Getting Started

Setting up BrightBlur takes a few minutes. Because it uses end-to-end encryption, there’s one extra step compared to a normal app — writing down your recovery phrase.

1. Create your account

Visit the registration page and pick how you’d like to sign in. Both options are first-class:

• Email and password — enter your email, name, and a strong password (at least 8 characters).
• Email and a passkey — enter your email and name and create a passkey instead of a password, for faster, passwordless login.

Either way you go straight on to setup. A verification email is sent in the background — clicking its link confirms your address, but you don’t need to do it before you start using BrightBlur.

2. Write down your recovery phrase

During setup, BrightBlur generates your encryption keys and shows you a 12-word recovery phrase.

This is the most important step

Write this phrase down and store it somewhere safe — a password manager, a piece of paper in a drawer, anything that isn’t your phone’s notes app. If you lose this phrase and your device, your photos are gone forever. BrightBlur cannot recover it for you.

You’ll be asked to confirm three random words from the phrase before you can continue. This ensures you’ve actually recorded it.

3. Share your first photo

There’s nothing to set up before sharing. When you upload a photo and tag the faces in it, BrightBlur pre-selects a sensible audience for you — your own circle, plus the circle of each person you tagged — so the photo reaches you and everyone connected to those people.

You can review and adjust that audience in the picker before publishing; at least one circle must be selected. To let someone see a person across your photos, open that person from the People page and invite them.