Share family photos by text or email

What is a Circle?

A Circle is a private space on ShareLocket for a group of people — family, friends, a team, a club. Once you're in one, sharing a photo with everyone is as easy as sending a text. There's nothing to download.

Sending a photo

There are three ways to add a photo (or a quick note) to your Circle:

1. Text it. Send a photo, video, or short message to your Circle's phone number.
2. Email it. Attach a photo to an email and send it to your own circle email address.
3. Add it from the website. Sign in, open your Circle, and add a photo, video, file, or note.

However you send it, everyone in the Circle sees it.

To text or email, send from a phone number or email address you've confirmed on your account — that's how we know a post is yours. The Post from anywhere box in your Circle shows which ways are ready for you. Where it says Add email, Add number, or Confirm instead of an address, follow the steps under Need help? below.

Adding from the website

Open your Circle and tap the box at the top. It opens up so you can write, add photos, and say when it happened, all in one place.

1. In Post to the circle, type what you'd like to say. Type @ to mention someone in the circle.
2. Choose Photo, video, or file to add photos, videos, or files (a PDF, or a Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document), Camera to take one now, or Voice note to record a message. The add options, including GIF and Link, appear when you tap into the box, on a phone or a computer.
3. Each photo has a small … button. Tap it to Crop the photo, Tag people in it, Describe it for people who can't see it, or Remove it. To tag someone who isn't in the circle, just type their name. Drag the numbered corner to change the order.
4. If your first photo knows when it was taken, that date fills in When did this happen? (optional) for you. You can change it to your own words, and Use the date from the photo puts it back.
5. Choose Post. Everything goes up together as one post, and you'll see Posted. Everyone will see it after a quick check.

Changed your mind? Cancel closes the box and keeps what you wrote and added, so it's all there the next time you tap in. To start over instead, choose Throw away in the open box. We ask Throw this away? right there — choose Throw away again, or Keep writing. While you write, Draft saved means your words are kept even if you close the page.

A photo on its own is fine, and so are a few words on their own. Several photos posted together show as one card; tap any of them to see it large.

Spotted a wrong date on something you posted? Choose the pencil beside the date at the top of your post and type the right one. It saves when you press Enter or move on to something else, so there's no Save button to look for. If the photo knows when it was taken, Use the date from the photo puts that date back, even after you've cleared it.

A note without a photo can be up to 50,000 characters. Captions can be up to 5,000 characters. If your words are longer, post them as a note, or shorten them to add a photo, video, or file. Your text stays in the box while you decide.

A small dot marks posts you haven't looked at yet. It goes away once you've seen the post.

Long notes show a preview. Choose Read more to open the whole note and its conversation.

Saying when something happened

The date your phone or scanner puts on an old photo is usually the day the file was made, not the day in the picture. The When did this happen? box lets you say it in your own words, and we keep them exactly as you write them.

Write it any way you like: Summer 1972, Christmas morning, 1987, the summer we all drove to Maine or June 4, 2023. It's optional, and you don't need an exact day.

Sharing a GIF

Text or email a GIF to your Circle like any other photo, or on the website tap GIF in the box at the top to pick one.

A GIF first shows as a still picture with a small GIF label in the corner. Tap the play button in the corner to watch it, and tap it again to stop. Nothing moves until you choose to play it.

You can reply with a GIF too. Tap GIF in any comment box, pick one and send it, with or without a few words.

Sharing a document

An order of service, a typed-up recipe, a scanned letter, notes you keep in Word — documents can go in your Circle too.

Email it, or add it from the website — those work better for larger PDFs; upload and email attachment limits still apply. You can text a small one, but phone networks are much stricter about documents than photos, so anything over about half a megabyte won't get through by text. A scanned letter or an order of service is usually well over that, so email is the safer route. On the website, choose Photo, video, or file and pick the file. Anything you type in the box first appears underneath it, as with a photo.

Everyone sees a panel with the file's name, kind, and size. For a PDF, choose Open PDF to read it in your Circle, turn pages, or zoom in. Choose Download to save a copy. If a PDF can't be previewed, you can still download it.

Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint slideshows work too. You can add Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files from the website or email them to your Circle; small ones can arrive by text where your phone network supports it. On the website you can also add OpenDocument files (from LibreOffice or OpenOffice), RTF files and plain text files. These are download-only: choose Download and open them in the app you normally use.

Finding your Circle's number and address

Open your Circle to find your personal number and your circle email address, or save the personal contact card from your welcome message. Use your own card, not someone else's, so sending a photo is as simple as picking your Circle from your contacts.

What happens after you send something

Photos, videos, voice recordings, PDFs, and supported Office files can be texted or emailed in. If you send another kind of file, we'll write back to say it didn't make it. Most other things can be added from your Circle on the website.

One thing we can't always warn you about: if your phone network decides a file is too big to send, it never reaches us, so we can't write back. If you sent something and nobody in your Circle can see it, try emailing it instead.

Your photo appears for everyone once it has finished uploading and passed a short safety step, usually within moments. What's shared in a private Circle isn't put through the content screening we use for albums. Once a week, everyone in the Circle also gets a summary of what was shared that week, by email or text, whichever they prefer.

A web link you write in a note or caption becomes clickable for everyone in your Circle once we've checked that it's safe. Until then, or if it doesn't pass, it stays as plain text.

Hearing back after you text

When something you text shows up in your Circle, we text you back. The first time, you'll get a short welcome with a few tips. After that you'll get: Your message has been posted!

Rather not get a reply every time? Text the word quiet. We'll only text you if something goes wrong. To get the replies back, text replies on.

Only the word on its own changes your replies. A photo sent with "quiet" written on it is shared like any other photo. Voice messages and emails don't get these replies.

Just saying hello

A hello on its own is shared with your Circle like any other message, even if you say hello more than once. Everyone is notified according to their usual preferences. If you text it, you get the usual posted reply unless you have turned replies off with quiet.

There is no hourly or daily limit on how many messages members can text or email to their Circle. File and attachment limits still apply.

Replying to the weekly email

You can send one reply to each weekly summary within 14 days. Use a verified email address on your account. Only your own comment or photos are shared, so there's no need to quote the summary.

Already replied, or is the email older than 14 days? Open your Circle on the website to keep the conversation going. For a new post by email, use your saved personal Circle contact instead. Don't save a weekly summary's reply address as your regular contact or share it with anyone.

• Add a photo. Attach one or more photos to your reply and they appear in your Circle like any other photo.
• Add a comment. Type a message and reply. It shows up as a comment under that week's summary.

You don't need to sign in for either.

Replying to an email about a post

When we email you about a post in your Circle, such as a new post or someone mentioning you, you can reply to that email to add a comment on that post. Everyone in the Circle will see it. Use a verified email address on your account, and reply within 14 days of when we sent that email. Each email takes one reply.

If your reply includes a photo or file, or the post is no longer available, it is shared with your Circle as a new post instead.

Joining the conversation on the website

Every photo and every weekly summary in your Circle has its own conversation.

1. Sign in and open your Circle.
2. Under the photo, choose Add a comment — or, if there are already a few, the count, like 3 comments. Either one opens the conversation.
3. Type your message and choose Post.

Comments stay tucked away until you open them, so your Circle stays easy to scroll.

Replying to someone in particular

To answer one person, choose Reply under their comment. Your reply sits underneath theirs, so it's clear who you're answering. Replies go one level deep, so everyone answering the same comment stays in one group.

In a long conversation, choose Show older comments to see the earlier ones.

Adding a photo to a comment

You can add a photo to a comment or a reply without leaving the conversation.

1. Open the conversation under the photo you want to answer.
2. Choose Add a photo, then pick a photo or video.
3. It appears just above the buttons once it's ready.
4. Add a few words if you like, then choose Post.

One picture at a time, and the words are optional.

Picked the wrong one? Choose Remove to take it off, or Change photo to swap it. Nothing is shared until you choose Post.

Comments on a removed photo

If a photo is removed from a post, comments made on that photo disappear from conversations and comment counts, including for the people who wrote them. Adding the same photo again does not bring those comments back. They remain in the Circle download, labelled as comments on a photo that is no longer in the post.

Reacting to a comment

Every comment has the same emoji reactions as photos. Tap the little face to add one, and tap it again to take it back.

After you post a comment

For a moment after you post, your comment shows Just a moment — we're checking this while it finishes posting. Only you see that. Once it's through, everyone in your Circle can see it. Like photos, comments in a private Circle aren't put through content screening.

Your personal Circle email address

Everyone in a Circle has their own email address, three simple words like [email protected]. Email photos and notes to it and they post to the Circle as you. It only works from the email addresses you've confirmed on your account, so send from one of those.

When you write a message, it becomes your note, or the caption on your photos, and the subject line is left out. If you send photos with no message, the subject line becomes the caption.

You'll find your address in two places: under Your ways to post here on your My Account page, and on your personal contact card. Choose Copy to copy it, or Send me my contact card to save it to your phone. If you started the circle, it is also under Your circle email address in Circle settings.

If someone else has your address

If you started the circle, you can reset your address yourself. If someone else started it, reach out using the Still stuck? Message us link at the bottom of the Help panel and we'll take care of it.

1. Open your Circle, choose Circle options, then Circle settings.
2. Under Your circle email address, choose Reset address.
3. When we ask Reset your circle email address?, choose Reset address to go ahead, or Keep my address to leave it as it is.

Anyone who saved the old address will need the new one. The old address stops working straight away, and we email you the new one with a fresh contact card. You can reset your address up to three times a day.

Your saved contact creates a new post, even if your email has a reply subject or quotes an old summary. To answer an existing conversation, open it in your Circle on the website. Weekly summary reply addresses are separate and can be used once within 14 days.

Stopping the weekly emails

To stop the weekly email, reply with STOP while that summary’s reply address is still unused and within its 14-day window. You can also change this under Notifications in your Circle on the website, or ask the person who set up your Circle to turn your weekly emails off.

Finding the albums made in your Circle

Albums made in your Circle are listed together. Near the top of your Circle, choose Collections & more, and you'll find an Albums row inside it, on a computer or a phone. Each one shows its name and how many photos it holds. Tap it to open it.

Everyone who is an active member of the Circle can view its published albums, including private albums. Posting and commenting still follow each album's settings.

Only published albums appear there. An album someone is still putting together stays private to them until they're ready, so a surprise stays a surprise. If an album is later closed away, it leaves the list too. Nothing is deleted, and reopening it brings it back.

Making albums is part of a paid Circle. If yours is free, or you haven't made an album of your own yet, the Albums row also shows a short note about sharing albums, with a Create an album link. In a free Circle, that link shows you how to subscribe first. Anything already made stays where it is.

Private to the people in it

Only the people in your Circle can see what's shared there. There's no public page and nothing to browse outside your own Circle.

Need help?

If a text or email to your Circle doesn't seem to go through, it's usually because you sent it from a phone number or email address your account doesn't know yet — a work address, say, or a new phone. When that happens, we write back to tell you.

You can fix that yourself in a minute.

1. Sign in and open Your Profile.
2. Go to Staying in touch.
3. Choose Add email or Add phone number, and enter the one you were sending from.
4. Choose Send verification code, then type in the code we send you.

Once it's verified, try again using your saved personal Circle contact. For weekly summary replies, the one-reply and 14-day limits still apply.

Still not going through? Check that you're sending to your own circle email address, the one on your personal contact card, from an email address you've confirmed. If you're not sure, save a fresh contact card from your Circle, and make sure you're sending from the phone number or email address that was added for you. Now and then someone is set up on a different number from everyone else; that's expected. If you're not sure which number is yours, ask us and we'll confirm it. If a weekly email is more than 14 days old or you've already replied, open your Circle on the website to respond. Still stuck? Use the Still stuck? Message us link at the bottom of the Help panel.