Daylapse questions

What is Daylapse?

Daylapse is an Android app by Sonicon Software for keeping a photo-a-day series of yourself, someone close, a pet, a garden or a building. It reminds you when a photo is due, files each photo by day, every few hours or weekly, and plays the series back as a flipbook or an MP4 video.

It has no account and no internet permission. How Daylapse works

How do I make a photo-a-day timelapse?

Take one photo each period: the reminder or the home-screen widget opens the camera, and the alignment guide helps you match the last shot. From two photos you can play the series as a flipbook at 4, 8, 15 or 30 frames per second. When you're ready, export it as a square, portrait or landscape MP4.

How does the alignment guide work?

The guide lays a faint copy of one of your last five photos over the camera preview, at 35% strength by default and adjustable from 10% to 80%. You line up your face or subject by eye. The guide never goes into the saved photo, and Daylapse doesn't detect faces or move photos to align them.

How long will my timelapse video be?

You pick 10, 30 or 60 seconds, and Daylapse shows the real length before it starts. Each photo plays for an equal share at a whole rate of 1 to 30 photos per second, so a year of daily photos gives 12.2, 30.4 or 60.8 seconds. Past 1,800 photos, every setting runs longer than a minute.

More figures in the video length table.

What if I miss a day or take more than one photo?

Nothing breaks. A missed day stays an empty slot on the timeline, and home says how long it has been since your last photo. You can take as many photos in a day as you like; each is kept and goes into the video. The streak counts days in a row, not photos.

Can I add photos I already took?

Yes. Add from gallery opens Android's photo picker, so Daylapse reads only the photos you choose and needs no storage permission. Each photo goes into the day it was taken, using the date the camera recorded. You review every photo first; any with no date, or a future date, wait until you pick one.

Can I keep a series for my child, a pet or a garden?

Yes. Each profile is its own series with its own schedule (daily, every 2 to 12 hours, or weekly), reminder, default camera and avatar. Several people can share one phone, each with a separate profile. All of it stays on that phone: Daylapse has no accounts and doesn't sync between devices.

How do I back up my photos or move to a new phone?

Use Archive export in Settings: it saves every photo, from one profile or all of them, as a zip file or a folder wherever you choose. On the new phone, Restore from archive reads it back. Restore only adds; photos already there stay as they are. Android backup is off for Daylapse, so the archive is your backup.

An empty default profile "Me" is replaced by the archived one. Archive and restore in detail

Does Daylapse upload my photos?

No. Daylapse doesn't have Android's internet permission, so the app can't send anything anywhere, and it has no account, ads or analytics. Your photos stay on your phone unless you export them, share them or turn on Show in gallery. Android backup is off for it. The Daylapse privacy policy has the details.

On Android 10 and earlier, apps you have given storage access may be able to read Daylapse's photo folder; on Android 11 and later, other apps can't.

What does Show in gallery do?

It's an optional setting, off by default. When you turn it on, Daylapse also saves a copy of each photo in Pictures/Daylapse so your gallery app shows it. Other apps that can see your photos can read those copies, and gallery or backup apps may upload them to the cloud. Turning it off asks whether to remove them.

Copies made before you reinstall Daylapse can't be removed or renamed by the app, and they stay after you uninstall it.

What can I add to the video?

Five optional finishing touches, each off by default: a date stamp on every photo, a 2-second title card with the name and dates, a 1.5-second hold on the last photo, crossfades between photos, and note captions. Crossfade works at 10 photos per second or slower. The video is rendered on your phone as an MP4.

Is Daylapse free, and which phones does it run on?

Daylapse is free to download, with no ads, no in-app purchases and no subscription. It runs on Android phones with Android 8.0 or later and uses whichever cameras your phone makes available, including ultra-wide or telephoto lenses when the phone lists them. The app is in English only.