When your circle is running on free months

Free months

Some Circles run on free months instead of a paid subscription. A month can come from a thank-you from us or something our team added to your account. While they last, they work exactly like a paid subscription.

Free months are used one at a time. When the last one is used, the Circle moves to the free version. It keeps running; a few things get smaller.

Using your free months

If you're a beta tester, each new Circle you start uses 12 of your free months straight away, so it begins with a year of subscription at no cost. This happens only when you have at least 12 months available. With fewer, the Circle starts on the free version and every month stays in your account for you to use below.

Open My Account and find Credits. Choose Use free months, select an active Circle that you own, and enter how many months to use. You can apply any whole number up to your available balance. Both your email and phone must be verified.

Choose Review free months, check the Circle and amount, then choose Apply free months. The months leave your account balance when you confirm. No card is charged.

If the Circle is already running on your free months, the new months extend its supply. If you pay for it by card, the free months wait until that paid subscription ends, then start straight away, with no gap. If someone else already pays for the Circle by card, you can apply your months once their subscription ends. If it's running on someone else's free months, your months are added after theirs. If that time is cancelled or the Circle is closed, months that haven't started yet aren't returned. Applying free months doesn't pause or cancel existing card billing. The confirmation tells you whether a free month started now or the months were saved for later.

If the card subscription is already set to end, the end date shown for the Circle moves later to include the free months. That's the date the Circle goes back to the free version, and the date we warn you about.

If you cancelled a Circle that runs on free months, applying more months to it before it ends undoes the cancellation, and the Circle carries on with the new months.

If you close a Circle, or cancel one that runs on free months, the month already under way runs to its end, and months that haven't started yet aren't returned. When you close a Circle, that includes free months waiting behind a card subscription. Closing doesn't change card billing: cancel the card subscription yourself if you want it to stop. Opening the Circle again doesn't use any months. If you're the only person left and you leave, the Circle closes the same way.

If a connection problem prevents confirmation, check your updated balance and subscription before applying months again.

We tell you before it happens

Whenever a Circle is about to go back to the free version, we email whoever owns it, however the Circle was being paid for — free months running out, a cancelled subscription, or a card that stopped working. The email names the exact date and explains what changes.

If free months are added to a cancelled Circle before it ends, the cancellation is undone and we email the owner to say the Circle carries on and nobody will be paused. If the owner was already told a card subscription is ending and free months are then added to it, they get the same email: the card still stops, and the free months keep the Circle going after it.

What changes when free months run out

Your Circle keeps working. Active people can share photos, videos, and notes, comment and react, and receive summaries. Four things change:

1. The Circle holds fewer people. The owner chooses who stays active, starting with the owner and the earliest people to join. Other people are paused until the Circle is subscribed again. Nothing they shared is deleted.
2. Starting a new album needs a subscription. Albums you've already made stay open and editable.
3. The Circle shows the most recent stretch of what was shared. Older posts aren't on screen. They aren't gone.
4. Picture frames pause. Frames you set up stay listed and start showing photos again when the subscription starts again.

Nothing is ever deleted

When the Circle is subscribed again, its whole history is back — every photo, note, and comment, in the same order. There's nothing to restore and nothing to ask us for.

Your photos are always yours

You can download the original photos and videos at any time, subscription or not. A subscription changes what the Circle shows you. It never stands between you and your own photos.

Keeping the full Circle

When the free months run out, anyone in the Circle can add a subscription: choose Circle options, then Circle settings, then Add a subscription. You can also apply more free months from My Account. If you get stuck, reply to any email from us and someone on our team will help.