30 July 2026
Whether you are buying for grandparents or helping them make something for themselves, the challenge is the same: the photos are on a phone nobody else can access.
A photo book for grandparents is either the most natural gift in the world or the most complicated, depending on which way round you are doing it.
If you have the photos, it is straightforward. If they have the photos and they are on a phone nobody else has access to, you need a different plan.
Giving a photobook as a gift
The photos are almost certainly on their phone or in an account you cannot get into. Asking for them hands them a task, which defeats most of the point.
There are two ways round it.
A voucher they use themselves
You buy the voucher. They open it, download the app, choose the year they want, review the photos before anything is printed, and the book arrives at their door a couple of weeks later. Their camera roll, their photos, their choice of year.
This works especially well for grandparents who have years of photos of grandchildren on their phone and have never printed any of them.
Ask for the photos well in advance
If you want to make the book yourself, you need the photos far enough ahead that the gift is still a surprise. Asking in October for a Christmas present is usually possible. Asking a week before is not.
AirDrop to a Mac, iCloud photo sharing, or a USB cable are all ways to get a copy without compressing the files. Avoid asking them to WhatsApp the photos: it compresses everything and the quality cannot be recovered.
Grandparents making their own book
A lot of grandparents have five to ten years of family photos on a phone and have never done anything with them. The intention is there. The process is not obvious.
The main options are a drag-and-drop service or an automatic one. Drag-and-drop gives you control over every page and takes a couple of evenings. The software is usually designed for a desktop computer. Automatic services choose the photos for you and let you review before printing, which is considerably less effort.
For someone making their first photobook, automatic is usually the more realistic choice. A Sunday afternoon is a more likely outcome than a project that stretches across several weeks.
What to look for
Check which phone they have before you buy
Almost all iPhone photobook apps require an iPhone. If the grandparent in question has an Android phone, a service that works via a web browser and photo upload will be more practical.
- Simple upload or sign-in process: the fewer steps, the better
- UK delivery included in the price
- Hardcover: softcovers curl and look cheap quickly
- A reprint policy in case something goes wrong in production
What we make
Our app reads the iPhone camera roll, scores the photos and picks the best across whatever year you choose. You see every photo in the selection before anything goes to print, and can swap or remove anything.
It is £39.99 with UK delivery included. No subscription, one book per order. We also sell a gift voucher with no expiry date, for situations where the photos are on someone else's phone.
iPhone only.