Accepting an invitation

Welcome — someone invited you

When a friend or family member invites you to a Memory Album, you'll get a personal email or text from us with a link. Tap the link from the device you're most comfortable on, and we'll do the rest.

What happens when you tap the link

You're taken straight to the album — even for private albums. There's no sign-up wall in the way; you can browse photos, read messages, and enjoy the keepsake right away. We hold onto your invitation in the background, so the moment you'd like to leave a comment, react to a photo, or add your own memory, we'll bring up a quick sign-up window. You type in your own name, email, and phone number — so the account is truly yours. To help you recognize the right invitation, we show a gentle hint of where it was sent (something like "sent to m***@example.com"), with the rest tucked away for privacy.

If you sign up with the same email or phone the invitation was sent to, you're in straight away — and that email or text-message link counts as proof of that channel, so we won't ask you to verify it separately.

If you've already got a ShareLocket account, tap Already have an account? Sign in instead, and sign in the way you normally would.

If the invitation was sent to a different email of yours

Good news — you don't have to sign in with the exact address the invite was sent to. As long as that address is one of the verified emails on your ShareLocket account, we'll match it up and accept the invitation automatically. So if your friend invited you at [email protected] but you usually sign in with [email protected], it just works. You can add and verify additional addresses any time from Account Settings → Email addresses.

The link is tied to the device you opened it on

Once you tap the link the first time, that device is the one that gets to enjoy the immediate-look-around. If you forward the link to someone else, or open it on a brand-new device later, you'll see a friendlier "this invite has already been opened" message. For a public album, we'll just drop you on the regular album page — you can still view it. For a private album, the link goes back to looking like an ordinary URL with no peek inside. To get back in, sign in to your ShareLocket account with the email or phone the invitation was sent to, or ask the album owner to send you a fresh link.

If you sign up with a different email or phone than the one invited

That's still fine — we'll create your account either way. What happens next depends on the album:

• For a public album, you simply join and can start enjoying it right away.
• For a private album, because the invitation was personal to the original email or phone, we let the album owner know there's a new sign-up to confirm. You'll see a friendly "waiting for the album owner's approval" message. The owner sees your name plus the details you used (so they can recognize you) and the original address the invite was sent to, and they tap Approve or Decline. Until they approve you, you can still look around the album, but you won't be able to post or comment just yet. The original invitation stays valid too, in case the right person wants to use it later.

If the link says it isn't valid anymore

Invitation links expire after about a week, and the album owner can cancel an invitation at any time. If you see "This invite link isn't valid anymore," just ask whoever invited you to send a fresh link — it's a one-tap action for them on their People page.

If we asked you to switch accounts

If you're already signed in to a different ShareLocket account, we'll ask you to sign out and back in with the email or phone the invitation was sent to. Invitations are personal — they only work for the recipient they were addressed to.