31 July 2026
The photos are already on the phone. The challenge is getting them off without losing quality, choosing which ones to use, and picking a service that does not take all weekend.
The photos are already on the phone. Making a book from them comes down to four things: getting them off without losing quality, choosing which ones to use, picking a service, and ordering.
Each of those is straightforward once you know where the problems are.
Getting the photos off
This is where most people make a mistake that shows up in the finished book.
A photo on an iPhone is typically several megabytes. Sent via WhatsApp or iMessage, it arrives compressed to a fraction of that. Printed across eight inches, the difference is visible: soft edges, reduced detail, a slightly muddy look in areas that should be sharp.
Never send photos to yourself via WhatsApp for printing
The compression is applied automatically and cannot be reversed. To get originals off an iPhone: use AirDrop to a Mac, plug in via USB and open the Photos app on the computer, or use iCloud.com to download full-resolution files. The image should leave the phone as a HEIC or full-size JPG.
The better iPhone apps get around this entirely by reading the camera roll directly, without any transfer.
The choosing problem
A year of photos on an iPhone might be ten thousand images. Choosing two hundred from that pile is where most photobook projects stall. A few things make it faster.
- 1Pick a window. One year, or one school year. Open-ended means the job has no visible end.
- 2Go month by month rather than photo by photo. Two or three favourites from each month is enough.
- 3Favourite instead of delete. Deciding what to keep is faster than deciding what to lose.
- 4Stop at around two hundred. Beyond that, nobody looks at the back half of the book.
Done honestly, that is still an evening of work. Which is worth knowing before you start.
The services
There are two types of service for making a book from iPhone photos: ones that work on a computer via upload, and ones that work directly on the phone.
Computer-based services give you control over layout. You export the photos, upload them to a website, pick a template, and drag them into place. The process takes a couple of evenings. The software varies from usable to genuinely frustrating. The results can be excellent.
iPhone apps let you make the book without exporting anything. The better ones read the camera roll directly and make the selection for you. You review and approve before ordering. Less control, but considerably less time.
For a first photobook, an app that handles the choosing is usually the more realistic option. A Sunday afternoon is a more likely outcome than a project that takes three weeks to finish.
What we make
Our app reads the camera roll on your iPhone, scores the photos using face detection and image quality analysis, and picks the best 200 or so across the year you choose. You see every selected photo before anything is printed. You can swap, move, or remove anything.
48 pages, eight inches square, 170gsm silk paper, soft matte hardcover. £39.99 with UK delivery included. No subscription, no account required to browse the app.
iPhone only.