Publish or hide the album

The 3 states

Public, public with a password, or private. Public is the default and suits a party among invited guests, while a password keeps the link usable and adds 1 step. Private means the link leads nowhere, which is right while you are still setting up.

Uploading is a separate switch. An album can be private while uploads are wide open, and the other way round.

1. Decide before you share the link. A link that shows nothing looks broken to a guest who was not told.
2. Set a password if you want a middle option. At least 8 characters. Viewing then needs it; uploading does not.
3. Say which state it is in. One sentence on the table card saves the questions afterwards.

None of these affects uploading. A guest can contribute to an album they cannot view.

What private actually means

The link resolves to nothing. Not an error page explaining the situation, not a preview — nothing. That is correct behaviour and it is also why a private album confuses guests who were told to look at it.

Use it while you are setting up, or after you have downloaded everything and want the album off the internet.

The viewing password

A password sits in front of viewing, and every visitor types it once. It has to be at least 8 characters. This is the middle option: the link still works, still gets forwarded, but the person receiving it needs something you gave out separately.

It is separate from the download password, which gates taking files away rather than looking at them.

What a public album shows

Contributions that are approved and not hidden. Anything still being prepared, anything waiting in the review queue, and anything you have hidden stays out. So the album a guest sees is a subset of what you see in the dashboard, and that is by design.

The count on the guest page follows the same rule, which is why it can lag behind what somebody just told you they sent.

When to switch what

Leave it public through the party and the days after, while the second wave arrives. Consider making it private once you have downloaded everything, since an album nobody is adding to has little reason to stay reachable.

It becomes unreachable on its own eventually: 30 days after the event on the free tier, and 90, 183 or 365 on the paid ones.

Tell your guests which it is

A guest who taps a link and sees nothing assumes the whole thing is broken, and they do not upload either. One line on the card fixes it: the album opens after the party, or the album needs the password we sent you.

The same applies when you switch it to private afterwards. Say so, or you will be answering messages for a week.