Start a circle for your family or group

Who can start a Circle

During the beta, starting a Circle needs beta access. If you need it, the create page says Starting a circle needs a beta code for now. Enter your code under Add your beta code and choose Add code. Your circle name and the people you've entered stay in place.

People invited to an album or circle can create an account and join without a beta code. Joining does not give you beta access to start your own circle; you can add a code later. If you already have an account, you can accept any circle invitation without a code.

The person who starts a Circle looks after it for everyone else, so we'll also ask you to confirm your email address and your phone number. If either isn't confirmed yet, we'll walk you through it there. Outside the beta, anyone with a ShareLocket account can start a Circle.

Starting one

1. Sign in and open your shelf.
2. Choose Create a circle.
3. Under What would you like to call it?, give it a name everyone will recognise, like "Sunday Dinners". You can use up to 100 characters, and you can change it later.
4. Under Add your first members., add the people you'd like to invite. Fill in First name and Last name, then choose By email or By phone number and enter their details. Choose + Another to add someone else, or leave invitations for later.
5. Choose Create followed by your circle's name.

If an invitation can't be sent, your circle is still created. Choose Try invites again, or Continue to your circle to carry on.

What happens next

Your new Circle gets its own phone number, and every person in it, you included, gets their own circle email address, so anyone can share a photo, a video, or a quick note the way they'd text a friend. Then add your members. Each person gets their own contact card to save to their phone.

Once people are in, your member list shows who is set up on the Circle's own number. Now and then someone is set up on a different number instead. Their row says so and shows the number they should use, so you can pass it on and they can save it.

A subscribed Circle holds more people than a free one, and the people page shows how many. If yours is full, remove someone who no longer needs to be in it, or take back an invitation that hasn't been accepted, and that spot opens up. When a subscription ends, the Circle drops to its free limit of active people. The owner can choose who stays on the people page; the others are paused, and their shared content stays. Paused people return when the Circle is subscribed again. While the circle isn't subscribed and someone is paused, turn them back on instead of adding anyone new. A billing pause removes paid features but keeps existing people active until the subscription actually ends.

How many Circles you can have

You can have up to three free circles of your own. Circles someone adds you to do not count, and a subscribed circle does not count. If you already have three free circles, subscribe one of them to start another, or close one you no longer use (Close this circle, in the circle's settings). Beta testers with at least 12 free months can still start one: it begins with 12 of those months on it, so it isn't a free circle.

Need help?

If something doesn't look right while you're setting up your Circle, use the Still stuck? Message us link at the bottom of the Help panel.