Support

Get in touch

Write to support@poptone.app. Poptone is built by one person — Federico Cossia, in Argentina — so replies are not instant, but every message is read. Expect an answer within a few working days.

That address is the right one for everything: bugs, refunds, questions about the Terms of Use and privacy requests.

To make a bug report useful, include:

• your iPhone model and iOS version (Settings → General → About)
• the Poptone version (App Store → your account → Poptone)
• what you did, what you expected, and what happened instead
• the name of the machine you were using, if it is about how a photo looks

If a color, a grain or the length of the develop wait feels wrong to you, that is worth writing about too. It is version one.

Frequently asked questions

What is a “machine”?

A machine is Poptone’s unit of choice. Instead of a list of filters you apply after the fact, you pick the thing the photo is taken through: a color negative, a home camcorder, a security camera, a night-vision scope, the sensor of a handheld game console. Each one saw the world wrong in its own specific way, and that particular wrongness is the point.

The difference is not only vocabulary. You choose the machine before you shoot, and its look is baked into the photo when it develops. There is no editing afterwards — no sliders, no curves, no masks.

Why doesn’t the viewfinder show the filter?

Because that is the design, not a limitation. The viewfinder shows the raw camera feed on purpose, so you commit to the frame before you see the result — the same way a disposable camera works. It is the mechanic the app is built around.

There is a practical benefit too: the heavy color work runs once, at full resolution, when you press the shutter, instead of thirty to sixty times a second while you frame. That is what leaves room for the processing quality.

One exception: when you import an existing photo, you do see the real result before you confirm, and you can switch machines to compare. The suspense only applies to a new shot.

Why do I have to wait for the develop?

Two reasons, and both are honest.

The first is real work: at the moment you press the shutter, the app runs the full color pipeline on the full-resolution photo — the color transform, the grain, the halation, the vignetting. That takes time.

The second is deliberate: there is a minimum wait of about two seconds, so the develop lasts the same even when the processing finishes sooner. The wait is not a loading screen. It is the part of the experience where you do not yet know what you got.

You cannot skip it, and you cannot fire the next shot until it finishes.

Where do my photos go?

Into Poptone’s own gallery, inside the app. They are not added to your camera roll automatically — the app never writes to your Photos library on its own.

To open it, tap the gallery button at the top right of the camera screen.

How do I get a photo into the Photos app?

Open Poptone’s gallery, tap the photos you want (you can select several), and use the export button at the bottom. iOS will ask for permission to add to your library the first time.

Exporting copies the photo. The original stays in Poptone’s gallery until you delete it.

Can I use a photo I already have?

Yes. Open Poptone’s gallery and use the import button. Pick a photo, choose a machine, see the result, and confirm. iOS’s photo picker only gives the app the photo you selected — Poptone cannot see the rest of your library.

Your first three successful imports on the free plan need no ad. From the fourth, each new import offers you the choice to watch a rewarded ad to save that photo. You can decline and stay in the preview; if an ad is unavailable or fails, you can still import. Pro and Founders Lifetime do not need to watch one.

What is free, and what do the paid plans include?

Free. A selection of machines is free forever, with no limit on camera photos, no expiry and nothing stamped on the picture. On top of that, one Pro machine is unlocked each week, on a rotation that is the same for everyone. The rotation draws from part of the Pro catalog; some Pro machines never appear in it.

Subscription. The whole catalog, for as long as the subscription is active. Available monthly or annual — both unlock exactly the same thing, so pick the commitment that suits you. The annual plan includes a seven-day free trial worldwide for customers eligible under Apple’s rules; Apple shows the exact offer before you confirm.

Founders Lifetime. The whole catalog, for a single payment, with no renewal — and everything added later, too. See the next question.

Prices are shown inside the app, in your local currency, before you confirm anything.

What exactly does Founders Lifetime cover?

Everything Poptone ever ships that runs on your iPhone. Not a snapshot of the catalog on the day you bought it — new machines, new features, redesigns, version two. If it runs on your device, it is included, forever, at no further cost.

The one exception, written down before anything like it exists: a feature that has to run on a server and costs money every time it is used — image generation with artificial intelligence would be the obvious case — would be sold separately as optional credits. That is the only thing that can ever fall outside Founders, and it cannot be used to take back something that already worked on your phone. If a server feature later becomes possible on-device, it becomes part of Founders automatically.

The full wording, including what stops that exception from growing, is in section 8.4 of the Terms of Use.

How do I restore my purchases?

Open the Poptone Pro screen — the crown button on the camera screen — and tap Restore Purchases. Make sure you are signed in with the same Apple Account you bought with; purchases are tied to the account, not to the device.

If nothing comes back, check the Apple Account signed in under Settings → your name → Media & Purchases.

How do I cancel a subscription?

Subscriptions are managed by Apple, not by us, so canceling happens in iOS:

Settings → your name → Subscriptions → Poptone → Cancel Subscription.

Apple’s own instructions: If you want to cancel a subscription from Apple.

Canceling stops the next renewal. You keep access until the period you already paid for runs out. Deleting the app does not cancel a subscription.

What happens to my photos when a subscription ends?

Your photos stay exactly where they are, at full quality, with nothing stamped on them. The app goes back to the free tier — the free machines plus the weekly rotation — and may show ads in Settings, after some captures and before certain imports if you choose a rewarded ad. Photos made with a Pro machine do not expire, degrade or stop working. You lose access to machines, not to pictures.

How do I ask for a refund?

Refunds for App Store purchases are issued only by Apple. We have no way to issue one, and no visibility into the request.

Ask Apple directly at reportaproblem.apple.com: sign in with your Apple Account, find the Poptone purchase, and choose the reason. Apple’s guide: Request a refund for apps or content that you bought from Apple.

What happens to my photos if I delete the app?

Photos still inside Poptone’s gallery are deleted with the app. iOS removes the app’s entire storage, and there is no copy anywhere else — Poptone has no cloud, no account and no sync.

Photos you already exported to your camera roll are unaffected. They belong to your Photos library now.

So: before deleting or resetting anything, export what you want to keep. If you back up your iPhone, the backup includes app data such as Poptone’s gallery, and that backup is handled by Apple.

Does it work without internet?

Taking photos, applying any machine you have access to, developing, browsing the gallery and exporting work without an internet connection. Import processing also happens on your device. Viewing a rewarded ad, buying a plan, restoring purchases or refreshing purchase access through Apple and RevenueCat need a connection.

Do you collect my data?

The app does not send your photos, contacts or profile information to Poptone, RevenueCat or Google. Apple and RevenueCat process purchase information for payments and access. For free users, Google AdMob may process device and ad interaction data to serve and measure the banner in Settings, ads after some captures and voluntary rewarded ads before certain imports. See the privacy policy for details and choices.

This website collects nothing either: no forms, no cookies, no analytics. The full detail on both — the app and the site — is on the Privacy Policy page.

What do I need to run it?

• iOS 17 or later.
• iPhone. Poptone is an iPhone app. There is no iPad version, and it is not designed for iPad.
• Portrait orientation. The camera is portrait only, on purpose.
• Camera access, if you want to take photos. If you decline, the app still works for importing photos from your library — you can change your mind later in Settings → Poptone.
• The app is available in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Simplified Chinese, and follows your iPhone’s language.

Do I need an account?

No. There is no sign-up, no login and no profile. Poptone never asks for your name, email address or phone number.

Is there advertising?

The free plan may show a small banner at the bottom of Settings and ads after some camera photos. Its first three successful imports need no ad; from the fourth, each new import offers a voluntary rewarded ad before saving. If that ad is unavailable or fails, the import still works. Poptone Pro has no ads while the subscription is active. Founders Lifetime has no ads, ever.

Can I edit a photo after it develops?

No. There is no post-capture editing in Poptone, by design. The choice you make is the machine, before the shot.

I left my email on the waitlist. Is it still there?

No. The waitlist was removed, and every address left on it went with it. No copy was kept, and you will not get the launch email you were promised: the way to hear about it will be the App Store, the same as for everyone else. To confirm that, write to support@poptone.app.

When is it out?

Poptone is coming to the App Store on iPhone. A launch date has not been announced.

Who makes Poptone, and where do the legal pages live?

Poptone is made by Federico Cossia, based in Argentina. The Terms of Use cover purchases, ownership of your photos and the Founders promise; the Privacy Policy covers data, for both the app and this site. Both pages carry a version history at the bottom, so you can tell whether anything changed since you read them.