Password-Protecting Your Client Galleries: A Simple Guide
Why and how to add a password to your photo galleries — and how GalleryLink keeps client work private without forcing anyone to create an account.
Short answer
Most client galleries do not need a password, and every one you add costs you some clients who never get past it. Use one for boudoir, weddings, embargoed commercial work, anything involving children, and unpaid proofing sets. For everything else an unguessable link plus keeping the gallery out of search results is enough.
Most client galleries don't need a password. A family portrait session, a corporate headshot set, a real-estate listing that's about to be public anyway — a link is enough, and every barrier you add costs you some clients who never get past it. But some galleries absolutely do need one, and knowing which is which is the actual skill.
This guide covers when a password is warranted, what it does and doesn't protect against, how to choose one clients can actually use, and the other privacy layers that matter more than most photographers realise.
Table of Contents
- When a gallery needs a password
- When it just costs you
- What a password actually protects against
- The layers that matter more
- Choosing a password clients can use
- How to deliver it
- How it's stored, technically
- Common questions
When a gallery needs a password
- Boudoir and intimate portraiture. Non-negotiable. This is the category where a password is table stakes and where you should also switch off client sharing.
- Weddings, usually. Not because the photos are sensitive, but because two hundred guests will be forwarded the link and the couple should decide who sees the whole set.
- Corporate and commercial work under embargo. Product shots before launch, event photos with an internal-only policy.
- Anything involving children where the parents haven't agreed to public sharing — school, sports, family sessions.
- Proofing sets that aren't paid for yet. Combined with downloads off, and watermarked previews if you host the gallery.
When it just costs you
Every password is a small tax on your client's experience and a support message waiting to happen. Skip it when:
- The photos are about to be public anyway — real-estate listings, published editorial, conference photos meant for sharing.
- The client is a business that will forward the link internally many times; a password gets pasted into the same email anyway, protecting nothing while annoying everyone.
- You're relying on the gallery being shared to market yourself, as with guest-facing sets.
The honest test: would I mind if a stranger who happened to have this link saw these photos? If no, don't add friction.
What a password actually protects against
Be clear-eyed. A gallery password protects against:
- A forwarded link reaching someone the client didn't intend
- Casual discovery by someone looking over a shoulder
- A link pasted into a group chat spreading beyond its audience
It does not protect against: a client who shares the password along with the link (very common, often fine), screenshots, or anyone determined and technical. Password protection is access control for ordinary situations, not a security system for hostile ones. If a job genuinely requires the latter, deliver on physical media and put the terms in the contract.
The layers that matter more
Unguessable links
The first real protection is that nobody can find your gallery by guessing. Gallery URLs end in a random string — /gallery/emma-josh-7gk2pq8r — which cannot be enumerated or stumbled upon. In practice this does more work than the password does, because the overwhelming majority of "privacy" failures are galleries being found, not galleries being cracked.
Keeping galleries out of search results
A gallery that ranks in Google is a privacy failure regardless of passwords. Client galleries carry a noindex directive, so search engines are instructed not to list them — a wedding never turns up when someone searches the couple's names. Worth checking on any platform you use: some galleries are indexable by default, which is how client work ends up in image search.
Download control
Separate from viewing. A gallery can be open to view but closed to download — useful for proofing, and for clients who should see but not distribute. Turning downloads off hides the download button while leaving the viewing experience intact.
Choosing a password clients can use
The failure mode isn't a weak password — it's a password so awkward the client can't relay it to their mother. Practical guidance:
| Do | Don't |
|---|---|
Something sayable out loud: emma2026, hartwedding | Random strings a client has to copy exactly |
| Tie it to the event — names, venue, year | Reuse one password across every client |
| Lowercase, no punctuation | Case-sensitive traps and special characters |
| Change it if a client asks | Assume the same password suits boudoir and weddings |
Reusing one password across clients is the genuinely bad practice here: a leak from one delivery quietly opens every other gallery you've made.
How to deliver it
Put the password in the same message as the link. Splitting them across two channels feels more secure and mostly just generates support requests — the threat model doesn't justify the friction. Say what it's for, so the client passes it on appropriately:
Your gallery: gallerylink.live/gallery/emma-josh-7gk2pq8r
Password: emma2026 — feel free to share both with family.
If the couple should control who sees the full set, say that instead, and point them at making their own mini-galleries for guests — that way they share photos rather than passwords.
How it's stored, technically
Only a bcrypt hash of the password is stored — the plain text is never written down anywhere, which is why no support person can ever tell you or a client what a gallery's password is. Entering it correctly grants a short-lived signed cookie for that gallery alone, so unlocking one delivery never unlocks another. If you forget it, you set a new one from your dashboard; the gallery link stays the same.
The same reasoning applies to your own account password, and it's worth knowing what a platform does here — "we can email you your password" is a red flag that the password was stored in a recoverable form.
Common questions
Can I password-protect only part of a gallery? No — protection is per gallery. Two audiences means two galleries, or one protected gallery plus a client-made share link for the wider circle.
Does the client have to enter it every time? No. Once unlocked, that browser stays unlocked for a while, so a client returning next week isn't asked again.
Is it available on the free plan? Password protection is a paid feature; the pricing page has the current breakdown.
What about the underlying Drive folder? If you deliver from Drive, the folder is shared as "anyone with the link" — the gallery password protects the gallery, not the raw folder link. For work where that distinction matters, host the gallery so there is no separate folder link at all. The Drive delivery guide covers the tradeoff in full.