Short answer: a time-capsule album is encrypted so that nobody can open it before the date — not the guests, not the person who made it, not the app's makers. On the date it opens for everyone at once. Halation lets you choose between that and a normal open album.
Why seal an album at all
Seeing photos as they arrive has real downsides on a big occasion. Early photos set the story, the best ones get seen out of order, and the people who could not be there watch the day happen in fragments. A sealed album turns the photographs into a single moment: everyone shoots, nobody peeks, and on the date everyone sees the whole day together.
It also changes how people photograph. Knowing nobody will see a frame for a week, guests take more pictures and fewer curated ones.
A promise is not a lock
Most "reveal later" features are a promise. The photos sit on a server, a setting hides them, and an administrator — or anyone who finds a way around the setting — can look. That is a rule, and a rule can be broken or changed.
A time capsule built on time-lock encryption is different: the photographs are encrypted to a future moment, and the key needed to open them does not exist yet. It will be produced by a public randomness beacon on the chosen date. Until then there is nothing to leak, bribe or subpoena.
What you choose
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| Open | Photos are visible as they arrive. Nothing is sealed. |
| Sealed until a date and time | Photos can be added by members, but nobody can open them before the moment you set. |
Sealing is optional by design. The date exists because the reveal is worth waiting for, not because secrecy is the point.
Occasions that suit a capsule
- Weddings: open on the morning after, with everyone at the breakfast table.
- Stag and hen weekends: the evidence is released after everyone is home.
- Graduations and farewells: a class or a team opens it together a year later.
- Trips: a long journey with friends, opened on the way back.
Two things to know. Set the date and time carefully: a capsule cannot be brought forward, and that is the point. And once the album has opened, it is an ordinary album — photos that members added before the date are readable by everyone who holds the link.
Sources
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