Can I password-protect a class album?

Yes, on Pro. Add a password to the album and send it separately from the link. You can also set an end date and turn downloads off.

Can parents download all the photos at once?

Yes. The album has a single download button that saves every photo as one ZIP, unless you have switched downloads off.

Can parents add their own photos to the album?

No. There is no guest upload. Ask other adults to send you their photos and upload them together.

Is the album visible on Google?

No. Album links are unlisted and not indexed by search engines. Anyone with the link can open it, though, which is why a password is worth adding for children's photos.

What happens to the album at the end of the year?

Nothing, unless you choose. Links do not expire by themselves. Set an end date on Pro, or disable or delete the album from your dashboard whenever you like.

Share class photos with parents in one link

From the class camera to every parent

1
Check consent, then choose the photos
Before anything else, check your school's photo consent list and leave out any child whose family has opted out. Then pick the photos worth sending; forty good ones beat four hundred.
2
Upload them as one album
Select them all and drop them on the upload card. They become one album link, and every photo also gets its own link inside it. iPhone HEIC photos are converted to JPEG in your browser before upload.
3
Lock it and send it
On Pro, set a password and an end date, then share the link in the newsletter or the parents' chat, or print the QR on the note home. Put the password in a separate message from the link.

Written for the person holding the class camera

Thirty families, thirty different phones

A class is the most mixed audience you will ever send photos to: new iPhones, old Androids, a grandparent's tablet, a parent who only checks email on a work laptop. Shared albums tied to one ecosystem, or apps that need an invitation and an account, lose a few families every time. A link is a web page, so it opens the same way on all of them, and nobody has to install anything or remember a password to a service they signed up for once.

Children's photos need more care than holiday snaps

An album link is unlisted: it is not indexed by search engines and not listed anywhere public. But anyone who has the link can open it and forward it, and a class album can travel far once it lands in a big group chat. For children's photos that is a reason to add the Pro controls rather than an afterthought.

Password: the link alone is not enough to see the photos. Send it separately, for example in the school app.
End date: the album stops opening after the date you set, so it does not live on in old chats.
Downloads off (any plan): parents can look, but the album has no save button. Useful for a preview before the official photographer's set.
Disable: one switch in your dashboard takes the album offline immediately if something is shared that should not be.

Distributing it: newsletter, chat or paper

The link is short text, so it survives every channel a school already uses: the weekly newsletter, the class WhatsApp group, the school's messaging app, or an email from the office. For families who are not in any group, print the QR code on the letter that goes home in book bags; pointing a phone camera at it opens the album. The view counter tells you whether it is actually reaching people, which is more than a newsletter can.

Full size, and one ZIP for the parents who want everything

Photos open full size, not as compressed chat thumbnails, so a parent can print the one of their child crossing the finish line. Each photo has its own link inside the album, handy when a parent asks for just that one. And a single download button saves the whole album as a ZIP, for the parents who want every photo from the trip on their computer.

One album per event, or one per term

Two patterns work. One album per event keeps things tidy: 'Science museum trip', 'Sports day', 'Winter concert'. One album per term that you add to after each event means parents bookmark a single link and always find the latest. Each album holds up to 500 MB, which is hundreds of photos at web size or a good number at full resolution.

Class reps and PTA volunteers

Not only teachers do this. A class rep collecting photos from a school fair, a PTA volunteer sharing the prom photographer's preview, a coach sending team pictures after the season: same job, same link. If several adults took photos, have them send you the originals and upload them together, because parents cannot add photos to the album themselves.

Being straight about what this does not do

Parents cannot upload their own photos: There is no guest upload. One person collects the photos and posts them.
It does not check consent for you: No face detection or blurring. Removing photos of children without consent is on you, before you upload.
A password cannot stop a screenshot: Password, expiry and downloads-off keep strangers out and deter saving. A parent who can see a photo can still screenshot it.
Storage is finite: Free covers 3 albums and 100 MB in total, enough for a trial run. A year of class albums needs Pro, with 15 GB. Each photo is its own link, so on Free every photo counts toward the 20 free links.