widgets use Paper.
FAQ
Questions
How do I invite someone?
Every room has a 6-letter invite code. Give it to the person you want in the room; they enter it in Circle to join. There is no friends list and Circle never looks through your contacts, so a code is the only way in.
Can strangers find me?
No. There is no public profile, no search, no discovery and no Explore. Someone outside a room cannot see anything in it and does not appear anywhere in your app. People only exist for each other if they share a room.
Does everyone need Plus?
No. Plus is an upgrade to your own app. Anyone you invite joins free and never sees a paywall, and every widget updates just as fast whether or not anyone has Plus. If you host a room with Plus, it has 5 seats for everyone in it.
Where are my photos stored?
On your device. Photos you send and receive are saved on your phone. A copy goes through the cloud so it can reach the widget on other people’s phones, and that cloud copy is deleted after 30 days.
What happens when a room is deleted?
The invite code stops working straight away and nobody can send to the room. Members get a 30-day grace period to save anything they want first. After that, the room is gone. Photos already saved on someone’s device stay on that device.
Is there a feed?
Yes, a small one. It only merges the rooms you are already in, newest first. It is never ranked, and every card says which room it came from.
Can I send to just one person?
Yes. A photo goes to everyone in the room by default, or you can send it directly to one person who is already in that room.
How many rooms can I have?
On Free you can start 1 room of your own and be in 2 rooms total, with 3 people per room. With Plus you can start up to 5 rooms and be in 10 altogether, and rooms you host have 5 people.
Start a room
Free to download. Invite two people with a code.
