Photo Comparison — Support

Last updated 6 September 2026

Photo Comparison keeps your progress photos in one private place and lets you put any two of them side by side to see what has changed.

The photos live inside the app, not in your camera roll, and the app can be locked with Face ID.

Adding photos

Tap the + button at the top right. You get two choices.

Take Photo

Opens the camera inside the app. The photo you take goes straight into Photo Comparison. It does not appear in your camera roll, so there is nothing to go back and delete afterwards.

The first time you use it, iOS asks for camera permission. If you said no earlier and want to change your mind, the app shows you an Open Settings button that takes you to the right place.

Choose from Library

Pick photos you already have. You can select up to 20 at a time.

Importing copies the photo into Photo Comparison. The original stays exactly where it was — the app never changes or removes anything in your photo library. If you would rather keep only one copy, delete the original in the Photos app afterwards.

Photos are sorted by the date they were taken, read from the photo itself, so an old photo lands in the right place in the grid rather than at today's date.

Photos in your Hidden album

Your progress photos can stay in your Hidden album. Tap +, choose Choose from Library, then open the Collections tab and pick Hidden. Your iPhone asks for Face ID, because that album is locked. Choose your photos and they come straight into Photo Comparison.

There is nothing to unhide first. The photo stays in Hidden afterwards too, because importing copies it rather than moving it. Delete it in Photos if you want the only copy to be the one inside this app.

Comparing two photos

Tap one photo. A 1 appears on it.
Tap a second photo. It becomes 2.
Tap Compare in the bar at the bottom.

Tapping a photo again removes it from the selection. If you tap a third photo, the oldest of your two picks is dropped and the new one takes its place, so you never have to clear the selection just to change your mind.

At the bottom of the compare screen you get both dates and how many days apart they are.

The three compare modes

There is a mode picker at the top of the compare screen.

Side by Side — the two photos next to each other, left and right.
Stacked — one above the other.
Slider — the two photos on top of each other with a divider you drag across to wipe between them.

The app picks between Side by Side and Stacked for you. Tall photos go side by side, because that is the layout that keeps the most height, and height is what you are usually comparing in a standing photo. If either photo is wider than it is tall, the app switches to Stacked instead, because a wide photo squeezed into a half-width slot loses far more than a tall photo does.

It is only a starting point. Tap any mode in the picker to override it, and your choice sticks for the rest of that comparison.

Zooming in

In Side by Side and Stacked, pinch to zoom and drag to move around. Both photos zoom and move together, so you stay on the same part of each. Reset Zoom at the top right puts them back.

In Slider mode, drag or tap anywhere on the photo to move the divider, or use the slider underneath it.

Looking at one photo, or deleting it

Press and hold a photo in the grid. A small menu appears with two options.

View — opens that photo on its own, full screen. Pinch to zoom, drag to move, Reset Zoom to start again.
Delete — removes it, after asking you to confirm.

Deleted photos cannot be recovered in the app. There is no trash and no undo. Once you confirm, that photo is gone from Photo Comparison.

The one exception is outside the app: if you restore your whole iPhone from a backup taken before you deleted it, the photo comes back with everything else from that backup.

Locking the app

Tap the gear icon at the top left, then turn on Require Face ID. After that, opening the app asks for Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode first.

The same Settings screen shows how many photos you have.

Common questions

Do my photos end up in my camera roll?

No. Photos taken in the app go straight into the app. Photos you import are copied in, and the original stays wherever it already was until you delete it yourself.

Are my photos sent anywhere?

The app sends nothing. It has no servers and makes no network requests. Your iPhone's own iCloud Backup does include the app's photos if you have backup switched on — see the Privacy Policy for the detail.

I said no to the camera. Can I still use the app?

Yes. Everything else works, and you can add photos from your library. To turn the camera on later, tap + then Take Photo, and use the Open Settings button.

Contact

Questions, problems or suggestions: photocomparisonhelp@gmail.com