What is Lapse?

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Lapse is a photo/video app that strives to turn your smartphone camera into an old-school, point-and-shoot film camera. Users take pictures, make photo albums, and have wait for their photos to "develop." Like old-schoool film.

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Lapse is not available on the Google Play Store.

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How Does Lapse Work?

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To use the app, Lapse asks you to turn on notifications (can be avoided), verify your phone number, create a username, and even set up a widget on your lock screen before using the app (must be done- an iPhone widget allows new snaps to show up right on the home screen).

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Then it guides you through the process of creating your account, “verifying” you are older than 13 (just a toggle, not strong verification) by selecting your birthday.

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Next, Lapse shows you how to take pictures, “develop” photos (we explain this below), and create a journal (photo album). It’s an intensive process for getting started, but once you complete all these steps, you can begin using the app freely.

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Lapse contains your own personal pictures and journals, and that's about it! They once had many social features, but have since removed all social media aspects and stripped down the app to just photos.

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Pictures and Journals:

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Remember how we said this app turns your phone into a film camera? Well, one of the ways they deliver this is through how you take pictures. You must wait for your photos to “develop” before you can see them (like the good old days!). Once your photos are ready, you will get a notification. Fun!

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What Do Parents Know About Lapse?

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The app has rather decent privacy built in by default. With no messaging, no accounts, no friends, and no way to connect with others - the app really just makes your phone a dispoable camera.

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Low risk!

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How to Make Lapse Safer:

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Regardless of the app, three actions mitigate the risks we’ve shared. We teach these actions in our parent presentations:

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1. Require approval for all app downloads.
2. Follow the 7-Day Rule
3. Enable in-app controls and settings

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We explain each of them briefly below. If you’ve already set up approvals for downloads and have used the app, please skip to the In-App Controls & Settings.

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Require Approval for App Downloads

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You can control app stores by requiring permission for apps to be downloaded. This is ensures your child doesn’t have access to an app without your knowledge. Here are the steps (for Apple and Android users):

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For Apple Devices:

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To require permission to download an app, you’ll need to set up Screen Time and Family Sharing (Apple’s Parental Controls). We explain this process step-by-step in our Complete iOS Guide (click here).  

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Once Screen Time and Family Sharing are established, here’s how to require permission to download apps on an Apple device:

1. Go to your Settings app.
2. Select your Family.
3. Select the person you want to apply this setting to.
4. Scroll down to “Ask to Buy” and enable.

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For Android Devices:

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You’ll have to use Family Link (Android’s parental controls) to ensure you retain control over what apps are downloaded. We explain this process step-by-step in our Android Guide (click here).

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Once Family Link is established, here’s how to require permission to download apps on an Android device:

1. Go to the Family Link App
2. Select the person you want to apply this setting to.
3. Select “Google Play Store”
4. Select “Purchases & download approval” and set it to “All Content.”

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Follow the 7-Day Rule

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This is our tried-and-true method of determining whether a specific app is safe for your specific child.

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Before you let your child use it, download the app and use it for 7 days.

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Create an account with your child’s age and gender and use it for 7 days. Play through a few levels, review the ads, see if anyone can chat with you, and poke around like a curious child.

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After a week, ask yourself, “Do I want my child to experience what I did?”  Even if you decide to allow them to download the app, now you have a basis for curious conversations about the app when you check in.

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Enable In-App Controls & Settings

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Since it's just a disposable camera app, there aren't any settings to change. It's fairly safe as is.

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Bottom Line: Is Lapse Safe for Kids?

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Now that they have removed all social aspects, yes! It's essentially a camera app.

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Lapse offers a fun way to take pictures, and not worry or stress about how it may look,since you can't view it right away. This can decrease the tendency to look picture perfect, and allows kids to stay more in the moment.

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Follow the steps above, and this app should be okay!

What if I have more questions? How can I stay up to date?

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Two actions you can take!

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1. Subscribe to our tech trends newsletter, the PYE Download. About every 3 weeks, we’ll share what’s new, what the PYE team is up to, and a message from Chris.
2. Ask your questions in our private parent community called The Table! It’s not another Facebook group. No ads, no algorithms, no asterisks. Just honest, critical conversations and deep learning! For parents who want to “go slow” together. Become a member today!

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