Lifecake, the family photo app Canon Europe bought in 2015, closed on 30 June 2020. Uploads stopped on 30 April 2020, and Lifecake said it would delete everything when it closed. Parents could download their timelines or move them to BackThen, a new app from Lifecake's original founders. Lifecake said anything not saved or moved by then would be deleted.
We make Our Little World, a baby book app, so we have an interest in what Lifecake families use next. The history below comes from Lifecake's own closing notice and FAQ, which survive on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, and from Canon's 2015 announcement. We checked current apps on their App Store listings and help pages on 15 Oct 2026.
What was Lifecake?
Lifecake was a London family photo app. Parents built a private timeline of each child's photos and videos that family could view on phones, tablets and computers, and could order printed photobooks, according to Canon Europe's announcement that it was acquiring Lifecake, dated 23 April 2015. Its 2020 FAQ covers iPhone, Android and web customers.
After the sale, the footer of lifecake.com read "A Canon group company."
When did Lifecake shut down?
Lifecake closed on 30 June 2020. Its homepage, archived on 31 May 2020, said it would be closing on that date and that new sign-ups, uploads and stories had already stopped. Existing users could still sign in and view their moments until then.
The Lifecake FAQ, archived on 12 June 2020, filled in the rest:
- Uploads stopped after 30 April 2020.
- On 30 June 2020, photos, videos and personal data would be "securely deleted," and Lifecake would close its Amazon Web Services account, which hosted the servers.
- Lifecake cancelled every subscription and gave paying customers a pro-rata refund.
By September 2020, the homepage said the service had closed on 30 June 2020 and recommended BackThen.
Why did Lifecake close?
Lifecake didn't give a detailed reason. The FAQ's whole answer to "Why are you closing Lifecake?" was that the decision was made by its parent company, which the site's footer named as Canon. We found no statement from Canon explaining it, so we won't guess.
Can you still log in to Lifecake?
No. There is no Lifecake account to sign in to. Later in 2020 the address forwarded to Canon Europe's website, according to the Wayback Machine, and as of 15 Oct 2026 lifecake.com doesn't load at all. Lifecake is no longer on the US App Store either.
If you are searching for "Lifecake login" because you want your child's photos, the next two sections are where to look.
Can you recover old Lifecake photos?
Only if they were saved or moved before 30 June 2020. The Lifecake FAQ said parents had to migrate or download everything before that date if they didn't have copies elsewhere, and that the data would be deleted when the service closed. We found no source that says any Lifecake photos survived after that.
There are three places your photos may still be.
- In BackThen. If you or your child's other parent moved your timeline before Lifecake closed, your photos, videos, stories, comments, likes and titles went to BackThen. The FAQ told parents to sign in to BackThen with the email and password they set during the move. If you can't remember the password, use BackThen's lost-password help.
- In a ZIP file. Lifecake offered downloads as ZIP files to a computer, iPhone or Android phone. Inside, memories were sorted into a folder for each year and a folder for each day. Search old computers and the Files app for ZIP files from 2020. Comments, likes and titles were not included in downloads.
- On the phones that took them. Many photos shared on Lifecake were taken on a phone first. Check the parents' camera rolls, old phones, and iCloud Photos or Google Photos backups from those years.
Is BackThen the same as Lifecake?
No. BackThen is a separate, new app from Lifecake's original founders, not Lifecake under a new name. Lifecake's FAQ called BackThen "a new private family timeline service from the original Lifecake founders" and said the two teams worked together to automate the move.
BackThen's App Store listing says it comes from the team behind Lifecake, and the seller is Back Then Digital Limited, not Canon. BackThen was released on the App Store on 27 April 2020, a few days before Lifecake stopped taking uploads. Lifecake's own closing page recommended BackThen.
Back in June 2020, Lifecake's FAQ said BackThen's first 1GB was free and its subscription was $4.99 a month. As of 15 Oct 2026, BackThen's listing gives VIP as $6.49 a month, and its pricing FAQ offers $64.99 a year through its website. The first 1GB is still free, and invited family use it free, according to BackThen's FAQ.
What do former Lifecake users use now?
The right replacement depends on what you miss about Lifecake. Here are four options, grouped by use case, with facts checked on 15 Oct 2026.
- BackThen, for the closest thing to Lifecake. Each child gets their own timeline, there are no ads, and family can be invited with permissions you set, according to its App Store listing. It is on iPhone, iPad and Android, and family without a phone can view in a web browser, according to BackThen's FAQ. Our BackThen alternative page compares it with our app in detail.
- FamilyAlbum, for a free shared album. FamilyAlbum's help center says the free version has unlimited photo and video storage, with videos under 2 minutes, sorted by month. Premium Family is $5.99 a month or $59 a year. Its App Store listing says the app contains advertising, and its Premium page lists no third-party ads only on paid plans.
- Tinybeans, for a family journal with milestones. Free Tinybeans allows 20 uploads a month with ads, according to Tinybeans' help center, and Tinybeans+ is $7.99 a month or $74.99 a year. Our post on Tinybeans vs Qeepsake covers it further.
- A shared album built into your phone. iCloud Shared Albums need no separate app or plan, and Google Photos shared albums need only a Google account. Both use your account's storage. They don't sort photos by child or age. Apple's Shared Albums limits page, published 14 Sep 2026, says albums created on version 27 or later keep full resolution and count against your iCloud storage.
The app we make: Our Little World is a private baby book app for iPhone and iPad. Here it is on the same criteria. Like Lifecake, it lays out a child's life over time. It finds your child in the photos on your iPhone and lays them out month by month, and once you and the other parent each say yes, your photos of the children join theirs and theirs join yours. Invited family see what you share. The Family plan is $7.99 a month or $69.99 a year and Family Plus $11.99 a month or $99.99 a year, as listed on our pricing page on 15 Oct 2026, with a 7-day free trial on monthly plans and 14 days on yearly. There is no free plan, no Android app and no printed book, so Lifecake families with Android phones, or who want photobooks, should look at BackThen first.
How do you keep baby photos safe if an app closes?
Keep the originals somewhere you control, and check how to export before you need to. Lifecake gave families warning and two ways out, a download or a move to BackThen. Lifecake said anything that was only in Lifecake and wasn't saved or moved by 30 June 2020 would be deleted. Our post on what happens to a baby book if you stop paying has the questions to ask.
