How to share photos without blasting them all over the internet

A variety of ways to share photos without publicly posting them to the Internet

This article has been updated. Originally published on February 9, 2018

Want to share photos, but don't want to post them publicly to everyone on Twitter or Instagram? For example, you might want your grandparents to see photos of your cute child, but you don't want Facebook to record your child's facial features. Fortunately, many apps can help you share photos with only specific groups of people.

A few factors need to be considered when choosing the best approach, such as the cloud storage service you have used and the skill level of the person you plan to share your images with - for example, if your grandparents only have emails, then a private WhatsApp chat That's not suitable.

Cloud Storage Service

If you have backed up photos using cloud storage services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or Microsoft OneDrive, you can use these programs to create shared folders. Invitees can optionally view and add the contents of these folders, and they are not accessible to outsiders. This option is simple and effective, but if you exceed your free storage quota, you may have to pay for more space.

[Related: How to get the most cloud storage without paying for upgrades]

Dropbox is good at sharing folders. First create a folder containing the pictures you plan to share. Open this folder in the web interface, click Share, and enter the email address of others to invite them to join. When they receive your invitation, if they have an account, they can sync the folders to their own Dropbox, or if they don't have an account, they can view the pictures in a web browser. You can get 2GB of space for free, and after that you need to pay to get more space – 2TB of storage costs $120 a year.

Google Drive works similarly. Open a folder in the web interface, click the folder name at the top of the page, and select Share. Like Dropbox, you can invite others via email, and they can then access the folder through their Google Drive account, or by viewing the folder in a web browser. Google offers 15GB of space for free, shared between Drive, Photos and Gmail. If not enough, you can pay for an upgrade, starting from $2 per month and get 100GB of space.

Windows or Microsoft application enthusiasts may prefer OneDrive. Go to the folder from the web portal and click Share to start sharing photos. You can get 5GB of space for free, upgrades start from $2 per month and get 100GB of space.

Where are Apple enthusiasts? Log in to iCloud, open or create a folder, and click the Share icon (with a plus sign next to the portrait). Then add the email or phone number of the person you want to share with. It's that simple, just like every other way.

Google Photos and Apple Photos

These apps – Google Photos built into Android and Apple Photos built into iOS – provide a quick and easy way to share any image you store with a small group of people. If you have used these services to back up images and your contacts use these services, they are a great option.

In between, Google Photos has an advantage because it offers both Android and iOS apps (Apple photos work best if all participants, sharers and recipients have Mac, iPhone or iPad) . If you are using Google Photos on your computer, move the cursor to the image you want to select and click the white circle with the check mark. Select any other photo (get all the pictures in between by clicking on a separate picture or holding down Shift and clicking on the second picture). On your phone or tablet, follow the long piece to select it, then drag your finger to select a bunch of photos or click on each photo separately. After selecting the photo, click the Share button to look like a box with an upward arrow in the iOS app and a sideways V in the Android app. If your contacts also use Google Photos, you can add these images to a shared folder where friends can view and add photos. Or, if they don't have a Google account, you can send them a link through which they can view shared photos in a web browser.

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For Apple photos, it is best to share them from your phone. Launch the Photos app, select , select the photo you want to share, and then click the Share button in the lower left corner. Here, select Add to Shared Album to create a shared picture folder that anyone with an iOS or macOS device can join. Didn't see this option? Open the Settings app, click Photo, and then turn on the toggle next to Share Album. If you share images with people using Android or Windows, you must click the Mail option. This will send the photo as an email attachment to your recipient.

Private Facebook Group

You may not want to share photos with all Facebook contacts, but this social network does have tools to limit the people viewing your posts. One of the tools is private groups.

Of course, these groups are a good virtual meeting place for your kid’s football team and your former college friends, but you can also use them for private image sharing. Open the Facebook website, click the

group on the left side of the page, and select Create a new group . From the Select Privacy drop-down menu, select Privacy. Name the group, add the person you choose, and only these invitees can see the internal content.

This option is most effective when multiple friends and family want to post photos of their children’s growth, or add pictures from special occasions such as parties and weddings. It also works for chatty groups who like to leave comments. As an additional bonus, most of the people you want to invite already have a Facebook account.

Instant Message

If you don't care about organizing and archiving photos, try a quick and easy option: start an instant messaging group chat and start posting images to it. If you want group members to see new images pop up on their phone right away, or if you want them to choose to leave comments and informal chats between images, choose this handy method. However, unlike some other options on the list, this option is not good at retrieving old images, viewing photos as gallery, or organizing snapshots.

You can choose from almost any messaging app, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Google Chat, iMessage, and Instagram. Just make sure everyone you want to share with has the same app installed.

[Related: 6 Safe WhatsApp Alternatives]

Also remember that some of these apps are easier to review photos you have posted. For example, in the Facebook Messenger conversation, you can view all photos that have been shared to the group by clicking the chat name at the top and scrolling down to find the view media and files . In WhatsApp, you can also see photos posted to the thread: On an Android device, click the menu button in the upper right corner (three dots) and select Media; On iOS, click on the thread title and select Media Links and Documents . Share email inbox

The main advantage of email is that it can be used anywhere (on a variety of laptops and phones) and for everyone (even those who don’t have a Facebook account or don’t have a smartphone to process their email addresses) . So, create a shared inbox and provide a small group of people with login information that allows members to add or view emails containing images from any device or location.

To get started, create a new email account through any service you prefer. Then share login details with your trusted friends verbally (so you won't be hacked). To add a new image, simply send an email to the new address, attach one or more photos to your email, and include the description using the subject title and body text.

This option does not provide the organization and editing tools provided by Apple Photos and Google Photos, but it is simple, effective and easy to access by people with lower skills. As an added bonus, when you send emails to your shared account, you can set your personal email address to BC, thus safely backing up all images.

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