Troubleshooting

The camera seems stuck on a look

Close the camera and open it again; the look follows your swipe from the first frame. Older builds could lock onto a look after a print; that was fixed, so if it keeps happening, update the app from the App Store.

The shutter does nothing

The camera needs permission. iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera → Probably Late, or tap Permissions in the app’s Settings. With permission denied the camera screen offers an Open Settings button rather than a dead shutter.

A look or colour asks for Plus

Polaroid and Ultramax, and the Oxblood, Night, Butter and Lilac camera bodies, are part of Plus. If you already pay for Plus and it is asking anyway, see “Plus not recognised” below.

“Three uploads this month”

Photos printed from your album are limited to three a calendar month without Plus. The count is on the phone and resets on the first of the month. Pictures taken with the camera are never limited.

A print is taking a long time to arrive

A print goes up in three sizes, the small one first, so a friend’s wall shows it before the big files have finished. With no signal the roll shows a notice: anything you send is saved and goes out when you are back. Keep the app installed and signed in until it has; signing out throws away whatever has not landed.

A friend can't see my print

Check it went to the roll they are on — a print to My roll is yours alone. If it is on a shared roll and still missing for them, have them pull the roll down to refresh; the roll is paged and catches up in batches.

A voice note won't play

Notes are fetched on demand through a signed link that can go stale across a long sleep; the app asks for a fresh one once and tries again. If it still won’t play, you are probably offline. Notes you recorded yourself play from the phone straight away.

A deleted print came back

It shouldn’t. Deleting hides a print for everyone at once and the server removes it after 30 days. If you see one reappear, tell us which roll.

“This invite has expired”

Links last seven days. Ask anyone on the roll for a new one; they can make one from the roll in a moment.

“This invite is used up”

A link is good for 25 joins by default. Once it has had them it stops. Same fix: a fresh link.

“This invite was cancelled”

Whoever made it switched it off. They may have made a new one, or may not want more people on the roll — ask them.

“This link doesn't work”

The token is not one we know. Long links sometimes break across a line in a message; make sure it came through in one piece, or ask for it again.

The link opens the website instead of the app

Tap Join Roll on the page. If the app is installed it opens there. Some places — a link pasted into the address bar, a browser inside another app — don’t hand links to apps; copy the link and open it in Safari, or open the app and paste it.

Find friends says contacts are switched off

The app was refused access to Contacts. iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Contacts → Probably Late, and turn it on. Only hashes of emails and numbers ever leave the phone; see Rolls and friends.

A friend isn't found from contacts

Matching uses the email they signed in with and, if they added it, their phone number. If they signed in with Apple using Hide My Email, the email you have for them won’t match. Ask them to add their number in Edit Profile, or search their username.

A username search finds nobody

Search is exact: the whole username, no spaces, no @. Someone you have blocked, or who has blocked you, will not come up.

Notifications are not arriving

1. iOS Settings → Notifications → Probably Late: Allow Notifications on, and a delivery style chosen. Provisional notifications go quietly to Notification Centre only.
2. Check Focus and Do Not Disturb.
3. Be signed in. The phone registers for notifications each time the app comes to the foreground, so open the app once after changing anything.
4. Remember what notifies: a friend request or accept, a comment on your print, a new print on a shared roll. Reactions and Seen by never do, and prints to My roll never do.

A notice from us arrived at 7am

By design. Notices are held between 22:00 and 07:00 and land at seven, and never more than three a day.

Plus not recognised

Open the Plus screen and tap Restore Purchases, signed in to the Apple ID that bought it. The app reads your entitlements from the App Store; if the Apple ID differs, so will the answer. If it is the right Apple ID and still nothing, tell us.

“Wallet passes aren't switched on yet”

That line means the pass could not be signed on our side at that moment — the signing certificate is being set up or renewed. Nothing is wrong with your account or your Plus. Try again later; the ticket in Settings is unaffected.

“Nothing was deleted”

Delete Everything needs the server. If it could not be reached, nothing changed anywhere, on purpose. Check the connection and try again.

I signed in and everything is empty

You are probably in a different account: Apple and Google sign-ins are separate. Sign out and go back in with the provider you used first. Stamps stay on the phone whichever account is signed in.

Still stuck?

Report a problem with the version from the bottom of Settings, what you did, and what happened. Settings → Report a Problem opens the same email.