How do I get everyone’s photos from a party in one place?
Use one QR code that opens an upload page in the phone’s browser, so iPhone and Android guests add photos with no app. Everything ends up in one private gallery for your event. With Eventphoto.io it is free for 20 photos per guest, or $19.99 (£15.99 in the UK) once; guests need a connection to upload.
What it costs
- Free: 20 photos per guest, kept 14 days from when you create the event
- Paid: $19.99 (£15.99 in the UK) per event for unlimited photos and videos per guest, kept up to 12 months
- One-time payment. No subscription and no fee per guest.
Why don’t group chats and shared albums catch everyone?
Because each one belongs to a phone maker or an app, and a party never has only one kind of phone. Mixed phones. iMessage’s “high resolution photos and videos” travel between Apple devices only; with an Android guest in the group the thread uses SMS/MMS or RCS, and Apple does not describe SMS/MMS photos as high resolution. No single place. Nothing on the Apple or WhatsApp pages we checked collects a thread’s photos into one gallery or one download; the pages describe sending, not exporting. (Apple and WhatsApp help pages, read October 22, 2026.)
Shared albums ask for an account. Google’s steps for adding to an album: open the Google Photos app, “Log in with your Google Account”, open the album, tap Add to album, select the items, tap Done. Apple has opened its newest albums up: Starting in iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27, “Friends and family will be able to join and contribute their own photos on the web, even without an Apple Account or Apple device.” Albums made on older software still work the old way, and both kinds sit in the owner’s storage (Google and Apple help pages, read October 29, 2026).
None of that is wrong for a family that all uses the same phone. It is just why the photos from a mixed party end up scattered across camera rolls and chats.
Sources, each on the vendor’s own help page; words in quotation marks are theirs. Product names are trademarks of their owners; we are not affiliated with any of them.
- Apple and WhatsApp (group chats): support.apple.com/en-us/104972
- Google Photos and iCloud (shared albums): support.google.com/photos/answer/6128849, support.apple.com/en-us/108314
How does a QR code gallery work on iPhone and Android?
It is a web page made for your event, so every phone with a camera and a browser can use it:
- Create the event with a name and an email address. The QR code, the link and a six-character event code are made with it.
- Download the QR code from the host page and print it, or send the link in the group chat you already have.
- Guests scan the code with the phone camera. The upload page opens in Safari, Chrome or whatever browser the phone uses.
- The first time, they type the PIN and a first name, then pick photos from the camera roll and upload.
- Everyone with the code sees the same gallery fill up during the party, with each guest’s name on their photos.
What do guests need?
A phone, the photos they took, and Wi-Fi or mobile data. No app, no account, no email address, no password. The PIN is on by default (4 to 6 digits, chosen when you create the event, or switched off then), so put it on the sign next to the code. A guest who cannot scan types the event code at Eventphoto.io instead.
How do I get all the photos afterward?
Tap Download all on the host page. The photos and videos are packed into one ZIP, and the link is emailed to you, usually within a few minutes, on the free plan too. Inside are two folders, photos and videos, with the files as the phones sent them. The guest names show in the gallery, not in the ZIP. Step by step: how to download all the guest photos.
What are the limits?
- Guests need a connection to upload. Without one, the photos wait in the camera roll until there is Wi-Fi or signal.
- The free plan is photos only, 20 per guest, for 14 days from the day you create the event, so create it in the week of the party. Video, up to 200 MB a clip, and 12 months are on the paid plan, $19.99 (£15.99 in the UK) once.
- There is no camera inside the page: guests take photos with their own camera app and upload from the camera roll.
- Photos appear in the gallery as they are uploaded. The host can delete any photo, and a guest can delete their own.
- When the event expires, the gallery and every file are deleted for good. Download the ZIP before that.
Planning a wedding rather than a party? The wedding version of this answer: how to collect wedding photos from guests.
Party photo questions
Can iPhone and Android guests add photos to the same place?
Yes, if the place is a web page rather than an app. A QR code gallery opens in Safari, Chrome or any other phone browser, so an iPhone and an Android phone see the same upload page and add to the same gallery, with no app and no account.
Do guests have to download an app?
No. Guests scan the code with the phone camera and the upload page opens in the browser. The first time, they type the PIN if the event has one and a first name, then pick photos from the camera roll. Nothing is installed.
Can guests add photos the day after the party?
Yes. The code keeps working until the event expires: 14 days from creation on the free plan, 12 months from the upgrade on the paid plan. Guests can add the rest from home the next morning, over Wi-Fi.
Is it free?
The free plan takes 20 photos per guest for 14 days, photos only, with no card and no limit on guests. The paid plan is $19.99 (£15.99 in the UK) once per event, no subscription, for unlimited photos and videos per guest and 12 months of storage.
Will the photos lose quality?
No. Each photo is stored exactly as the phone sends it, up to 10 MB, and comes back in the ZIP as the original file. That is the difference from a group chat, where the app decides how much of the photo travels.