With approximately one million users, Retro has established itself as a privacy-focused photo-sharing platform where friends can exchange weekly snapshots and create collaborative albums. Now, the app is expanding its functionality with an innovative feature called ‘Rewind’ that transforms how users interact with their photo archives by enabling them to journey through their Camera Roll’s historical timeline.
Unlike Retro’s core sharing features, Rewind offers a personal experience, giving users private access to their photographic past while maintaining the option to share selected memories with friends when desired.
The Origin of Rewind
Nathan Sharp, Retro’s co-founder who previously spent over six years at Meta working on Instagram Stories and Facebook Dating before launching this startup in 2022 with CTO Ryan Olson, explained that Rewind evolved from an existing popular function. The app already offered a feature allowing users to view photos from exactly one year prior, accessible through a card at the end of their weekly friend photo feed.
However, this retrospective glimpse wasn’t available to newcomers who hadn’t accumulated enough content within the app. ‘If you’re a new user, you don’t really have the opportunity to go time-travel through your memories in this way,’ Sharp noted. Additionally, he observed that despite people capturing more photos than ever before, they’re doing less with this growing collection—essentially letting precious memories disappear ‘into the ether.’
A Counter to AI-Generated Content
In an era dominated by algorithm-driven ‘for you’ feeds and AI-generated content, Rewind represents Retro’s commitment to authentic personal connections. Sharp believes that even as users engage with algorithmic platforms, ‘people will still want to see more of their friends,’ and personal photos need ‘a place where they can reach the intended audience.’
This focus on genuine content appears to resonate with users—nearly 46% of Retro’s user base engages with the app daily, and Rewind could potentially increase this impressive engagement rate even further.
How Rewind Works
Users can access Rewind either from the end of their shared photos row (just past the ‘this week in’ card) or more prominently from the middle tab in the bottom navigation bar. Upon launching, the feature provides haptic feedback as it begins cycling through older Camera Roll photos.
The interface includes an iPod-inspired dial that users can spin to navigate backward or forward in time, with subtle vibrations marking each new memory. Photos can be viewed in their original, uncropped format by pressing and holding, and sharing is streamlined with an automatic timestamp that indicates the photo’s original date.
Privacy controls are built in, allowing users to hide unwanted memories (such as photos of former partners) or use a ‘dice’ icon to jump to random memories instead of chronological browsing. Importantly, while screenshots are filtered out, practical photos like receipts or whiteboard captures remain available as potential memories. The feature also integrates with your device storage—deleting a photo in Rewind removes it from your Camera Roll as well.
Standing Out in a Crowded Space
The concept of revisiting photo memories isn’t entirely new. Timehop pioneered the idea with its mobile app that surfaced past digital memories, which Facebook later emulated with its ‘On This Day’ feature. Similarly, Google Photos and Apple Photos have incorporated memory features into their services.
Despite these existing options, Sharp doesn’t view them as direct competitors. He points out that Facebook has progressively reduced the visibility of friends’ content as its feed became saturated with links, news, and advertisements. Meanwhile, Apple and Google’s photo applications function primarily as utilities for photo management and storage rather than social platforms.
Retro differentiates itself by combining photo archiving with intentional social sharing in a privacy-conscious environment. The app creates a dedicated space where memories aren’t just stored but can be experienced, appreciated, and selectively shared without the noise of traditional social media platforms.
User Experience Design
What makes Rewind particularly engaging is its thoughtful interface design. The haptic feedback creates a tactile connection to digital memories, while the spinning dial mechanism offers an intuitive way to traverse time. This physical interaction metaphor transforms what could be a mundane scrolling experience into something more meaningful and deliberate.
By focusing on personal discovery first, with sharing as a secondary option, Retro has created a feature that respects the intimate nature of personal photo archives while still facilitating connection when users choose to share noteworthy memories with friends.
The addition of Rewind reflects a growing recognition that as our digital photo collections expand exponentially, we need better tools not just for storing these memories but for rediscovering and appreciating them in meaningful ways.