Photo sharing
What is the easiest photo sharing site?
The easiest photo sharing site is the one that asks the least of the person on the other end. For sharing your own photos, that is Google Photos: it is already on most phones, a link takes 3 taps, and the viewer needs no account. For collecting photos from other people, the easiest site is one they reach by scanning a code rather than by finding, installing, and signing in to anything: a Gathmo album opens in the phone browser, takes the upload in about 3 taps, and never asks who the uploader is. Easy for the host is not the same as easy for the guest, and the guest side is where photo sharing usually fails.
Easy for the person sharing
Google Photos is hard to beat here. It is preinstalled on Android, popular on iPhone, and turns any selection into a link or an album from the Share sheet. There is nothing to sign up for that you have not already signed up for.
iCloud is just as easy between iPhones, and Copy iCloud Link makes a browser-openable link for anyone else. The friction only appears when an Android user wants to contribute rather than look.
Dedicated transfer sites like WeTransfer are easy for one-off sends of a big folder and useless for an album: no gallery, no adding later, a link that expires.
Easy for the people you want photos from
The measure here is steps between "I have a photo" and "you have it". A QR album is 3: scan, pick, send. A shared cloud album is at least 5, and one of them is "sign in", which a room full of guests will not do.
A Gathmo album has no guest app and no guest account by design. The host prints the code once; from then on every guest, on any phone, takes the same 3 steps. The host approves uploads before they appear and downloads the originals afterwards.
Free for 60 items and 30 days; paid plans are one payment per event with unlimited items and up to a year of retention.
Common follow-ups
Does Gathmo work on a laptop as well as a phone?
Yes. The album and the upload page both run in any modern browser, so a guest without a phone can use the link on a computer.
Is a QR code hard for older guests?
No. Every current phone camera reads a QR code by pointing at it; there is no separate app. Guests who prefer a link can be sent one instead.
Do I need to set anything up before the event?
Create the event and print the code — about 2 minutes. Everything else, including moderation, is on by default.
Where to go next
- How Gathmo worksThe whole flow in order: create the event, print the code, guests scan and upload, you moderate, you download the originals.
- QR code photo sharingThe code itself: printing it, placing it, repointing it later, and what a guest sees the moment they scan.
- Gathmo compared with Google PhotosA shared Google album is free and never expires. What it has no notion of is an evening — where each one stops.
Related questions
- What is the best way to share a bunch of photos with someone?
- How do I send a bunch of pics at once?Select them all, tap Share, send a link. Step by step on iPhone and Android, why a link beats attachments, and what to do when the pics are on 20 phones.
- What is the best free photo sharing app?The best free photo sharing app depends on who is sharing: Google Photos for one account, a QR album for a crowd. Here is where each free tier stops.