Create your first roll
Open Monoroll and tap Create Roll. Give it a name, something like "Sarah's Birthday" or "Lake Trip 2026." Pick a develop timer to control when photos become visible to everyone.
The develop timer is what makes Monoroll different from a regular shared album. Photos stay hidden until the timer runs out, then everything is revealed at once. You can set it to reveal one hour after the roll closes, the next morning, or up to a week later.
Choose your roll settings
Before sharing, you have a few options:
- Develop timer. How long after the roll ends before photos are revealed. We recommend "next morning" for parties and events, and "1 hour" for casual hangouts.
- Disposable effects. Adds film-style overlays and date stamps to photos. Gives everything a cohesive look without anyone having to think about it.
- Live development. If you want photos to appear immediately instead of waiting for the timer, you can enable this. Useful for casual rolls where anticipation isn't the goal.
Invite your guests
Once your roll is created, you get a QR code. This is the only thing you need to share. Display it at the entrance, print it on table cards, drop it in the group chat, or just hold up your phone for someone to scan.
When guests scan the code, Monoroll opens instantly through an App Clip. No download from the App Store, no account creation. They enter a display name and they're in. The whole process takes about five seconds.
Guests can also join through a share link if they're not physically next to the QR code. Same experience, just through a URL instead of a camera scan.
Taking photos
Once you're in a roll, the camera is front and center. Tap the shutter button to take a photo. It gets added to the roll immediately, but nobody can see it until the develop timer runs out.
You'll see blurred previews of all the photos in the roll, yours and everyone else's. You can see that photos are being taken, but not what they look like. This builds anticipation without spoiling the reveal.
Photos are saved locally on your device first and upload when you have a connection. If you're in a venue with bad signal, nothing is lost. Everything syncs automatically when you're back online.
The reveal
When the develop timer ends, every photo in the roll becomes visible to every member at the same time. You'll get a notification that your roll has developed.
Open the roll and scroll through everything. You'll see photos you forgot you took, photos from angles you didn't know existed, and candid moments that nobody would have shared through a regular photo dump.
From here, you can save any photo to your camera roll, or use bulk export to download everything at once.
Tips for a great roll
- Share the QR code early. The sooner people join, the more photos you'll collect.
- Set the develop timer to next morning. Waking up to a fully developed roll is the best part.
- Don't overthink it. The best rolls come from people shooting freely without worrying about quality. That's the whole point.