About Clann
Clann is a private family photo-sharing app for iPhone, Android, and the web. The app was built by two new and excited parents, Conor and Yuddha O’Hanlon, and is made by their company, OHanlon Software Inc.
Why we built it
As a transnational family, being able to share our daughter’s growth and journey with family overseas was incredibly important. They wanted to see her grow up, and we wanted to share all the small and big moments without putting her on social media or scattering her first years across group chats.
Besides wanting the utmost privacy for our daughter, we also wanted to limit her digital footprint, which meant no to social media (a big and scary place sometimes!). That’s when our second baby was born: Clann. A private alternative to social media where the family we invite can follow her journey, wherever they live.
We started building Clann in 2025 and launched it on the App Store in 2026. Our own and extended family still uses it every day.
A fun fact
The word ‘Clann’ is inspired by the Gaelic Irish word meaning “children”, “offspring”, or “family”. As an (almost fully) Irish family ourselves (at least 2/3 members!), we wanted to name the app something close to our hearts.
What Clann stands for
- Only the people you invite. No public feed, no followers, and no strangers.
- End-to-end encrypted. Photos and videos are encrypted on your phone before they upload, so only your family’s devices can open them - not us. The encryption is open source and published.
- Easy for grandparents. Relatives can view the album in a web browser, with no app or account needed.
- Your photos are never the product. No ads, no selling data, and your family’s photos are never used to train AI.
Why this matters more in the age of AI
As new parents, we worry about where our daughter’s photos could end up. Photo services now analyse what you upload, policies change, and pictures shared today can feed AI models, face recognition, or advertising profiles for years to come. She can’t consent to any of that, so we didn’t want it to be possible at all.
That is why Clann is end-to-end encrypted. Photos and videos are encrypted on your phone before they upload, and the keys stay on your family’s devices. Our servers only ever store scrambled files that we have no key to open.
Our promise not to train AI on your photos, scan them, or share them with anyone isn’t a policy you have to trust; rather, it’s how the system is built. We can’t sell, analyse, or hand over photos we have no access to. You can check it yourself: the encryption code is published on GitHub, and the live demo lets you encrypt a photo in your browser and see what our servers actually receive.
How Clann is paid for
Clann is funded by the families who use it, not by advertisers. It costs $59.99 a year after a 7-day free trial, or $11.99 a month, and one subscription covers the whole family. That is the whole business model, so we have no reason to collect or sell anything about our users.
The people behind Clann
Share your family's photos privately
