How to Share Photos Privately with Swizil

When people talk about “social media” in this context, they usually mean platforms built around feeds, discovery features and engagement signals. Content is organised chronologically, surfaced through explore pages or hashtags, and measured through likes, views and follower counts. Even when accounts are set to private, the underlying structure doesn’t change. You’re still posting into a system designed around visibility and engagement, and the apps themselves can still use and sell your data because you gave them the rights to it all. The moment you post something, it now belongs to the app in question.

Messaging apps take a different approach. They’re excellent for conversation, quick exchanges and staying in touch, but photos shared this way sit inside message threads, organised by when they were sent, alongside everything else being discussed. Over time, images become harder to find, scattered across conversations and buried in long histories. Messaging works well for dialogue, but it’s not designed for keeping, organising or revisiting photos.

Private sharing platforms like Swizil are built for something else entirely. There’s no public feed, no discovery layer and no performance signals. Photos and videos are organised around moments, collections or groups rather than timelines. Sharing happens within clearly defined spaces, with people you choose, in a way that feels intentional rather than performative.

The difference isn’t about better or worse, it’s about purpose. Social platforms are built for broadcasting. Messaging apps are built for conversation. Swizil is built for keeping and sharing visual memories, privately, with the people they’re meant for, or simply for yourself. Different tools, different needs, all valid when used for what they’re designed to do.