Privacy guide
A private online photo gallery for clients: what private really means, and how to set one up
When a client asks whether their photos are private, they usually mean three different things: can a stranger find them, can a stranger open them, and can anyone take the files. A private online photo gallery answers each with a different tool. This guide explains what an unlisted link, a password, an email sign-in and a download PIN actually protect, which combination fits which kind of shoot, and where every private gallery reaches its limits.
Three questions hiding inside the word private
Most misunderstandings about private galleries come from mixing these up. Each has its own answer.
Can a stranger find it?
A client gallery is unlisted by default: it appears in no menu and no public index, and search engines are told not to list it. That keeps it out of Google. It does not make the address a secret. On many tools, Photoglacier included, the link is built from the studio name and the gallery title, and anyone who receives it can open it and pass it on.
Can a stranger open it?
Only a password answers this one. With a password set, the link alone shows a sign-in page and nothing else: no cover, no thumbnails, no names. It is the one layer that keeps out people who were never meant to see the photos, which is why it matters most for newborn, family, boudoir and school work.
Can anyone take the files?
Looking and downloading are separate decisions. You can show a gallery to a whole wedding party and still reserve the full-resolution files for the couple, by switching downloads off, limiting them to a web size, or putting them behind a PIN that only the client receives.
Four ways to protect a gallery, side by side
They are not alternatives. Each closes a different door, and most private galleries combine two of them.
| What to know | Unlisted link The default | Password One per gallery | Email sign-in Asks who is there | Download PIN For the files, not the view |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it stops | Search engines, and anyone who never receives the link | Everyone who has the link but not the password | Nothing by itself; it records who opened the gallery | Viewers taking the full-resolution files |
| What it does not stop | Anyone the link is forwarded to | A password forwarded together with the link | Someone typing an address that is not theirs | Viewing, and screenshots |
| What the client has to do | Click the link | Type the password once per device | Enter an email address once | Type the PIN before downloading |
| Good for | Weddings and events that are meant to be passed around | Newborn, family, boudoir, school and company work | Knowing who looked, and reaching guests after a big event | Galleries everyone may see while only the client gets the originals |
| On Photoglacier | Every plan, including Free | From Starter | Every plan, including Free | From Starter |
Which protection fits which shoot
The right setting depends on who is in the photos and who is supposed to see them.
Weddings
A wedding gallery is made to travel: the couple sends it to parents, witnesses and guests. A password gets in the way here, and is often shared in the family chat within an hour anyway. The better fit is an unlisted link for viewing and a download PIN for the originals, so everyone can look and only the couple takes the full-resolution files.
Newborn, family and boudoir
These are the photos clients worry about, and the ones where a password is not optional. Set one, send it through a different channel than the link, keep downloads for the client alone, and take the gallery offline once the files are safely delivered. For boudoir work, agree in writing beforehand how long the gallery stays online.
Schools, nurseries and clubs
Many children, many parents, and consent rules that are stricter than for any other job. Give each class or group its own gallery with its own password, and upload only once the consent forms are in. A shared gallery cannot show each family only its own child, so if that is what the school expects, you need a tool built for school photography.
Company and event work
A corporate client will ask who can see the pictures and where they are stored. A password answers the first question, and an email sign-in on top shows you which colleagues actually opened the gallery. For the second, you need a provider with a data processing agreement and servers in a named country.
Setting up a private gallery
The order matters: decide who gets in before the link exists, not after it has been sent.
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Upload while the gallery is still a draft
A draft has no public address, so nothing can leak while you are still sorting and arranging. Build the gallery, choose the cover, and group the photos before anything goes live.
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Decide who gets in
Set a password if the photos are sensitive, and switch on the email sign-in if you want to know who opened the gallery. Pick a password the client can type on a phone and that is not their name or the wedding date.
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Decide what can be downloaded
Downloads on or off, web size or originals, with or without a PIN. If guests may look but only the client should have the files, this is the setting that does it.
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Send link and password separately
Publish, then send the link by email and the password by message, or the other way round. A password in the same email as the link protects against very little. When the job is over, unpublish the gallery and the link stops working.
What no private gallery can do
A provider that promises more than this is selling a feeling. Better to know the limits and tell the client honestly.
Stop a screenshot
Whoever can see a photo can capture it. Right-click blocking and overlays slow down nobody who wants an image. What does help: show the gallery at a web size, keep the originals behind a PIN, and share sensitive work with fewer people in the first place.
Control a forwarded password
A password is a shared secret, and it is only as private as the people who know it. If a gallery has travelled further than it should, change the password: everyone has to ask again, and you decide who gets the new one.
Replace consent
A password protects the gallery. It is not permission to show the people in it. You still need a legal basis for the photos you publish to others, an agreement with the provider that stores them, and a date after which the gallery comes down.
Private galleries on Photoglacier
Photoglacier is built in Austria and runs on servers and object storage in Germany. Every gallery starts as a draft, is unlisted once published, and carries a noindex instruction for search engines. What you add on top depends on the job. You can try the paid features for 14 days without a credit card, and the free plan afterwards keeps 5 GB and three published galleries online with no expiry.
- Unlisted links on every plan, with search engines told not to index them
- Password protection from Starter, EUR 8 a month billed yearly
- Email sign-in and guest lists on every plan, so you can see who opened a gallery
- Downloads on or off per gallery, in web size or original, with a PIN from Starter
- What it does not do: no separate password per guest, no watermarks, no face recognition, and no password protection on the free plan
Questions people are asking
What is a private online photo gallery?
A web page that shows one client's photos and is not listed anywhere public. At the simplest level it is an unlisted link that search engines do not index. For sensitive work a password is added, so the link alone opens nothing, and downloads can be restricted separately with a PIN.
Is a password-protected gallery really secure?
It keeps out everyone who does not have the password, which is what clients mean when they ask. It cannot stop someone who has the password from passing it on or taking a screenshot. Send link and password through different channels, change the password if it has spread too far, and take the gallery offline when the job is done.
Can Google find my client gallery?
Not if the provider marks galleries as noindex, which Photoglacier does for every shared gallery. Search engines that follow the rules will not list it. That is different from secret: a link can still be forwarded or guessed, so anything sensitive needs a password as well.
Can clients share a private gallery with their family?
Yes, and for weddings that is the point. They forward the link, and the password if there is one. If you want family to look without taking the originals, leave viewing open and put the downloads behind a PIN that only your client receives.
Is there a free private photo gallery for photographers?
Partly. Photoglacier's free plan gives you unlisted, non-indexed galleries with an email sign-in, 5 GB and three published galleries, with no expiry. Password protection and the download PIN start with Starter at EUR 8 a month billed yearly. Check any free plan for exactly this: many leave the password out.
How do I send photos to a client privately?
Upload them to a gallery that is still a draft, set a password, publish, and send the link and the password separately. Unlike a transfer link the gallery does not expire after a week, and unlike a shared cloud folder the client sees a presentation, not a file list.
Does the GDPR require a password on client galleries?
The GDPR names no specific tool. It asks for protection appropriate to the risk, and for photos of children, of private occasions or of anything intimate a password is the least a client can expect. It also asks for a data processing agreement with your gallery provider. This is general information, not legal advice.
A private photo gallery for clients, without making it hard for them
A private online photo gallery has to do two things that pull in opposite directions: keep strangers out and let the right people in without effort. A password protected photo gallery solves the first, and a link that opens on any phone without an account or an app solves the second. The mistake is treating privacy as one switch. An unlisted link, a password, an email sign-in and a download PIN each protect something different, and a private client gallery usually needs two of them, not all four.
For photographers in the EU, where the photos are stored belongs to the same conversation. A private gallery on servers in Germany, with a signed data processing agreement, lets you answer a client's question in one sentence. Photoglacier offers private galleries for clients with unlisted links and email sign-in on the free plan, and password protection and download PINs from Starter, with photos and video in the same gallery.
More guides
This guide describes how access protection for client galleries generally works and is not legal advice. Privacy rules differ by country and by the kind of work, so for a decision that matters, consult a qualified adviser in your jurisdiction. Plan details for Photoglacier were checked in October 2026.
A gallery only the right people open
Unlisted links on every plan, passwords and download PINs from Starter, servers in Germany.
