Send one private album link to close family first, then to everyone else. Ask each person for 3 to 5 favorite photos by a set time, and help the relatives who only have prints. Below: 7 ways compared, 4 messages to copy, a timeline to the service and how to scan old photos.
Free to try with 20 uploads, no card. Family needs no app and no account.
New
New
Set up one private album that needs no app or account, then send its link to close family first and the wider circle a day later. Ask each person for three to five favorite photos by a set time 24 to 48 hours away. Relatives with prints can photograph them by a window and upload the picture.
3 to 5
favorite photos to ask each person for, per The Unfinished List and Tribute
24 to 48h
is the deadline that keeps people from overthinking it
50 to 80
photos fill a 5 to 8 minute slideshow at about 6 seconds each
300 dpi
is enough to scan 4x6 and 5x7 prints, per the Library of Congress
Sources: The Unfinished List (3 to 5 favorites, the 24 to 48 hour deadline), Tribute, the Library of Congress scanning guide and our own guide to how many photos a funeral slideshow needs. Checked 30 September 2026.
The limits below come from each company’s own help pages, read on 30 September 2026. Rose chips mark the cell that usually rules a method out for a grieving family of mixed ages.
One album for every photo of them. Relatives scan the QR code or tap the link and upload from the phone browser, with no app and no account, and you download everything as a ZIP.
| Method | How family adds photos | Account for family | Limits | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Pix Wedding QR albumNo-app pick | Scan the QR code or tap the link, upload from the phone browser | None, and no app | 20 uploads free. Paid plans: unlimited photos and videos, 30MB per photo and 100MB per video, 6 months to 2 years of storage | Mixed ages, prints photographed on phones, a QR card at the service |
| Google Photos shared album | Tap the link and add photos while Collaborate is on | Google account to add photos | 20,000 photos or videos per album. 15 GB per Google account, shared with Gmail and Drive | Families already using Google Photos |
| iCloud Shared Album | Invite by email or phone number, or add on the web to albums made in version 27 | None on the web for version 27 albums | Up to 100 people including the owner. Version 27 albums count towards the owner’s iCloud storage. Older albums shrink photos to 2,048 px | All-iPhone families on version 27 |
| Dropbox file request | Upload files through a request link. They land in a folder in your Dropbox | None to upload | Uses your own space: 2 GB on Dropbox Basic, files up to 2 GB each | One organizer who wants the files, not a shared album |
| Texts and email attachments | Relatives send photos to one person, one message at a time | None | Photos scattered across threads. Messaging apps often shrink attachments | Two or three photos from one person |
| Facebook group | Members post photos in a private group | Facebook account to join | Relatives who are not on Facebook are left out | Families already active in one group |
| Prints brought to the service | Relatives bring prints in person | None | Someone has to photograph or scan each print and give it back | The oldest relatives and framed photos |
Swipe to compare all 7
Limits from Google Photos, Google One, Apple, Dropbox file requests and Dropbox storage. Checked 30 September 2026.
Whatever you pick, pick one. The Unfinished List puts it simply: use one upload spot. Two places means two folders to merge the night before the service. If the family is split between iPhone and Android, the no-app option saves you the argument.
The right choice depends on who has the photos. Find the line that sounds like your family.
Then: A no-app link and QR album. Nobody signs in, and a phone photo of a print uploads like any other photo.
Then: An iCloud Shared Album. Others can add on the web without an Apple Account, and up to 100 people fit, the owner included.
Then: A Google Photos shared album with Collaborate on. Turn Collaborate off after the service so the album stays as it is.
Then: A Dropbox file request. Anyone can upload without an account, and the files use your Dropbox space.
Sources: Apple Shared Albums, Apple limits, Google Photos album controls and Dropbox file requests. Checked 30 September 2026.
Ask in rings. The closest family hears first and from someone they know, the wider circle a day later, and everyone else at the service through a QR card.
Partner, children, siblings. A personal text from someone they know, not a group post.
Cousins, aunts and uncles, school friends. Email plus the family group chat.
Coworkers, neighbors, clubs, the faith community. One short post each group can forward.
A QR card on the photo table for the stories nobody knew about yet.
Cast a wide net at first. Reach out to siblings, old friends, coworkers, and neighbors.
1 person
collects and organizes everything. Parting Stone says that one step prevents duplicates and missing pieces.
Tribute suggests three jobs for three people, ideally someone with the skills who is a little less close to the loss.
Sharp Funeral Homes recommends a set time and place for photo gathering, especially when your loved one was older and had few digital photos. An afternoon with the old albums, a phone and a pot of coffee brings in the prints nobody would have posted.
Ask for the best three to five photos rather than everything people can find, and say what kind of photos you mean. A sample does that better than a paragraph.
Mostly the ordinary days
The split suggested by The Unfinished List. If you are stuck, it adds, pick the photos that show their expressions or their hands doing familiar things.
Quantity is not the goal; coverage across different chapters of life is.
One close-up, one group, one everyday moment
One face, near enough to see the expression. These carry the slideshow.
The people they loved, around one table. Imperfect framing is fine.
An ordinary afternoon. These are the photos people forget to send.
From the day the service date is set to the week after. Steps 2 and 5 are the ones people skip, and they are the ones that bring in the photos nobody had seen.
Name it after them, for example “Remembering [Name]”. One upload spot means nothing to merge later. Pick a method from the table above that asks for no app and no account.
Add one close-up, one group photo and one everyday moment first. People copy what they see, and the samples show that ordinary photos are welcome.
The link goes into texts, email and the group chat. The QR code goes on a card at the service. On Pix Wedding both are ready as soon as the album exists.
Immediate family on day one, cousins, old friends, coworkers and neighbors a day later. Ask for 3 to 5 favorites by a set time 24 to 48 hours away.
Tell them a phone photo taken by a window is fine. Offer to come over and go through the albums together, or collect the prints at the service.
A few hours before the deadline, one short message to anyone who has not added photos yet. Then stop. Late photos can still go in after the service.
A card on the photo table invites the stories nobody knew about. Keep the album open for a week or so, then download everything and keep two copies.
Swipe for all 7 steps
Watch a relative scan the QR code and add photos from the phone browser in seconds, with no app and no account. It is the same album your text and email link opens, so every photo ends up in one place.
MEMORIAL ALBUM
Remembering Rose
Example album
Summer at the lake
Scanned from Aunt Margaret’s album
Send one link or put a QR card on the photo table. Family and friends add photos and videos from the phone browser, with no app and no account, and you download everything as a ZIP. The first 20 uploads are free.
A memory from Ben
Scan to join the album
No app, no account
UPLOADING
THE ALBUM
Example album
64 photos · 21 guests
SCAN TO TRY
pix.wedding/
your-wedding
Short, warm, and one clear action. Each one asks for a few favorites by a set time and says that one or two photos are enough. Swap in the names, the dates and your link.
Hi [Name], we're putting together a photo album in memory of [First Name] for the service on [Date]. Could you add your 3 to 5 favorite photos by [day and time]? It takes a few taps, no app needed: [album link] Even one or two photos would mean so much. Thank you.
Subject: A photo album for [Name]'s memorial Dear [Name / Everyone], As we prepare for [Name]'s memorial service on [Date], we're creating a shared photo album to celebrate their life and gather our memories together. We would love to include your photos, from any time in [his/her/their] life. Please choose your 3 to 5 favorites and add them by [day and time]. There's no need to download anything. Just tap the link below, choose the photos and upload. Add your photos here: [album link] If you have printed photos, take a picture of them with your phone near a window and upload that. We'll keep the album open for a few days after the service as well. Thank you for being part of [Name]'s life. It means more than we can say. With love, [Your name]
We're collecting photos for [Name]'s memorial and would love your help. If you have a photo of [Name], from any time in [his/her/their] life, please add your favorites to our shared album by [day and time]. No app needed, just tap and upload. [album link] We'll use these photos in a slideshow at the service on [Date], and keep them in an album the whole family can return to. Thank you so much for sharing your memories of [Name].
Just a gentle reminder that the photo album for [Name]'s memorial is still open if you'd like to add anything. [album link] No pressure at all, we just wanted to make sure you saw the link in case the first message got buried. The album will be open through [date], and we'd love to have your photos included. Thank you.
Send each person the message in the channel they already read: the text to the relatives who never open email, the email to the ones who are not in the group chat. The line about prints is borrowed from The Unfinished List, whose own script adds: “If you only have prints, a phone snapshot is fine.”
Most families have days, not weeks. Tribute’s advice for anyone doing this in grief: give yourself more time than you think you need.
Sources: Parting Stone on when to start the slideshow, Sharp Funeral Homes on checking for a projector or monitors, Tribute on testing the day before. Building the slideshow itself is covered in how to make a funeral slideshow.
A Pix Wedding memorial album takes photos and videos from anyone with the link or the QR code, straight from the phone browser, with no app and no account. Everything lands in one album you can download as a ZIP.
Scan to join the album
No app, no account
UPLOADING
THE ALBUM
Example album
64 photos · 21 guests
Many of the best photos of an older person exist only on paper. Three routes cover everyone, from the grandchild with a new phone to the aunt who will not touch one.
Indirect daylight, tilt the phone a few degrees to cut the glare and fill the frame. Leave creases and date stamps, they are part of the story, and skip heavy filters.
Source: The Unfinished List
The app has you move the phone over four dots and removes glare. Lay the print flat on a contrasting surface, not carpet, take it out of its sleeve and do not tilt the phone while scanning.
Source: Google Photos Help
A labeled basket next to the QR card. A helper photographs each print, uploads it and gives it back the same day, because a borrowed print is often the only copy.
Glare-free copies of old prints, on a phone
A four-minute walkthrough of Google PhotoScan: the four-dot scan that removes glare from prints and photos behind glass. The result is an ordinary photo file, so it uploads to the memorial album like any other picture.
Watch on YouTubeGoing the other way, from phone photos to paper? Sharp Funeral Homes notes that many funeral homes will print photos for poster boards or foam core boards to stand on easels. Ask about it when you check for a projector.
A phone photo is fine for the slideshow. For prints you want to enlarge or reprint, a flatbed scanner does better. These settings come from the Library of Congress guide to scanning personal collections.
The smaller the original, the higher the dpi
Source: Library of Congress, Scanning Your Personal Collections. Checked 30 September 2026.
Clean the glass, free the print
Take off paper clips, staples and tape, and clean the scanner glass so dust does not end up on every photo. Scan each print once and let the family download the file.
Eight ways a photo request ends up with gaps. Each one has a two-minute fix.
An open request gets either nothing or hundreds of files. Ask for 3 to 5 favorites: a close-up, a group and an everyday moment.
Without a time, people wait for the perfect photo. A deadline 24 to 48 hours away brings the first wave in.
A shared drive, a group chat and an email thread means merging files the night before the service. Use one album.
Screenshots look blurry when projected, Parting Stone warns. Ask for the photo itself.
Every sign-in stops someone. Test the link on a phone that has never used the service before you send it.
Coworkers, neighbors and old friends hold photos the family has never seen. Tribute’s advice: cast a wide net.
A print may be the only copy. Photograph it the same day and give it back with a thank you.
Photos keep turning up for days afterwards. Keep the album open, then download it and keep two copies.
A memorial album holds photos from the last years, of children and of people who never asked to be online. Know what each switch does before the link goes out.
The album outlives the service. It is often the only place where every photo of them sits together, so treat it like the family archive it is.
2 copies
at least, stored in different places, as far apart as possible, and moved to new storage every 5 to 7 years. Source: Library of Congress.
Six things to do before you close the album
On Pix Wedding every paid plan includes a ZIP download of the full album, with storage for 6 months, 1 year or 2 years by plan. For the backup itself, our guide on backing up photos walks through a second and a third copy, and a digital memorial covers what to build with the photos next.
Free to try with 20 uploads, no card. Every paid plan is a one-time payment with unlimited photos, videos and family members. What changes between them is how long the album takes photos, how long it is stored and the extras.
For an intimate service or celebration of life
For a full service and gathering
A lasting family archive
One payment. Yours to keep. No subscription. No renewals. No surprise charges.
Secure checkout. Polar, Apple Pay, Google Pay.
Money-back guarantee: if your guests never upload a single photo, you get 100% back. See how it works
Quick answers on apps and accounts, what to say, timing, printed photos, how many to collect and how long to keep the album open.
Create one private album that family can add to from a link, with no app and no account, and send the link to close family first and the wider circle a day later. Ask each person for 3 to 5 favorite photos by a set time 24 to 48 hours away. On Pix Wedding, relatives scan a QR code or tap the link and upload from the phone browser, and the first 20 uploads are free.
Not with a link-based album such as Pix Wedding. Relatives tap the link or scan the QR code and upload from the phone browser, with no app and no account. Adding photos to a Google Photos shared album is tied to a Google account, iCloud Shared Albums accept web uploads without an Apple Account only for albums created in version 27, and a Dropbox file request needs no account to upload.
Keep the message short and warm. Say what you are making, give one simple action and a gentle deadline, and say that one or two photos are enough. Asking for 3 to 5 favorites is easier to answer than asking for everything. The four scripts on this page (a text, an email, a group post and one reminder) can be copied and adjusted.
Start the day the service date is set. Give people a deadline 24 to 48 hours away so they do not overthink it, send one reminder, and keep the album open after the service for late photos. If there will be a slideshow, Parting Stone suggests starting it two to three days before the service so there is time to choose music and test playback.
Ask them to photograph the print with a phone near a window, tilt it a few degrees to cut glare and fill the frame, then upload the picture. Google PhotoScan removes glare with a four-dot scan. For prints you want to enlarge, a flatbed scan at 300 dpi covers 4x6 and 5x7 prints and 400 to 600 dpi covers 8x10 and larger, per the Library of Congress. Or collect prints in a basket at the service, photograph them and give them back.
For a slideshow, 50 to 80 photos fill 5 to 8 minutes at about 6 seconds each. Collect more than you show: as an illustration, 20 people sending 3 to 5 favorites each gives you 60 to 100 photos to choose from. For a photo table, The Unfinished List suggests 12 to 24 prints plus 3 to 5 enlarged favorites. Everything else stays in the album the family keeps.
Keep it open for at least a few days after the service, because photos keep turning up once people start looking. Then download everything and keep two copies in different places. On Pix Wedding the Remembrance plan takes uploads for 3 months and stores the album for 6 months, Tribute for 6 months and 1 year, Legacy for 1 year and 2 years, each with a ZIP download.
One person. Parting Stone notes that assigning one person to collect and organize everything prevents duplicates and missing pieces. Tribute suggests dividing the rest of the work: one person on the photos, another on the music and another on the technical side, ideally someone with the skills who is a little less close to the loss.
The slideshow, the songs, the photo table and what to build from the album afterwards.
Sources, checked 30 September 2026
Rose, the names, the dates and the counts in the phone mockups on this page are illustrative. Photos are from our own library.
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