Viewing photos and videos

Tap or click any item in the grid to open it in the viewer. From here you can move through your library, zoom in, and act on the item with the toolbar.

Moving around

• Swipe left or right (or use the arrow keys on desktop) to move to the next or previous item.
• Pinch or scroll to zoom in, then drag to pan around a zoomed photo.
• Videos play in place, with the usual play, pause, and scrubbing controls.

Motion Photos and Live Photos

Android's Motion Photos and iOS's Live Photos capture a few seconds of video along with the still image. zeitkapsl backs up both together as a single item, so there is nothing extra to set up.

Opening one in the viewer plays that short clip, then settles on the still image, tap the item again to replay it. Everywhere else, the grid, albums, widgets, and shares, it appears as the still photo.

Original quality

To keep browsing fast and save bandwidth, the viewer first shows a high-quality optimized version of your photo rather than the full original every time. When you want the full-resolution file, use View original quality in the viewer. The original is fetched, decrypted on your device, and shown. Your original is always kept intact, this only changes what is displayed, never what is stored.

Toolbar actions

From the viewer you can:

• Like an item to mark it as a favorite. Liked items are easy to find again with the Liked quick filter.
• Add to album to place the item in one or more albums.
• Share the item as an encrypted link. See sharing.
• Hide the item (see below).
• Download the item to your device. See downloading.
• Edit the photo (web and desktop). See editing photos.
• Delete the item. See deleting.
• Open info to see the capture date, camera details, and, if available, a map of where the photo was taken.

Descriptions

You can add a description to any photo or video, up to 2000 characters. Open the item, find the description field in its info panel, type your text, and save. It works the same for photos and videos.

Descriptions are part of the item's metadata, so they are end-to-end encrypted like everything else and sync across your devices. They show up in the info panel wherever the item appears.

Descriptions are shared with the item

Because a description travels with the item, anyone you share that photo or album with can read it. That is often what you want, for example captioning event photos for the people you share them with, but it means you should not put anything in a description that you would not want your share recipients to see.

Hidden items

Hiding is for photos and videos you want to keep backed up but not have on show while you casually browse or hand someone your phone.

• With the blur setting on, hidden items appear as blurred thumbnails in the grid, in albums, and on album covers, instead of showing their contents.
• To look through them, use the Hidden filter. From there you can unhide an item at any time.
• They are still backed up and end-to-end encrypted exactly like your other photos.

Locking hidden photos behind biometrics

On mobile you can require Face ID, Touch ID, or your device biometrics to view hidden photos, so they stay private even if someone is using your unlocked phone. This needs biometrics or a passcode set up on your device.

On iOS you choose how often it asks, in settings:

• Never, no authentication
• Always, every time you view hidden photos
• After 5 minutes
• After leaving the app

On Android, opening the Hidden filter or unblurring a hidden photo asks for your device biometrics, when you have biometrics set up. Without any lock in place, anyone using your signed-in app can turn off the blur or open the Hidden filter and see the items.