FreePrints Photobooks

Review by eFreeware

FreePrints Photobooks is a free Android app from PlanetArt that turns the photos on your phone into printed books. The pitch is simple: one standard softcover book is free every month, and you cover a flat shipping charge. It has been on Google Play since March 2016, has over a million installs and sits at a 4.8 average from more than 51,000 ratings, which suggests a lot of people keep coming back to it.

What makes it worth a look is the way it removes the usual friction around photo books. Instead of setting aside an evening at a desktop computer, you build the book on the phone or tablet you already carry. The monthly free book gives you a reason to order regularly rather than waiting for a milestone, and the flat shipping fee means a single order can carry several books without the postage climbing.

The app is free to download, carries no ads and has no in-app purchases. Money changes hands only when you order a book and pay for shipping, and the developer describes the model as having no subscriptions and no commitments. That combination is unusual enough in the photo-printing space that it shapes everything else about the app.

The free monthly book, explained

Each month you can claim one free softcover book, either 5x7 or 6x6. That is the offer the developer leads with, and it is the reason most people will install the app. You choose the size you prefer from those two options, build the book, and pay only the shipping charge when you order.

Shipping is a flat $7.99 per order, no matter how many books are in it. That detail matters more than it first appears. If you build two or three books in a single order, the postage stays the same, which makes it sensible to plan a batch rather than ordering one book at a time. The developer frames the flat rate as a single fee for the whole order rather than a per-book cost.

There is no subscription attached and no commitment to order in any given month. The free book is a recurring allowance rather than a plan you are locked into, so a month you skip costs you nothing. I would treat it as a standing opportunity: when you have enough new photos to fill a book, order one, and let the next month's allowance wait until you do.

Hardcovers, page counts and paper

Beyond the free softcover, the app offers optional premium hardcover books in 6x8, 8x8, 8.5x11.5 and 12x12. These are a paid upgrade rather than part of the monthly freebie, and the larger sizes suit different purposes: a small square book for a short trip, a big one for a wedding or a year-in-review volume. The developer does not bundle these into the free allowance, so treat them as a separate purchase decision.

Every book starts at 20 pages, and you can add more pages for a small additional charge. Twenty pages is a reasonable working length for a focused set of photos, and the option to extend means a longer project is possible without switching to a different service. If you tend to shoot a lot, budget for the extra pages rather than assuming the base length will cover everything.

The physical side of the product is described in some detail. Interior pages use acid-free archival paper with a satin finish, the covers are laminated, and the developer promises vivid color and long-lasting protection. Printing and binding happen in the United States. There is also a satisfaction guarantee: if a book does not meet your expectations, the developer offers your money back.

Where your photos can come from

Beyond your device, photos can come from Facebook, Dropbox or past FreePrints orders. That last one is worth noting if you already use other apps in the FreePrints family, because it means earlier uploads are not stranded. For most people the device gallery will be the main source, but the cloud options help when the pictures you want were taken on a different phone or shared by someone else.

Once the photos are in, the work of assembling them into a book happens on the phone or tablet. The app is designed for quick sessions rather than a long desktop project. I would expect the appeal to be strongest for people who already have a large camera roll and want to do something with it without learning layout software.

Books are sent by mail and typically arrive within days. That turnaround is part of the pitch: the gap between deciding to make a book and holding it is short enough that the project does not stall. The app was updated in September 2026 with bug fixes and improvements, and the developer invites suggestions by email.

What the app asks of you

The main requirement is a willingness to pay shipping. The book itself is free once a month, but the $7.99 flat rate applies to each order, so the real cost of a single free book is that shipping charge. If you order several books together, the fee spreads across them and the value improves; if you order one at a time, it does not.

You also need photos worth printing and a little patience for arranging them. The free allowance covers a standard softcover in one of two sizes, so anyone who wants a hardcover or a large format is looking at an additional charge, and page counts beyond 20 carry their own small fee. None of this is hidden, but it is worth going in with a clear idea of what the free tier actually includes.

There is nothing to subscribe to and nothing to cancel. There are no subscriptions, commitments, ads or in-app purchases. That keeps the decision simple: you order when you want a book, and you pay for shipping when you do.

Getting the most from the monthly allowance

The rhythm the app encourages is monthly. One free book per month means the natural approach is to let photos accumulate, then build a book that covers a defined stretch of time: a month, a season, a trip, a school year. Because the free book does not roll over into a stockpile, there is little point in hoarding the allowance, but there is also no penalty for skipping a month when you have nothing new to print.

Batching orders is the clearest way to get value from the flat shipping rate. If you have two or three books ready, ordering them together costs the same $7.99 as ordering one, so it pays to finish a couple of projects before checking out. That also suits the way the app pulls from multiple photo sources: you can gather pictures from your gallery and from cloud albums into the same session.

For anyone who already uses the other FreePrints apps, the family connection is useful. The original FreePrints app offers free 4x6 prints, and FreePrints Photo Tiles covers wall decor, all under the same no-subscription model. Photos from previous FreePrints orders can be reused here, so the apps feed each other rather than competing. If you print regularly, it is worth thinking of them as one system rather than separate downloads.

A free book each month, with shipping to pay

FreePrints Photobooks is a good fit for anyone who takes a lot of phone photos and rarely does anything with them. The monthly free softcover gives you a low-stakes reason to print, the flat shipping rate rewards ordering in batches, and the absence of subscriptions, ads and in-app purchases keeps the whole thing uncomplicated. The 4.8 average across more than 51,000 ratings suggests the model works for a large number of people.

The trade-offs are straightforward. You pay $7.99 shipping on every order, the free book comes in only two sizes, and hardcovers, larger formats and extra pages beyond 20 cost more. If you want a big hardcover album every time, the free allowance will not cover it, and the shipping charge is a real cost even on a free book.

I would install it if you want a steady, inexpensive way to turn camera-roll photos into something you can hold, and if you are happy to plan orders around the monthly allowance and the flat shipping fee. It is a narrow, well-defined service rather than a full design suite, and judged on that basis it looks like a sensible addition to a phone's photo toolkit.

What's new in version 3.19.0

Get a FREE photo book every month! • This release includes bug fixes and improvements Your questions and comments are helping to make FreePrints Photobooks even better, and we truly appreciate them! Keep sending your suggestions to [email protected]. We personally reply to every email.