Frequently asked

Open the app and a fresh roll is waiting for you, free of charge. You get 21 shots, framed through a small viewfinder, just like a real disposable camera: there is no preview, no retake and no delete, so every frame counts. Once the roll is full, you tap Order, pay once, and we print all 21 photos professionally on real glossy 10×15 cm photo paper and mail them to your address in a sturdy envelope. The surprise lasts until it lands on your doormat: you will have forgotten half of what you shot, and that is exactly the point. The app itself stays free; you only ever pay for the rolls you actually choose to have printed.

The limit of 21 shots follows the spirit of vintage disposable cameras like the Kodak FunSaver: a fixed roll you have to spend wisely. A hard limit changes how you photograph. With unlimited storage you shoot fifty versions of the same moment and never look at any of them again; with 21 frames you stop, think, and choose. Each press of the shutter becomes a small decision, which is why the photos that come back feel more like memories than screenshots. The constraint also keeps the printed product meaningful: one roll becomes one envelope of 21 real photographs, a complete little story of a trip, a party or an ordinary week. If you run out, a new roll is ready immediately — the scarcity is per roll, not per customer. Less is genuinely more here, and 21 turned out to be the sweet spot.

Once your roll is full and ordered, your photos are queued for printing and shipped as soon as possible — usually the same or the next working day. Total delivery typically takes 3-8 business days depending on your country. In the Netherlands, prints usually arrive 1-2 working days after printing; orders to Belgium and Germany take around 3-5 working days. As soon as your envelope is handed to the postal carrier you receive a tracking link by email, so you can follow it to your doormat. Prints are shipped flat in a sturdy envelope to arrive in perfect condition. Because every roll is printed in a professional photo lab rather than on demand at a kiosk, the few days of waiting are part of the experience: by the time the envelope arrives, the photos feel like rediscovered memories rather than files.

The app is free. One roll costs €7.60 and covers all 21 photos printed on real glossy 10×15 cm photo paper in a professional photo lab. Shipping to your address is calculated at checkout based on your delivery country, so you only ever pay the actual postage on top of the roll price. There are no subscriptions, no bundles and no hidden fees: you see the final total before you pay, and you only pay when a finished roll is ready to print — never up front. If you want your photos digitally as well, you can add a digital download for €2.99 per roll, which gets you the high-resolution originals of all 21 photos. Compared to buying a single-use camera and paying separately for development and prints, a roll of 21Pix usually works out cheaper, with a much better camera that is always in your pocket.

Yes. When you order a roll you can add Digital download for €2.99 per roll. We include a printed redeem card in the envelope with your prints; scan the QR code or enter the code on our redeem page and you download a ZIP with the high-resolution originals of all 21 photos. The downloads stay available for a limited time, so save them before the deadline shown on the card. We deliberately made digital the optional extra rather than the default: the printed photographs are the product, and the files are a bonus for the moments you want to share online or keep a backup of. If you skip the add-on at checkout, the photos still arrive as prints — nothing about the core experience requires the digital copies.

No, and that is the magic. Just like a real disposable camera, you compose through a small viewfinder and only find out how a shot turned out when the prints arrive in your mailbox. There are no previews, no retakes and no deletes — once you press the shutter, the frame is spent and the photo is locked away until your roll has been printed. This is a deliberate design decision, not a missing feature: the anticipation between shooting and seeing is the part of film photography that digital cameras erased, and it changes how you take pictures. You stop checking the screen after every shot, stay in the moment, and get the rare experience of being surprised by your own photographs days later. If you want certainty and instant feedback, your phone's normal camera is great at that; 21Pix is for the opposite feeling.

21Pix currently ships to the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Dutch orders typically arrive 1-2 working days after printing; Belgian and German orders take around 3-5 working days, and every shipment includes an email tracking link. Shipping costs are calculated at checkout based on your delivery address and are not included in the roll price, so you always see the exact total before paying. Prints travel flat in a sturdy envelope designed to protect the photo paper. We print and ship from within the EU, which keeps delivery times short and avoids customs surprises for our current destination countries. More countries are planned — expansion is one of the first things on the roadmap now that the app has officially launched. If your country is not supported yet, check the checkout screen or follow the blog for announcements as new destinations come online.

There are no ads inside 21Pix and no algorithmic feed — it's a camera and a print service, not an attention machine. Your photos are the private part: uploaded over an encrypted connection, stored on servers within the EU, deleted from our systems after your order is printed and delivered, and never sold or used to train AI models. Separately, like most apps, we collect anonymous, aggregate usage data (for example app opens and how far through a roll people get) to improve the app, and — only with your consent — we measure the performance of our own ads on platforms like Meta and Google so we can bring more people to 21Pix. On iOS that consent is the system "Allow Tracking" prompt; on Android and the website it is a consent choice you make, and you can switch analytics off any time under About → Privacy in the app. We never sell your personal data, and advertising measurement never includes your photos. The full details, including the advertising identifier, retention periods and your GDPR rights, are in our privacy policy — written to be actually readable by humans.