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Google Photos keeps your files. Roon tells their story.
Let’s be clear first: this page is not asking you to leave Google Photos, and Roon is not a backup replacement. Google Photos is good storage. Keep it. What it doesn’t do — what it was never built to do — is tell you what any of it meant.
What Google Memories can’t do
Google’s Memories are auto-slideshows: photos with music, titled by date and place. They’re pleasant, and they’re shallow — there is no written account, no one asking why that summer mattered, no connection drawn between the dog as a puppy and the dog today. Independent testers reviewing memory apps have landed in the same place: as a memory tool, a photo library alone is “a photo dump with no context.”
What Roon adds
- Written chapters with names, built from your photos, words, and voice — sentences, not slideshows.
- Questions asked over time, by text — including ones that return every year so answers become a time-lapse.
- Patterns noticed across years, shown back to you with the moments attached.
- A Year Film every January, made to be watched together.
- Letters sealed for future dates, and an export of everything, any time.
Connecting is on your terms: Roon suggests what looks worth keeping from your Google Photos, you approve every item, and nothing is imported automatically. Disconnect whenever you like; what you’ve kept in Roon stays.
Storage keeps files. Roon keeps the story. They’re different jobs — you’re allowed to have both.
who this is for
For families whose photos deserve sentences.
If you’re shopping for private backup or cheaper gigabytes, honest answer: Roon isn’t that, and storage-focused services will serve you better. If you have ten years of family life sitting in Google Photos and the slideshows feel like watching someone else’s memories, Roon is the layer you’re missing. More on preserving family photos and the camera-roll problem.
the privacy question
For families. And for privacy.
Many people arrive here from a plainer search: a Google Photos alternative for their family, or a way out of Google over privacy. Both deserve a straight answer.
For families: one story across everyone’s phones — iPhones and Androids in the same chapters, up to 6 contributors adding to it. Nobody needs another account to read along: what you share reaches your family as the story itself — a chapter, a thread, a film — through a private link. More on sharing privately with family.
For privacy: Google is an advertising company, and its terms let it use what you upload to run and improve its services. Roon’s promise fits in one line: your family’s story is never sold and never used to train models. Roon is closed — nothing public, no feed, no strangers — and you approve every item that crosses over from Google Photos. Export everything, any time, and what you’ve kept leaves with you.
plain answers
Questions, answered straight.
Is Roon a replacement for Google Photos?
No. Roon is not backup storage and doesn’t try to be. Keep Google Photos (or any storage you trust) for your files. Roon is the story layer on top: written chapters, questions, noticing, and a yearly film, built from the library you already have.
Does Roon import my whole Google Photos library automatically?
Never. You connect the account, Roon suggests what looks worth keeping, and you approve a moment, a day, or a whole trip. Nothing crosses over without your say.
What does Roon do that Google Photos Memories doesn’t?
Memories assembles slideshows from files. Rooney writes chapters in sentences from your family’s words, asks questions Google never asks, notices patterns across years, keeps sealed letters for future dates, and makes a January film of your year to watch together.
Can I leave Roon and take everything with me?
Yes — export everything, originals included, at any time, on every plan including free. Your files also remain wherever else you keep them; Roon never holds the only copy unless you choose that.
What is the best Google Photos alternative for families?
It depends on the job. For backup and storage, a storage service is the honest answer. For the story — chapters written from your photos, the whole family in one place, grandparents reading along through a private link — that is Roon. Most families keep both: Google holds the files, Roon tells the story.
I want an alternative to Google Photos for privacy reasons. Is Roon private?
Yes, by construction. Your family’s story is never sold and never used to train models. Nothing in Roon is public — there is no feed, no discovery, no audience of strangers — and sharing happens through private links to exactly the people you choose. You approve every item that comes in, and you can export everything, originals included, at any time.
We're building this with a small group of families first.
Roon isn't open to everyone yet. We're letting in a limited first group — people who'll help shape it, get in at founding pricing, and keep that price for as long as they stay. Add your email and we'll be in touch as spots open.
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We'll email you the moment a spot opens. Thank you for wanting this to exist.