BackThen Family & Baby Photos Reviews

by Jfranzy!!!

I loved Lifecake for years. I deleted the old app and downloaded this as they said to do. I have all my photos on my phone so I didn’t need to keep them off Lifecake.
But for some reason I can’t start new and fresh with no importing of pics/vids?. And already saying I have over the limit of pics/vids... must purchase?
Ridiculous... I can’t even check BackThenFamilyBabyPhotos out first without buying storage? What gives?
I can’t see how this isn’t affiliated with Lifecake like they are saying.. the only way we found out about this is through Lifecake.. soo?
Anyways, won’t be buying. Moving to Google photos.

by DesireeBV

When I first signed up for Lifecake, I was worried that eventually they would demand more and more money knowing that people relied on their app to store important memories. Not only is this happening by essentially doubling the cost, but the experience is downgraded for the new price. Why would you expect anyone to agree to that?

Edit: The option to download photos to your computer is a mess along with their handling of this transition. Photo dates are inconsistently saved causing difficulty in sorting these photos in time. Multiple downloads and nested folders all maximize the inconvenience in the hopes you’ll give up and pay them for their “new” app.

by Father Uncle Grandpa

If you’re looking at BackThenFamilyBabyPhotos as a result of LifeCake’s 11th-hour notification that they are pulling the plug as of yesterday: do not migrate to BackThen, which is essentially a pay service, as the storage and upload limits on the free version are laughable. Also limits the number of users of an account to 6. “Sorry, cousins: grandparents first!”

It is unconscionable on the part of Lifecake, and its corporate parents, to give such short notice to users, especially at this time, when families are being kept apart by quarantine. And then to say, “Oh, we’re holding your content hostage to this new landlord; pony up or lose it!” Why would you choose to add to the woes of the world during a pandemic by pulling the plug on many families' primary, and in some cases, sole means of staying connected?

Bottom line: RESEARCH OTHER (FREE) OPTIONS. And call out Canon and BackThen and Lifecake on their greed and shady business practices.

by MikeRithjin215

I was a huge fan of Lifecake but BackThenFamilyBabyPhotos only allows you 1GB of free storage before charging $5/month to store and share your photos. I don’t use lifecake very often and I had over 3GBs of photos and videos shared with the grandparents. It’s 2020, 1 GB is nothing. Deleting both apps and moving on to another service.

Developer responded and said BackThen is a totally new company. It looks and smells a lot like LifeCake. Fact of the matter is LifeCake is shutting down and is directing users to BackThen. Regardless of if it is a new company or not (which I’m inclined to believe it is directly affiliated with LifeCake), The whole thing still shows disregard for the consumer and just another way to make even more money. I would’ve stuck around if the company decided to bolster their revenue from ads but I’m not shelling out $60/year, which will inevitably increase

by Milk Mommy

I am highly disappointed that a once free app by the former name of “Lifecake” that I have utilized to store and share my child’s photos and videos with family and friends for over 5 years has now been converted into a new app that forces you to pay money for. The worst part is that all of my videos that i put on Lifecake directly from my iPhone cannot be re-downloaded to my iPhone so unless I pay a monthly fee for BackThenFamilyBabyPhotos I can kiss my precious moments goodbye. They do offer the option of downloading all of your photos and videos to your computer via zip files and let me tell you that is the most unorganized and difficult way to try and access your photos after the download is complete. I truly wish I would of NEVER put trust in “Lifecake” to store my most precious memories as advertised “FREE”.
Live and learn.

by DKNali's Mama

I can’t believe this! I loved Lifecake and now this new app has such little storage space it’s making me pay 💰 $5 per month just to transfer all my memories and to continue using the platform. Ugh! I loved the ability to share with family near and far these precious moments, but this is truly upsetting 😢. This is really THE WORST time to force parents to pay to share with family and friends when most ppl are quarantined and can’t physically be with others. Forcing people to pay for something they were previously enjoying for free is shameful and greedy. It would be understandable for brand new customers to apply these new rules, but existing people should have been given a warning ⚠️ or allowed to keep what they have and upgrade for a price (how Lifecake had it).

by Jude7186

I used Lifecake as a primary photo sharing tool with my family who lives across the country. I was greatly saddened to learn that lifecake is no longer an option for me. I would have gladly transferred all of my photos if I wasn’t asked to shell out $5 a month for 200 GB worth of storage. I already used up 130 GB worth of storage with my lifecake account which offered unlimited store age for less than half the price.

I’m not willing to pay $60 (potentially even more with the 2TB option) a year to receive the same services I received through lifecake. This is double what lifecake charged for unlimited storage!

Back then is just a new app looking for more money. I’ll have to just find some other way to share my kids precious memories with my family.

by JMVKT

We’ve been using Lifecake for over 6 years. From before Canon purchased them. I had 3k+ photos plus 1k videos for my 2 kids. Several of my family and friends also used it. We are not going to Back Then. I started the process and between the cost and the fact that you can’t use a desktop, it’s not worth it for our family. Our grandparents only access it via a desktop.

Plus I’m worried about this happening 6 years from now. Instead we will just use Google Photos for our storage and family sharing. I had to buy extra storage but it’s worth it. The stability is worth what I lose in the age it stamps the photos with or the other cute features. It’s taken me weeks to make the transition and I’m almost done. The way they created the folders has created a great deal of work but I’m very close to never having to deal with Lifecake or Back Then ever again.

by OtherCLowe

We used Lifecake for 5 years. One of our favorite aspects of Lifecake was that it was usable online- so grandparents who don’t have tablets or smart phone could still see their grandchildren (or great-grandchildren). Without that option i am not sure the new $5/mo charge in the new app Back Then is worth it! Giving no workable warning to parents before BackThen became the only usable option is not a smart launch. Mandating a monthly subscription is even worse (yes yes we know keep the lights on and all that...it seems to be the only company reply). Verdict is still out- but $60/year to share photos will probably send us looking elsewhere eventually. BackThenFamilyBabyPhotos is identical so easy to use but we need the full accessibility ASAP.

by Anonymous012345

I appreciate the ability to migrate all of my photos, videos, likes, and comments. I also don’t mind paying the $5/month as I was a paying member of Lifecake. What I’m frustrated with is my family not being able to accept my invite. I have older and younger family members having the same issue and receiving the same error message. I’ve migrated all of my photos and paid the $5, now get my family members on there!! My daughter has great grandparents and grandparents that rely on this to give them something to look forward to every day. I’m fine with waiting for prorated refunds and kinks in the program to be worked out, but I’m not fine with my family members not being able to join in on my album.

by IMHO - IJS

Thankfully I found BackThen after Tinybeans went capitalist. I love that Back Then is easy to scroll and it’s not crowded with ads and unwanted tips. Two gripes…
1) why is the web version bette than BackThenFamilyBabyPhotos ? You have to click 4-5 times to see comments in BackThenFamilyBabyPhotos . In the web version is displays nicely when you view the photo
2) what is the treasure garbage? I don’t understand it and it seems horribly unnecessary. Instead, maybe there should be a way to quickly make an album via a Shutterfly plug-in or quickly make a video collaboration that you can save to your phone or computer.

by Sma138

Back Then is pretty much the same as Life Cake and transferring photos between the two was easy. Like Life Cake, you get an amount of free storage but can pay for additional. Some people seem to think they’re entitled to use this service for free. Back Then is a business and needs to make money somehow. I appreciate that the company doesn’t sell my information to make money or bombard me with ads. I’m happy to pay for this service. I’m giving BackThenFamilyBabyPhotos four stars because the individuals I’ve invited to Back Then, who also had Life Cake accounts, are unable to join. Please let me know if there’s a way to fix this.

by Reids Nana

Such a joy to be able to watch our grandson grow. Even tho we live miles away we are able to see him develop almost on a daily basis.

Reid’s parents are faithful about posting regularly which we appreciate so much! Love to get notifications of family that is enjoying watching him develop also!! Overall has been a great experience!

by CompScientist27

We were really worried when we heard LifeCake was closing but after clicking a couple buttons and getting completely migrated over, it’s like nothing has changed. Our family members are very grateful, as are we, for the forethought of the founders to have a backup plan. Shout out to Artjom for quickly answering all our questions!

by Janisl28

Back Then let’s me see photos and videos of my grandchildren that I don’t get to see all of the time. It makes it easy for me to view the photos my family’s posts. I like the privacy of this compared to posting on Facebook or some other platform where photos tend to be photoshopped instead of glimpses into the real everyday life of those who mean the most to me!

by Spondyloptosis

Intuitive, slick photo and video archiving app that allows family to share photos in a secure, private space that allows parents, grandparents, and others to comment, add content, and have a photo archive with them whenever they want to access it. Allows large photo/video uploads as well as provides access to download your archive whenever you want. Formerly Lifecake - which was unfortunately downsized by the parent company during the pandemic of 2020 - the staff even made the transition of 100s of gigabytes of photos from the former app to this one seamless and relatively rapid. Have been an active user of Lifecake -> BackThen for 4 years and highly recommend it.

by Buffalo Gap

I guess this is even more important in today’s uncertainty with Covid-19. Social isolation becoming the norm for a lot of people especially older or people with fragile health.
This wonderful site gives us a open door to our kids & Grandchildren, we once again feel part of their lives. We see the changes, first moments and most of all the things important to them.
For all of that I’m most grateful,
A Heartfelt Thank you
GGma Cindy

by Rory Althans

My daughter invited us to download BackThen, to see pictures of our granddaughter. Since we live in different cities, it has been so wonderful to view pictures & videos of her, ever since the day she was born!
My daughter knew that everyone would keep asking her to see pictures of Paige, & this has been an easy way to share pictures with other family members, & friends!
I also really love how you you can look back to the day she was born. BackThen is simply the best!

by Pdatty

Well done by the original lifecake team! Disappointing that Canon would go and purchase lifecake only to shut it down. But good negotiation by the lifecake team to have clauses to allow for a rebirth of the same app with a new company. We had 30 GBs of memories that transitioned over in about 5 minutes and it’s just like it all was in lifecake thankfully! Would have been terrible to start over again! But more expensive but it’s understandable considering how much cloud space is needed nowadays as to when lifecake originally started. Thanks to the Old Lifecake/new BackThen team!!!

by KNM34

LOVE BackThenFamilyBabyPhotos!!! We live an ocean away from our family and this is how they watch him grow every day. The interface is simple- upload pics and videos and go, and family can see it easily (even the grandparents are leaving comments, haha). It has wonderful layout and honestly the reasonable subscription price is worth the privacy and security you get. Why does everyone want something for free? You wouldn’t work for free so please don't ask these developers and staff to do the same.

by TAKennelly

This is the most ludicrous way to increase your prices and it totally kills any loyalty I had to this brand. How dare you create the EXACT SAME APP and then kill the old one just so you can charge me exorbitantly more money? Get bent.

by Lillebakke

Netflix and ICloud Abo is cheaper than this

by This Is A Scam 2

This is the exact same as Lifecake for double the cost. I loved Lifecake

by Tyler Fast

Switch to our new app yey and now you have to pay $5 per month. Not worth the cost. Finding another app.

by Dj474

Lifecake was amazing. This is awful. How you’re going to charge us for continuing the service. Better do the right thing, Back then.

by Iloidlab

I just paid money to transfer photos and all I see is a blank app that looks like LifeCake with no functionality.

by Lame Replacement

I love Lifecake but this is a sorry money grubbing replacement.

by SpicyTrex

The forced migration to a new app is a huge betrayal of trust for one of the most personal and intimate things I own: pictures of my family.

To say nothing that they’re now charging for fewer features and even less storage. I recommend looking elsewhere for a photo sharing app.

by Mt2fla

Received the notice Lifecake was going away and begrudgingly signed up for the new app. Found out immediately I had too much stuff to transfer so I ponied up the money for a bigger account. Got an email my transfer was complete. Went to BackThenFamilyBabyPhotos ... nothing. Tried to access other features in BackThenFamilyBabyPhotos ... nothing. Not a great first impression.

by DucksFlyTogether32

Suddenly forcing me to move to this new app and then charging me for it is bad service. It is a poorly executed move, with no respect to their early adopters. They should have some nod of grandfathering options to their early clients- especially folks like me who have recommended Lifecake to dozens of people. Very disappointed. Will find a new app that doesn’t pull the rug out from under their supporters.

by Shellieplaz163

I love lifecake, it was easy to use and FREE and I was disappointed when we got a message saying it was closing and becoming this new company. Now we have to pay $4.99 a month for more than 1GB of storage (my little one is only 4 months old and we already have over 1 GB) for our friends and family to see pictures of their loved ones. Very disappointing.

by AndyC4528

After two years of paying for Lifecake, my loyalty is recognized by bricking the service. Shame on you for not warning us that the previous app is being shut down, while quietly developing its replacement. Shame on you for offering zero grace to decide - just boom we can’t upload anything, even for paid users. Come on, how about a month to adjust.... shame on your lack of honesty. No transition time, no warning?

Enter BackThen, just come on over and pay twice as much at our new app. No thank you. At least have a trial window for prior users to see what makes the new product worth twice the price.

Lifecake / BackThen, shame on you. Why should I trust you after this.

New users, beware and do your research. This is not an app, it’s an ATM.

by Ali81wm

I and my family love Lifecake so when I saw the notice today I immediately wanted to switch over so family could continue to see my daily updates of my kids...this quarantine has been really tough on all of us, especially the grandparents. So I download BackThenFamilyBabyPhotos , create an account and begrudgingly sign up for the $5/month fee. It says the import will “take a while”...I’m at 8 hours and counting and BackThenFamilyBabyPhotos is still stuck on the import screen despite an email saying everything is complete. Now what??

by Brittanyreneexo

I was admittedly very upset when I found out lifecake was being discontinued and I had to migrate to BackThenFamilyBabyPhotos. However, it seems exactly the same so it’s fine. Still kind of annoyed I had to switch everything but whatever.

by AmJo430

I am so upset with Canon for cancelling Lifecake. Thank you to BackThen for picking up the slack in a time where family needs this more than ever. It costs more, yes, but isn’t backed by a large company (yet).