Before anyone uploads Nan’s wedding photos or a voice note of the kids arguing over the rules of Uno, they tend to ask the same question: who is going to see this?
It’s the right thing to ask of any private family sharing app, so here’s the short version. You choose who sees each story, and nothing is public unless you choose it. There’s no public feed and no followers to collect. The longer version uses the app’s own wording and covers the bits that are easy to get wrong.
Three settings for every story
Every story is set to one of three options, and the story’s owner is the one who sets it. On the web it’s under the cog on the story page. In the phone app, tap the Private, People or Public pill on the story to open Manage Access.
- Private: “Only you and the people you add to this story.” Nobody else, and that includes your connections.
- People: you, the people you add to the story, and everyone you’re connected with on A Moment With. Your connections find it under From your people on the web, or in the Feed tab in the phone app.
- Public: anyone signed in to A Moment With who has the link can open it, and it can turn up when people search inside A Moment With. Public sharing comes with the paid plans, Premium and Legacy+.
Treat Public as genuinely public. It isn’t invite-only, and you don’t control who finds it. Most family stories belong on People or Private. Public suits things you’re happy for strangers to read, like a town’s history or a recipe collection that deserves a wider audience than the family group chat.
What a new story starts as
A new story starts on People, not Private. In the phone app you can change that on the create screen before you save. On the web, the story is created on People and you change it afterwards under the cog. If a story is personal or still taking shape, switch it to Private first and widen it when you’re ready. A moment saved to Drafts, before it belongs to any story, starts Private.
Each moment keeps its own setting
Each moment inside a story has its own setting as well, chosen by whoever added it. Mostly you’ll use it to narrow things down. Set a moment to Private and it’s “Just you and the story owner”, even inside a story the whole family can see. That’s handy for the photo you’ve added but aren’t ready to explain yet.
A few details worth knowing:
- Only the person who added a moment can change who sees it. The story’s owner can remove a moment from their story, but can’t change its setting.
- In the phone app, a moment you add to a story starts with the story’s setting. If it matters, check a moment’s setting after you add it, whichever app you’re using.
- Add a moment to someone else’s story and, unless that story is Public, it reaches that story’s audience rather than your own connections. The pill on the story tells you which setting it has, so glance at it before you add.
- The app describes a Public moment as “Anyone on A Moment With”, whatever the story around it is set to. Keep it for moments you’d happily put in a Public story.
People you add to a story
Using Invite people makes someone a member of the story, either as an Editor (“Can add chapters and moments”) or a Viewer (“Can look, not change”). They’ll need an A Moment With account, and the free plan is fine. Members can see the story at any setting, Private included, because adding them is how Private works. They still can’t see a moment someone else has set to Private.
On the Free plan a story holds you and up to five people; Premium and Legacy+ have no limit. The plans explained post has the rest.
Answers you collect with Request a Moment
When you send a Request a Moment link, the person answering doesn’t need the app or an account, and nothing they send is added to your story until you’ve seen it. Each answer waits for you to tap Add to story or Decline.
Once you add an answer, it becomes an ordinary moment in the story and takes the story’s setting. People who answer can’t see each other’s answers, which matters when there’s a QR code on every table at a wedding. Answering doesn’t make anyone a member of your story, either. If you’d like them to see the finished thing, add them to the story, or connect with them and keep the story on People.
Connections go both ways
Connections, which the app calls People, are mutual: one of you sends an invite, the other accepts, and there’s no following anyone. Either of you can remove a connection, and the access it gave goes with it, in both directions. Being added to a story doesn’t connect you to anyone, either.
What a private family sharing app leaves out
- No public feed, no followers, no ads, and no algorithm ranking your family against anyone else’s. Likes and comments are only visible to people who can already see the moment.
- We don’t use your photos, videos, voice notes or writing to train AI.
- No outside AI service sees your content.
Your content is encrypted in transit and at rest, but it isn’t end-to-end encrypted. The settings above decide who can open a story or moment in A Moment With. They can’t stop someone who can see a photo from saving it or taking a screenshot, the same as anything you send to the family group chat, so share with people you’d trust with the print.
Stories about children
For a child’s story, choose Private and add only the people the moments are for: the grandparents, perhaps a godparent, not everyone from your old netball team. A story you start sits in your account, so you decide who’s on it. You can change the setting on any moment you added, or delete it, later. As they get older, it’s worth asking what they’d like kept close. There’s more on that in how to record your child’s voice.
The quick checklist
If you want to share family photos privately, it comes down to a few questions. What is the story set to? Who have you added to it, and if it’s on People, who are you connected with? Is there a moment in it that should be Private on its own? Answer those and you know who can see your photos in A Moment With. For the wider tour of stories, chapters and moments, start with how A Moment With works.
Prefer the app? Get A Moment With on the App Store or Google Play.
