Hold Still Support

Last updated: 11 September 2026

Hold Still is an iPhone app that takes one photograph a day. Yesterday’s frame sits faintly over the live camera so you line the same shot up without thinking, a notification asks you at the same time each day, and the frames stitch into a reel that gets better the longer you keep it up. A streak counts the days in a row.

Report a problem

Email me at alex@alexecollins.com. You do not need an account anywhere to do it.

Say what you did, what happened, and what you expected instead. These help:

• the iPhone and the version of iOS on it
• the version of Hold Still from the App Store listing
• how many days are in the run, and roughly when it started
• for anything about the reel, whether it played in the app and what went wrong when you tried to save or share it
• for anything about the streak, the days you think should be in it

What to expect

I write these apps on my own, in my own time, so this is not a support desk. I read everything that comes in. A reply usually takes a few days, and a fix takes longer than a reply.

Things that are working as intended

• You cannot add yesterday’s photograph today. A frame belongs to the day it was taken. Backfilling is what makes a run of photographs worth nothing, so there is no way to do it.
• A retake replaces today’s frame. It never adds a second one. One photograph a day is the whole idea, and a day with two in it is a day with none.
• A missed day is a missed day. No freezes, no repairs, no grace beyond the one that is already there: the streak is alive until midnight, because a day is not over at breakfast. Your longest run is kept whatever happens to the current one.
• The reel cannot leave the app in the first week. Three frames is not a reel. The app waits until there is something worth handing to somebody, and longer runs give it more to be. Saving to Photos and sharing open on the same day, because a reel in your library is a reel you can send from your library.
• The photographs do not straighten themselves. Alignment is by eye against the ghost. If the reel wobbles, that is what happened, and a fixed spot to stand does more than any software would.
• The camera makes a shutter sound. iOS plays that itself on every capture and no app can silence it.
• Only the reel leaves the app. There is no sharing a single frame. A photograph pulled out of a run is just a photograph, and the camera on your phone already sends those.

If the frames are facing the wrong way

The front camera is mirrored by default, so you move the way you expect while lining up. Turning Mirror off changes the frames from that point on and leaves the older ones as they were. There is no re-flip, so the reel will turn over on the day you changed it.

Getting the reel out

Two ways, both open once seven days are in. Save to Photos puts a copy in your photo library and it stays there like any other video you took. Share the reel hands it to the share sheet and it goes wherever you send it.

The reel inside the app is built again from your frames every time something changes rather than kept, so it is not a file sitting somewhere you can go and find. Saving is how you end up with one that is, which matters because iOS can clear the app’s working copy whenever it needs the room.

The first time you press Save, Hold Still asks to add to Photos. That permission only lets it put a video in; it cannot read what is already in your library. If you say no and change your mind, the Reel tab has a way back to Settings.

If the daily reminder never arrives

Check it is switched on in the app, then check Settings, then Notifications, then Hold Still. The notification is made on the phone at the time you chose, so nothing about it depends on a signal.

Privacy

Hold Still collects nothing, makes no network connections, and keeps your photographs on your phone. The privacy policy says what that means in full.