How Afterglow works

Moments

What can I write about a moment?

A moment is one entry in your journal. Who it was with is all it takes. The date is filled in for you, and Just the month keeps it to the month when that’s all you remember.

Partners Everyone who was there, picked from your partners or added by name on the spot.
How was it? A slider from Forgettable to Legendary. It’s the one place a moment gets rated, in your words.
What you did What happened, and whether you used protection.
How it went How long, how many rounds, and the orgasms for each of you.
Where it was The city or region, and the kind of place.
Tags Picked from a list, or a word of your own when nothing on it fits.
Note Anything else, in your own words, only for you.

The Moments tab shows each month as a calendar, with a dot for every moment. Tap the month’s name to jump to another month or year. Pull a moment’s row left to delete it, or right to send it to someone you’re paired with.

What it reads back

Home works your numbers out as you write. Body count, Your best moment and every other number are free, and so is All your numbers, with your busiest day and your longest run.

Plus adds What you like, the type you rate highest, and First times, with the days worth remembering when they come round again.

Partners

What can I keep about someone?

Only the name is needed. Add the rest whenever you like. Everyone can have a profile picture, for free. A partner’s page has three views: Card, Moments and Media.

About Gender, origin, where they’re based, how and when you met, and their age. Not sure of it? Give a range, and it counts up by itself each year. An age under 18 is never stored.
Looks, Intimate Picked from lists rather than typed.
Preferences What they like, want to try and rule out. Writing these down comes with Plus.
Contact Their number, Instagram and birthday, with WhatsApp and Instagram a tap away.
Counts toward body count On for everyone at first. Turn it off for someone you haven’t had sex with. They stay a partner either way.

Moments lists every moment with them, and marks the best, the first and the longest. Media holds their album, which comes with Plus, and whatever they send you, which is free.

Your own card

Me is a card about you, kept the same way and ready to send to anyone you pair with. It never counts toward your body count.

Finding someone

Search reads names, places and notes. Filter narrows the list by gender, relationship, age, origin, where they’re based and whether they count. Filtering by looks, intimate details and what they like comes with Plus.

The free journal has room for 5 partners. Everyone after that comes with Plus, and nobody already in your journal is ever hidden.

Pairing

How do I pair with someone?

Pairing is how two phones get to know each other. You each keep the other’s code, and from then on only the two of you can open what you send each other, however it gets there. You do it once for each person.

Side by side

Open their page and tap to pair. Show them My code, then tap Scan their code and point your camera at theirs. They do the same on their phone. Afterglow can’t see whether they’ve scanned yours, so it asks you.

This is the safest way, because you can see whose phone it is.

Apart

Tap Share my code and send your code in a chat. They paste it under Paste the code they sent you and tap Use this code, then send you theirs the same way. You’re paired once each of you has the other’s code.

That works too, but it’s only as safe as the chat: whoever swapped a code on the way gets what you send next.

The name on a code

A code carries the name on your own card, if it has one, so the other side sees who it’s from. If that name doesn’t match the page it’s used on, Afterglow asks whether it’s the right person. Anyone with Afterglow can read that name, so it proves nothing on its own.

A new phone

Bring your journal back on a new phone with your 24 words, and every pairing still works. Nobody needs to scan again.

When a partner starts over

Say Mia loses their phone and their 24 words, and starts a new journal. Their new journal has a new code, so your pairing stops working both ways. Send them something, and their phone says Meant for another phone. When they send you something, yours says You two aren’t paired yet.

To fix it, open their page, tap Pair again and take their new code, side by side or from a chat. Afterglow asks whether to replace the old one, and you tap Replace. Everything you saved from them stays. Only the files they sent before stop opening. On their side, they add you to their new journal and take your code.

If they kept their 24 words and brought their journal back, there’s nothing to do.

Unpairing

Unpair stops anything new from opening between you. Your journal stays as it is, and what they already have stays with them.

Sharing

Pair once, then send. Only you and the person you paired with can open what you send, whichever way the file travels. Pairing takes a minute, side by side or apart.

What you can send

A card Yours with Send my card, or theirs with Send their card, so they can see what you’ve written about them.
A moment Pull its row right, or send it from the moment itself.
Several moments Send our moments on their page sends the ones you pick, and shows which they already have.
Any of it, from one place Pull a paired partner’s row right on the Partners tab. Card, Moments and Media sit side by side, with pictures from your album and theirs.

You decide what goes

Before anything leaves, the screen says it plainly: “This is everything that leaves your phone. They’ll see the same list and choose what to keep.”

A moment always carries the date, how long it lasted, the rounds, the protection, where it was, the kind of place and what you did. Under Also send you choose Your rating and Your note, both off until you turn them on, and Orgasm counts, on until you turn it off. Afterglow remembers your choice for each partner. Other partners on the same moment never go, and neither do positions or kinks.

A card always carries the name, gender, age, origin, looks and intimate details, where they’re based, and how and when you met. Profile picture goes unless you turn it off, and Preferences only if you turn it on. Your note, the body count switch, the relationship, the contact details and the album never go.

How it travels

A send is one encrypted file, handed to your phone’s own share sheet: AirDrop, Quick Share, a messenger or Files. Its name says what it is, with the name on a card or the date of a moment, so pick where it goes with that in mind. Afterglow counts it as sent once the share sheet closes, which isn’t proof it arrived.

When something arrives

Tap the file and choose Afterglow, or open it in Settings, under Sharing with a partner, with Open a shared file. A card shows each line that changed, ticked, and you untick what you’d rather keep as it is. A moment they send opens as a new one, with their rating shown as theirs, never yours. If you wrote that moment down too, only what you left empty is ticked.

Pictures and video

In an album, tap Select, pick pictures or whole folders, and tap Send. They go to someone you’re paired with, in one encrypted file only the two of you can open, up to 50 at a time. Folder names travel with them.

You can add a note. It’s never saved in either journal, but it stays in the file and shows again whenever that file is opened.

Keep these in Afterglow

This switch is on unless you turn it off. On their phone, what you sent with it on wears a lock: it can be looked at, moved, deleted and backed up, but not shared out of Afterglow or sent on. It’s a request their phone keeps, and no app can stop a camera pointed at a screen.

A picture someone asked you to keep in Afterglow is left out of anything you send.

What arrives is yours to see

Whatever a partner sends you is free to look at and to save, with or without Plus. It lands in the folders it came in, or in Sent to you.

Sharing one picture out

Share, in a picture’s full view, hands one copy to another app through your phone’s share sheet. That copy leaves unencrypted, as an ordinary picture. A picture someone asked you to keep in Afterglow has no Share button.

Where each picture lives

A picture can be on this phone, in your cloud, or both, and you can move each one: Upload, Download or Remove from cloud. In Settings, under Backup, there’s Keep copies on this phone. Turn it off to save space. Anything in the cloud downloads again when you open it. Free up space clears the copies that are safely in the cloud too.

What can’t be taken back

A file you sent can’t be called back. Unpairing stops new ones from opening, and doesn’t reach what’s already on their phone. In the version from the store, screenshots of Afterglow are blocked, but nothing stops a camera.

Without internet

Does it work without internet?

Yes. There’s no account and nothing to sign in to, and your journal lives on your phone, so almost everything works anywhere.

What works anywhere

Your journal Writing, reading, your numbers and the lock.
Pictures on this phone Every picture and video with a copy here.
Pairing side by side It only needs the camera.
Sending AirDrop and Quick Share go straight from one phone to the other.
Plus and an invite code Plus you bought stays on, and an invite code is checked on your phone.

What waits for a connection

Backup It tries again the next time you leave Afterglow. Until then, your journal is safe on the phone.
Pictures kept only in your cloud They open once you’re back online. To have every picture with you, leave Keep copies on this phone switched on.
Buying Plus, connecting a cloud and bringing a backup back These need the store or your cloud.

Importing an encrypted file needs no connection at all.

Backup

How do I keep a copy of my journal?

Turn on a backup in Settings, under Backup, and pick a cloud you already use. From then on it takes care of itself. Afterglow backs up whenever you leave the app, and when you open it after 24 hours without one. Back up now does it straight away.

Every backup carries your whole journal and the small previews of your pictures, encrypted on your phone before they leave. Your pictures and videos go up too, and you choose where each one lives.

Without a backup, your journal lives only on this phone, and losing the phone loses it.

Bringing it back

On a new phone, choose I have a recovery phrase, type or paste your 24 words and pick where your backup is. Everything comes back as it was at the last backup. Plus comes back from the store, with Restore a purchase on the same store account.

Your 24 words

What are my 24 words for?

When you start, Afterglow gives you 24 words. They’re your recovery phrase, and your way back into your journal whenever this phone can’t let you in.

On a new phone Choose I have a recovery phrase, type your words, and your journal comes back from your backup or an exported file.
On this phone, when the lock won’t open If your face, your fingerprint or your code stops working, Use your recovery phrase opens it with your words.
In an exported file It opens only with the words it was made with.

Keeping them safe

Write them down on paper, or save them in a password manager. You can see them again any time in Settings, under Your privacy, with Show the words. 14 days after you start, Home shows Your way back in. Tap Set it up, and Afterglow takes you through where to keep your words and saving them there. On a phone that opens with your face or fingerprint, the last step adds 6 digits that open Afterglow when your face or fingerprint won’t. Stop before the end, and Home asks again every 14 days until it’s all done.

Keep them to yourself. Anyone who has your words and a copy of your journal, such as your backup or an export, can read it.

If you lose them

While this phone still opens Afterglow, nothing is lost. Show the words again in Settings and save them this time. Lose the words and the phone, and your journal is gone.

Clouds

Which clouds, and what can they see?

Afterglow backs up to iCloud, Google Drive or Dropbox, one at a time, and never picks for you. You can have no cloud at all.

Each cloud gets a folder that only Afterglow writes to. Everything in it is encrypted before it leaves your phone, so the cloud holds files it can’t open. It can see how many there are, how big each one is and when it changed, never what’s in them.

Moving from one cloud to another is under Moving your journal.

Backup, export or move

Which do I need: a backup, an export or a move?

They sound alike and do different jobs. A backup keeps itself up to date in your cloud. An export is one file you make, with your journal as it is that day. Moving gets your journal onto another phone or cloud, using one of the two.

A copy that’s always recent Turn on a backup.
One copy to keep or carry The encrypted file, with everything in it, pictures included.
A new phone Your backup or that file, and your 24 words. See Moving your journal.
Another cloud Export the file first, then pick the new cloud.
Your journal outside Afterglow The two files anyone can read. They hold everything you wrote, without the pictures, and they’re a way out rather than a way back in.

What comes along

A backup and the encrypted file both carry every moment, partner and note, your pairings, your language and units, and what you chose to send each partner. The file carries every picture too, and a backup the ones in your cloud. Bringing either back replaces everything on that phone.

A few things never travel with your journal. Each phone sets up its own lock, and Plus comes back from the store. The cloud a phone backs up to, the analytics switch and an invite code don’t come along either.

Export

Can I get my journal out?

Yes, two ways, and neither needs anyone’s permission. Both are in Settings, under Moving your journal.

One encrypted file with everything

Move to another phone, then Export, makes one file with your whole journal, pictures and videos included, fetching the ones kept only in your cloud on the way. It’s encrypted, and it opens only in Afterglow, with the 24 words it was made with. Import on another phone puts it all back, in place of whatever that phone held.

Two files anyone can read

Read it without Afterglow writes two plain files, one for your moments and one for your partners. They hold every word you wrote, under field names in plain English, and no pictures.

They’re JSON, so you can read them in any text editor, and an AI or a program can read them as they are. That’s how your journal moves into another app, or into something you build yourself.

They aren’t encrypted, so where they go is up to you. Giving them to an AI service sends your journal to that service as it is. Afterglow doesn’t read them back in.

Moving your journal

How do I move to a new phone, or another cloud?

To a new phone Back up, then bring it back on the new phone with your 24 words. An exported file works too: pick A file when it asks where your backup is.
Between iPhone and Android A backup in a cloud both phones can reach comes straight across. Coming from iCloud, export the encrypted file on your iPhone and import it on Android, because Android can’t read iCloud.
To another cloud Export the encrypted file first, while the old cloud is still connected, so pictures kept only there come along. Then pick the new cloud under Backup. Afterglow backs everything up to it and signs out of the old one.
Out of Afterglow The two files anyone can read.

After a move to another cloud, keep the file until the backup card in Settings shows nothing left behind. Then clear the old cloud yourself, because signing out leaves its files where they are.

What stays behind

Plus belongs to the store account you bought it on, so it moves between phones on the same store, never between Apple and Google. A few settings never travel with your journal: the cloud a phone backs up to, the analytics switch and an invite code.

Encryption

Who can read my journal?

Your journal is end-to-end encrypted. That means it’s encrypted on your phone before it goes anywhere, and it only opens on your unlocked phone or with your 24 words.

You On this phone once it’s unlocked, and on any phone with your 24 words.
A partner Only what you send them, and only on the phone you paired with.
Your cloud It keeps your backup as files it can’t open. It sees how many there are, how big they are and when they changed, never what’s in them.
Afterglow There’s no account to make, and no server of Afterglow’s holds your journal.

What isn’t encrypted

Two things leave as they are, because that’s their job: the two files anyone can read, and a picture you hand to another app with Share. Where they go after that is up to you.

What no app can stop

Encryption keeps your journal safe on the way and in the cloud. It can’t help once someone has your 24 words, your phone unlocked in their hands, or a camera pointed at your screen.

The lock

Who can open it on my phone?

Only you. Afterglow opens with your face or your fingerprint, which your phone checks without Afterglow ever seeing them. You can keep 6 digits beside them for when they won’t, and on a phone that can’t check either, the digits open Afterglow instead. Either way, the digits only work on that phone.

It locks by itself 30 seconds after you leave it, and straight away when your phone locks.
It hides when you switch apps The app switcher shows a moon, never your journal.
No screenshots In the version from the store, Afterglow blocks screenshots and screen recordings.
Your code Set it or change it in Settings, under Your privacy. Beside your face or fingerprint, you can remove it there too.
Wrong codes After 5 wrong tries, each one makes you wait, 30 seconds at first and up to 15 minutes. It never deletes anything.

If it won’t open

Forgot your code, or your face or fingerprint stopped working? On an iPhone, adding a face or a fingerprint in your phone’s settings can cause that. If you keep a code beside your face, Afterglow asks for your code then, and it opens your journal. Once a try has failed, Use your recovery phrase appears too. Your 24 words open your journal, and if your phone can’t check your face or fingerprint any more, you choose 6 new digits. Nothing is lost.

What it asks your phone for

Only what it needs, when you use it: the camera to scan a partner’s code and to take photos and videos, the microphone to record video and audio, the photos and videos you pick, and your face or fingerprint to unlock. Never your location or your contacts.

Analytics

What does Afterglow learn about how I use it?

Nothing, until you say so. The switch is Help improve Afterglow, in Settings under Your privacy, and it starts off. After 7 days, Home asks you once, and you can change your mind at any time.

What is sent while it’s on

That something happened, never what you wrote: which screens you opened, named by what they are rather than whose they are, what you used on them, how far you got setting up, and whether a backup finished. Once a day, how the phone is set up: the language, the units, how it locks, which cloud, whether you have Plus and whether you saved your words.

Afterglow attaches nothing that identifies you: no name, no email address, and no identifier for advertising. An identifier for the phone goes only with an invite code, as below. Analytics go to Aptabase, a company in the European Union, with a session number that’s thrown away after an hour without use.

A word you invent, a place you type

When nothing on a list fits and you write your own tag, that word may be sent on its own, so the app learns what it’s missing. It has to be one word, letters only, up to 50 of them, and never a name or a place from your journal. It waits 1 days first, and no phone sends more than 5. A place you type that isn’t on Afterglow’s list may be sent too, with its country, and never with a number in it.

When something breaks

A failure is sent as a code and where in Afterglow’s own code it happened, never the words on your screen. The same one goes once, then at most once a day.

An invite code

An invite code unlocks Plus and keeps analytics on while that Plus lasts. What’s sent then carries where your code sits among the codes passed on, and a random number your phone drew, never the code itself. Remove the code, and that stops.

Wishes and questions go by email, which you write and send yourself, from What’s missing? in Settings. This site has no analytics and no cookies.

Plus

What does Plus add, and what does it cost?

Afterglow is a whole journal, free for good. Plus is for when you want more, and you pay for it once.

What it adds

Room for everyone Every partner you want, beyond the free 5.
Pictures and video An album for each partner and for yourself, with folders, as many photos as you like, and video.
What they like What each partner likes, wants to try and rules out.
More ways to find them Their looks, their intimate details and what they like, in the filter and in search.
What you like The type you rate highest, and what your best moments have in common.
First times The first time for everything in your journal, and the days worth remembering when they come round again.

What stays free

Every moment, every number on Home, the backup, both exports, pairing and sending, a profile picture for everyone, and every picture a partner sends you. Going past a limit never hides anything you wrote.

How the price works

One payment, yours for good. You pick what it’s worth, and every price unlocks the same Plus. The four prices are Fair, Suggested, Generous and Very kind, and the store shows each one in your own currency. Once Plus is yours, Pay more is there if you’d like to back Afterglow.

Why once

A journal you keep for years shouldn’t stop working when a payment does. So Plus is bought once, on your store account, and comes back on any phone signed in to it. Apple and Google keep their purchases apart, so it doesn’t cross from one to the other.