How much does it cost?

The journal is free: photos, videos, notes, milestones, places, songs, voice notes, quotes, letters, artwork scanning, the Fridge, sharing, search and export. None of it is capped. Small Hours Plus ($12.99/year with a free first week, or $34.99 once) adds every day of Watch Them Grow and its film, the Year Book, the Artwork Book, Year in Review, Then & Now, sealed letters, themes and growth curves. Viewers and grandparents are never asked to pay. There's also a tip jar in Settings. It unlocks nothing.

Can I start before the baby is born?

Yes. Add a due date and the journal starts with the bump. After the birth, Small Hours can bring in the photos taken since, one from each day for you to check.

Where do my photos live?

In your own iCloud account, in a private database that only you and the people you invite can see. There is no Small Hours server and no account to create. Photos count against your iCloud storage like Photos or Notes do. They are kept at 2200 pixels on the long side and stored as HEIC, which is about a third smaller than JPEG. A full year doesn't take much space. A shot taken with the app's camera is also saved to your photo library at full size, unless you turn that off in Settings.

How does sharing with my partner work?

You send one link. When your partner taps it, the whole journal appears on their phone. From then on posts, edits and hearts land on both phones.

What do grandparents see?

Only what you put on the Fridge. They tap an invite link, see the memories you chose, and can heart them. They can't post, edit or see anything else.

What devices does it need?

iPhone and iPad on iOS 26 or later. It's one app and one journal, so whatever you add on one device shows up on the other. It needs an iCloud account, since that's where the journal lives. Fridge viewers need one too.

Can I get my data out?

Always. Settings → Export All Data makes one zip of every photo, video and voice note, each named by its date. Your notes, places, songs and growth log go in a file beside them.

Small Hours: A Parent's Private Journal

One photo a day.

Each day gets one photo. It lands in the feed as an instant photo with your caption in handwriting and their age on the date. Around it you can add notes, milestones, quotes, songs, places, videos and voice notes. Every memory shows up on both parents' phones within moments.

The small hours are long, but the little years are short.

Tuesday, July 14th

An instant photo of a baby during tummy time, captioned Tummy time world champion

today's photo, with their age on the dateOne a day. The caption is written in your hand, the date works out how old they were.

Note

Slept through the night. Both of us cried a little.

a noteFor the things that were not a photo.

Milestone

★First toes in the sand

a milestone, with confettiFirst kick, first smile, first step, marked in the timeline.

Place

Grandma's house

a placeThe beach, grandma's house, the first restaurant.

Quote

“The moon is following us.”

Maddie · 3 years, 2 months

the things they sayIn their words, with their age under it. You can write them a letter too.

Voice note

“…and then he laughed at the dog.”

a voice note, transcribedSo you can find it again by the words.

6 months ago4 memories

a look backThis day weeks, months or years ago, on a card under today.

Every kid, one journal: Each child gets their own photo-a-day and age labels. Tag any memory to one child or all of them.
From the Lock Screen: Open the camera from the Lock Screen, Control Center or the Action button. Shots from the app's camera are saved to your photo library too. Siri can save a note without opening the app.
Search by date and age: Search by words, dates or ages, like “6 months” or “last Christmas”. The words said in voice notes and videos count too.
Widgets for each child: Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets for one child or all of them, and a daily photo reminder.
Songs and videos: The song you danced to before nap, and short clips. The words in a video are transcribed on your device.
Month recaps: Each month plays back as a short film. Export it as a video.
Add from anywhere: Send photos straight from the share sheet. A photo lands on the day it was taken.
Move a photo: Put a photo on another day and it keeps its caption and hearts.
Quiet at night: Posts and hearts from the family arrive without a sound between 9 PM and 7 AM.
Share a memory: Any memory can be sent as an instant photo card or a short video clip.
Growth log: Weight and height charted over time. Log a checkup from the add menu.
On iPhone and iPad: The same journal on both. On the iPad the grid shows the whole year and the artwork gallery hangs three across.
Face ID lock: The journal can ask for Face ID every time it opens.
Light on iCloud: Photos are kept at 2200 pixels in HEIC, about a third smaller than the same picture as a JPEG.

The Fridge

Grandparents, aunts and godparents get their own view: a feed where memories hang under fridge magnets. You choose which memories go up, and they see only those.

When Nana hearts a photo, the heart shows up on your copy of it. There is no account for them to create. They tap a link and they're in.

It works in both directions. When your sister sends her Fridge link, her kids show up in your feed, and the two journals stay separate.

There's a Photo Frame mode as well: the Fridge full screen, one picture at a time. Leave an iPad on the counter and it becomes a frame that updates itself.

Small Hours Plus

Keeping the journal is free. Plus adds the keepsakes: the books, the films and the extras below.

Watch Them Grow

It plays every daily photo in a row with their face held in the same place, so you can watch it change. Plus opens every day and makes it a film to keep.

the last 30 days are free to watch

Watch Them Grow: the last 30 days of daily photos as a flipbook, with the age and date under the photo

The Year Book cover for a first year still going: an instant photo above the child's name and The first year so far

The Year Book: Their first year as a book, and every year of their life after it. Print it at home or have it bound.
Year in Review: Any year of their life as a short film with chapters.
Then & Now: The same face months apart, or two siblings at the same age.
Sealed letters: Writing a letter is free. Plus seals it until a day you choose, like their eighteenth birthday.
The Artwork Book: Every drawing they brought home, scanned into one book under the title they gave it.
Themes: New looks for the whole journal, from the paper to the handwriting.
Growth curves: Their measurements drawn on the WHO percentile curves between checkups.

classic

golden hour

The feed in the 3 AM theme: lavender paper, indigo handwriting

3 AM

$12.99a year

First week free. Every keepsake, every future Plus feature, cancel any time and keep your archive.

$34.99once

Plus for the whole childhood, with no renewals, ever.

One purchase covers both parents through Family Sharing. Grandparents and viewers are never asked to pay.

Questions

How much does it cost?: The journal is free: photos, videos, notes, milestones, places, songs, voice notes, quotes, letters, artwork scanning, the Fridge, sharing, search and export. None of it is capped. Small Hours Plus ($12.99/year with a free first week, or $34.99 once) adds every day of Watch Them Grow and its film, the Year Book, the Artwork Book, Year in Review, Then & Now, sealed letters, themes and growth curves. Viewers and grandparents are never asked to pay. There's also a tip jar in Settings. It unlocks nothing.
Can I start before the baby is born?: Yes. Add a due date and the journal starts with the bump. After the birth, Small Hours can bring in the photos taken since, one from each day for you to check.
Where do my photos live?: In your own iCloud account, in a private database that only you and the people you invite can see. There is no Small Hours server and no account to create. Photos count against your iCloud storage like Photos or Notes do. They are kept at 2200 pixels on the long side and stored as HEIC, which is about a third smaller than JPEG. A full year doesn't take much space. A shot taken with the app's camera is also saved to your photo library at full size, unless you turn that off in Settings.
How does sharing with my partner work?: You send one link. When your partner taps it, the whole journal appears on their phone. From then on posts, edits and hearts land on both phones.
What do grandparents see?: Only what you put on the Fridge. They tap an invite link, see the memories you chose, and can heart them. They can't post, edit or see anything else.
What devices does it need?: iPhone and iPad on iOS 26 or later. It's one app and one journal, so whatever you add on one device shows up on the other. It needs an iCloud account, since that's where the journal lives. Fridge viewers need one too.
Can I get my data out?: Always. Settings → Export All Data makes one zip of every photo, video and voice note, each named by its date. Your notes, places, songs and growth log go in a file beside them.

Small Hours

Half a minute in the app.

One photo a day.

Start before they're born.

Screens

The Fridge

Your journal stays in your iCloud.

Small Hours Plus

Watch Them Grow

Questions