Frequently Asked Questions

Download CloseUp! from the App Store, open the app, and grant photo library access when prompted. The app will run a quick scan (about 30-60 seconds) and then drop you straight into your first game -- no account required. You'll be playing with your own photos in under a minute.

CloseUp! turns your own camera roll photos into a game... so it needs to see them! The app reads your photos locally on your device to detect faces, identify locations, and determine dates. Nothing is uploaded or shared. Without photo access, there's nothing to play with. Full library access gives the best experience, but you can also select specific albums.

Your photos never leave your device. CloseUp! processes everything locally on your iPhone using Apple's built-in Vision and CoreML frameworks. No photos are uploaded, copied, or sent to any server. Face detection, clustering, and all game logic happen entirely on-device. See our Privacy Policy for full details.

You can start playing with just a handful of photos, but CloseUp! really shines with a library of 500+ photos spanning a few years. The more variety in your library -- different people, places, and time periods -- the more fun and surprising the game becomes. For People rounds, you need at least one person who appears in 5 or more photos.

CloseUp! requires an iPhone running iOS 17.0 or later. The app is optimized for all modern iPhones and iPads.

When you first open CloseUp!, a lightning scan runs in about 30-60 seconds to get you playing immediately. It detects faces, reads location data, and indexes dates from your photo library. A deeper background scan continues afterward to find more photos and improve face groupings. You can check scan progress in Settings.

The initial lightning scan takes about 30-60 seconds. A background scan continues afterward and can take several minutes depending on the size of your library. You can start playing right after the lightning scan finishes -- you don't need to wait for the full scan. You can also run a scan from the Settings screen.

A person needs at least 5 photos with a clearly visible face to appear in the game. The background scan may still be running, so check back after a few minutes. Very small faces, heavy sunglasses, unusual angles, or low-quality photos can sometimes be missed by on-device face detection.

If you've added new photos to your library, open CloseUp! and go to Settings > "Scan Library." This picks up any new photos, finds faces that were missed, and improves face groupings. It's more thorough than the initial quick scan and catches photos that may have been skipped. We recommend running it after adding a big batch of photos, importing from another device, or downloading iCloud photos.

Go to Settings > "Clear & Rescan All Photos." This removes all cached scan data and starts completely fresh -- useful if face groupings seem off or if you've made major changes to your library. Note: this resets all person names and groupings, so only do this if you want a clean slate.

CloseUp! works best with full photo library access. If you've granted limited access, the app can only scan the specific photos you've selected, which limits the variety of game rounds. You can change this anytime in your iPhone's Settings > Privacy & Security > Photos > CloseUp > Full Access.

Yes. CloseUp! can scan iCloud photos, but photos stored only in iCloud (not downloaded to your device) may take longer to process since they need to download first. For the best experience, having your most recent photos available on-device helps the scan complete faster.

CloseUp! uses Apple's on-device AI to detect faces and group them by similarity -- like the People album in your Photos app, but built specifically for gameplay. Everything happens on your iPhone. The groupings improve with Scan Library, and you can manually fix any mistakes by tapping on a person from the home screen.

From the home screen, tap "Play" to start a new game. Choose a category (People, Places, Dates, or Surprise Me), pick your difficulty and number of rounds, and you're in. Each round shows you a zoomed-in or blurred crop of one of your photos. As the image slowly reveals, try to guess the answer before the full photo is shown.

People -- "Who is this?" Identify the person in a face crop. Places -- "Where was this?" Guess the location on a map. Dates -- "When was this?" Choose the year a photo was taken. Surprise Me -- A random mix of all categories for variety.

Easy -- Light zoom, light blur. The photo reveals quickly and the crop is generous. Medium -- Moderate zoom and blur. A good balance of challenge and fun. Hard -- Tight crop, heavy blur, slow reveal. For the sharpest memory. Higher difficulty earns more points per correct answer.

Tapping the hint button zooms out by 20% of the remaining range, giving you a wider view of the photo. Each hint provides diminishing returns -- the first hint helps the most. Free users get 1 hint per round; Premium users get 5 hints per round.

On This Day shows you photos from the same date in previous years -- like a daily dose of nostalgia. Free users can view their On This Day photos; Premium users can play game rounds with them. It appears as a tile on your home screen when matching photos are available.

You earn XP (experience points) for every round you play. Getting the answer wrong earns 1 XP. Getting it right earns 3, 5, or 7 XP depending on how early you guessed (less revealed = more points). Difficulty multipliers apply: Easy 0.6x, Medium 1.0x, Hard 1.3x. XP feeds into the Memories Unlocked progression system with 10 tiers and badges to earn.

You still earn 1 XP, and the full photo is revealed so you can see the correct answer. Every round is a chance to rediscover a memory, whether you guess right or not. The game continues to the next round -- there's no penalty beyond the lower XP.

Timer mode adds a countdown to each round -- choose 10, 15, or 30 seconds. The photo reveals at the speed of your timer, so shorter timers mean faster reveals and more pressure. Timer mode is optional and can be enabled in game setup under "More options."

Playing at least one game per day builds your daily streak. Maintaining a streak earns bonus XP that grows the longer you keep it going. If you're about to lose your streak, you'll get a gentle notification at 8 PM. You also earn streak freeze tokens that automatically protect your streak if you miss a day.

CloseUp! has a progression system called "Memories Unlocked" with 10 tiers -- from Newcomer all the way to Eternal -- based on your total XP. There are also 52 badges to earn across categories like Habit (play streaks), Explorer (try different categories), Scanner (scan milestones), and more. You'll even earn special Year Badges when you've played 25 rounds using photos from a specific year.

Occasionally, a premium category (Places, Dates, or Surprise Me) is unlocked for free for 24 hours. You'll see a notification and a banner on the home screen when it's active. It's a taste of what Premium offers -- your daily game limits still apply during the unlock.

After each game, the recap screen lets you share a beautiful collage of the photos you rediscovered. Tap the share icon to send it directly to WhatsApp, Instagram Stories, iMessage, or any other app. The share card includes your score and a mosaic of your game photos.

After your first game, you can name the people CloseUp! has detected. Tap on any person from the home screen's "Your People" row or go to Settings > "Meet Your People" to see all detected faces and assign names. Names are stored locally on your device.

Tap on a person from the home screen to open their "Through the Years" view. From there, you can tap on any incorrectly grouped face to select it, then remove it from that person's group.

The app suggests potential matches in each person's "Through the Years" view. If you see a suggested face that belongs to the person you're viewing, tap "Accept" to add it to their group. Automatic merge suggestions appear based on face similarity.

Tap on any person from the home screen and you'll see every photo of them organized by year -- from their most recent photos all the way back to the earliest ones in your library. It's like watching someone grow up (or grow old!) in fast-forward. You can also review face groupings, accept suggested matches, and rename the person from this screen.

Until you manually name a person, CloseUp! keeps their identity anonymous. Auto-generated placeholder names are hidden in the game -- you'll only see names you've personally assigned. This ensures your game experience feels personal and accurate.

Free users can play 2 games per day (3 if you create an account) with 5 rounds each. You get access to the People category, Easy and Medium difficulty, 1 hint per round, up to 10 saved memories, and view-only access to On This Day. The free version also includes occasional "Category of the Day" unlocks that give temporary access to premium categories.

• 🎲All Categories & Difficulties -- Faces, Places, Dates, Surprise Me, Easy to Hard
• ♾️Unlimited Games -- Play as much as you want, every day
• 🎙️Record Memories -- Capture the stories behind your photos in audio or video
• 🖼️Shareable Collages -- Create beautiful visual stories to share
• 💡Extra Hints -- 5 hints per round to jog your memory
• ❤️Unlimited Saved Memories -- Keep every moment that matters
• 📅On This Day -- Play game rounds with photos from today's date in past years

Check the app for current pricing -- we offer Monthly and Annual plans, and prices vary by region. All subscriptions are managed through the App Store.

Go to your iPhone's Settings > tap your name > Subscriptions > CloseUp! > Cancel Subscription. Your premium access continues until the end of the current billing period. You won't be charged again after canceling.

Open CloseUp! on your new device, go to Settings, and tap "Restore Purchases." Make sure you're signed into the same Apple ID you used for the original purchase. Your premium access should be restored within a few seconds.

Refunds are handled by Apple. Visit reportaproblem.apple.com to request a refund for any App Store purchase. Apple reviews all refund requests on a case-by-case basis.

During the recap screen after a game, or while viewing any photo in the app, tap the heart icon to save it to your Saved Memories collection. You can access all saved memories from the home screen's "Saved" tile.

Free users can save up to 10 memories. Premium users have unlimited saved memories. When you reach the free limit, you'll be prompted to upgrade or remove existing saves to make room.

In your Saved Memories screen, tap the grid icon in the toolbar to enter selection mode. Choose 2-5 photos (the first photo becomes the hero image), and CloseUp! will generate a shareable bento-style collage. Collage creation is a Premium feature.

After a game, you can record yourself narrating the story behind a photo -- the who, the where, the "I can't believe I forgot about this." It's a Premium feature available from the recap screen. The recording captures your voice (or video) alongside the photo, creating a personal memory capsule you can save or share.

Shared images and recordings include a small CloseUp! watermark by default. You can remove it with a one-time "Remove Branding" purchase, available in Settings or from the share preview screen. This removes the watermark from all collages, share cards, and recorded videos.

Long-press on your iPhone home screen, tap the "+" button in the top corner, search for "CloseUp," and choose from small, medium, or large widget sizes. The widget shows a daily memory photo from your library and updates automatically.

CloseUp! sends gentle daily reminders featuring a photo from your library, like "Remember this day?" or a person-focused prompt. You'll also get streak-at-risk notifications if you're about to lose your daily streak. Notifications are designed to spark nostalgia, not nag.

Go to your iPhone's Settings > CloseUp! > Notifications > toggle off "Allow Notifications." You can also customize which notification types you receive within the CloseUp! app's Settings screen.

Tap the profile or settings icon on the home screen, then choose "Sign In." Creating an account is optional but gives you an extra daily game (3 instead of 2) and enables cloud backup of your progress, XP, and streaks.

From the sign-in screen, tap "Sign in with Apple." This uses Apple's secure authentication -- CloseUp! never sees your password. You can choose to share or hide your email address. Your account is linked to your Apple ID for seamless access.

To delete all scanned data, go to Settings > "Clear & Rescan All Photos." To delete your account entirely, go to Settings > "Delete Account." You can also email hello@playcloseup.com to request full account deletion. Deleting the app removes all locally stored data from your device.

CloseUp! collects anonymous usage analytics (like games played, features used) to improve the app. We do not collect, store, or transmit your photos, face data, or personal photo library information. See our Privacy Policy for complete details.

No. Your photos never leave your device. All scanning, face detection, and game logic runs entirely on your iPhone using Apple's on-device Vision and CoreML frameworks. CloseUp! reads photos from your photo library in real time -- it does not copy, upload, or store your photos anywhere.

If the scan seems stuck, try closing and reopening the app. The initial lightning scan should complete in under a minute. If it's still stuck, go to Settings > "Clear & Rescan All Photos" to start fresh. Make sure your device has at least 500MB of free storage and that you've granted full photo library access.

First, check that CloseUp! has full photo library access: iPhone Settings > Privacy & Security > Photos > CloseUp > Full Access. If you have iCloud photos, some may need to download before they can be scanned. Also check that the background scan has completed by looking at scan progress in the app's Settings.

Make sure the scan has completed at least the lightning phase (the initial 30-60 second scan). For People rounds, you need at least one person with 5+ photos. For Places rounds, you need photos with location data. If the scan is complete but the game still won't start, try "Clear & Rescan All Photos" in Settings.

Tap on the person from the home screen to open their "Through the Years" view. Select any incorrectly matched faces and remove them. The app also shows suggested matches that you can accept or reject. Running "Scan Library" from Settings can also improve groupings.

First, try restoring your purchase in Settings > "Restore Purchases." Make sure you're signed into the same Apple ID used for the purchase. If the issue persists, try closing and reopening the app. For continued problems, email hello@playcloseup.com with your device model and iOS version.

CloseUp! caches some photo data locally to speed up gameplay. You can reduce storage usage by going to Settings > "Clear & Rescan All Photos," which removes all cached scan data and starts fresh. The app typically uses between 100-500MB depending on your library size.

The initial scan uses more battery than normal since it's processing your photo library with on-device AI. Once scanning is complete, regular gameplay uses minimal battery -- similar to browsing your Photos app. If you notice high battery usage, check that the background scan has finished in Settings.

Your subscription carries over to any device signed into the same Apple ID. If you create an account via Sign in with Apple, your game progress (XP, streaks, badges) also syncs. Note that each device runs its own photo scan and has its own saved memories -- the game is built around the photos on that specific device, so your gameplay experience may differ between devices.