The messenger option

Another option, which a lot of you will probably already be using, is to set up a private conversation thread in a messenger app like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Google Hangouts or something similar. You can choose exactly who’s included and what’s shown, even if these messaging apps aren’t quite as well configured for the job as the ones above.

Looking back through pictures and finding them at a later date can be tricky, and your friends and family may not appreciate having photo updates beamed through in the middle of their regular instant messenger conversations, but it’s another option for occasional and hassle-free sharing with a fixed group of people.

SLIDE #6The standard photo app option

While we’ve focussed on dedicated apps here, any major photo sharing platform worthy of a place on your phone is going to include private album sharing too. You can even keep your standard Facebook albums limited to a select number of people if needed, so you don’t necessarily have to jump to a new app if you’re happy with what you’ve already got.

Google Photos, Dropbox, Flickr, and iCloud all have album sharing tools built into them (though some are better than others at it), and they might be a simpler option for you if you’ve got bundles of pictures already uploaded to a few of these places. For something cleaner and more separate for your private photo sharing, get a dedicated app installed.

Update September 8, 2022 @ 1:45 pm: Google Spaces removed because it was discontinued in 2017