Starter
$44.99USD / event
- Up to 100 guests
- 2,000 photo and video uploads
- 25 GB storage
- Up to 250 MB per file
- 3 months upload and download access
PartyLab vs iMessage
iMessage group chats exclude Android guests, compress photos, and bury uploads in conversation history. PartyLab collects every guest\u2019s photos in a live gallery via QR code \u2014 no Apple ID, no app, works on every device.
Feature-by-feature comparison
| Feature | PartyLab | iMessage |
|---|---|---|
| Guests need to create an account | No | Yes |
| Guests need to download an app | No | Yes |
| Works on Android devices | Yes | No |
| One QR code for all guests to upload | Yes | No |
| Collects candid photos from all guests | Yes | No |
| Original photo quality preserved | Yes | No |
| Live gallery during the event | Yes | No |
| Built-in slideshow for venue TVs / screens | Yes | No |
| Digital guestbook captions | Yes | No |
| ZIP download of all photos | Yes | No |
| One-time pricing — no subscription | Yes | No |
| Purpose-built for in-event photo collection | Yes | No |
Where iMessage falls short for photo collection
📵
iMessage completely excludes Android guests
iMessage only works between Apple devices signed in with an Apple ID. When you create an iMessage group chat for an event, every Android user in your guest list is either excluded entirely or forced into a degraded SMS/MMS fallback that compresses photos further and breaks read receipts. At a typical family reunion, birthday party, or wedding, between 30–45% of guests carry Android phones. iMessage turns your group chat into a two-tier system where a significant portion of guests simply cannot participate. PartyLab works on every device — iPhone, Android, and any browser — via a QR code that requires no Apple ID and no app installation.
🗨️
Photos get compressed and buried in conversation history
PartyLab stores original-quality photos and videos in an event gallery you can browse and export. Starter includes 3 months of upload and download access. Plus includes 1 year of upload and download access. Max includes 1 year of upload and download access. Download your files before access ends; downloaded copies are yours to keep.
💾
No bulk download, no slideshow, no host controls
PartyLab offers Starter at $44.99 USD, Plus at $89.99 USD, Max at $179.99 USD per event. Each package is a one-time payment. There is no free upload tier or recurring event subscription. Starter: up to 100 guests, 2,000 uploads, and 25 GB storage. Plus: up to 500 guests, 10,000 uploads, and 100 GB storage. Max: no guest cap, 50,000 uploads, and 1 TB storage. Starter includes 3 months of upload and download access. Plus includes 1 year of upload and download access. Max includes 1 year of upload and download access. Download your files before access ends; downloaded copies are yours to keep.
Event organizers who switched to PartyLab
“We used an iMessage group for our family reunion. Half my cousins have Android so they got green bubbles and lower-quality photos. Setting up a separate WhatsApp group for them was a mess. The next reunion I used PartyLab — one QR code, 180 photos from everyone in a single gallery, no green-bubble problem.”
Kevin M.
Family reunion organizer, 75 guests across three generations
“Our team offsite photos ended up scattered across three different iMessage threads because not everyone was in the same group. Downloading them all took ages. My assistant found PartyLab and we never went back — one link, every photo in one place, ZIP download in 30 seconds.”
Priya S.
People Operations Manager, 120-person company offsite
“My partner’s side of the family is all Android. I didn’t realize until the morning of our engagement party that iMessage wouldn’t work for them. I found PartyLab, set it up in five minutes, put the QR code on a card at the door, and ended up with 340 photos from both sides of the family in one gallery.”
Sophie L.
Engagement party host, 90 guests, mixed iPhone and Android families
One-time packages for your event
Create an event draft, then choose Starter, Plus, or Max before sharing with guests. Guest uploads require a paid package.
Plus
$89.99USD / event
- Up to 500 guests
- 10,000 photo and video uploads
- 100 GB storage
- Up to 500 MB per file
- 1 year upload and download access
Max
$179.99USD / event
- No guest cap
- 50,000 photo and video uploads
- 1 TB storage
- Up to 1 GB per file
- 1 year upload and download access
Every paid event package includes photo and video uploads, a QR code and event link, a live gallery, a live slideshow, photo captions, reactions, original-quality ZIP export, and guest email CSV export.
Frequently asked questions
Can iMessage be used for event photo collection?
iMessage group chats are frequently used for informal photo sharing at events, but they are not purpose-built for event photo collection. Photos are compressed for delivery, they land in a conversation thread with no gallery view, Android guests are excluded entirely, and there is no way to bulk-download all photos after the event. For structured event photo collection from a mixed guest list, a purpose-built tool like PartyLab is significantly more effective.
How does PartyLab handle mixed iPhone and Android guest lists?
PartyLab works identically on every device. Guests open the link in their phone’s camera app (scanning the QR code) or browser, enter their name once, and upload photos directly from their camera roll. There is no difference in the experience between iPhone and Android users — both upload at original quality into the same live gallery. No app download required for either platform.
Does PartyLab compress photos the way iMessage does?
No. PartyLab stores and delivers photos at original resolution and quality. iMessage compresses photos during delivery — particularly on MMS fallback when Android users are in the group. PartyLab uploads preserve the full original file from each guest’s device, and the ZIP export gives you those originals at the same quality they came off the guest’s camera.
Can I use PartyLab and iMessage together?
Yes. A common workflow is to create an iMessage group for your immediate circle and share the PartyLab link inside it so iPhone guests can also use the structured gallery. Meanwhile, PartyLab’s QR code at the venue captures uploads from Android guests and anyone else who isn’t in the group chat. All photos land in the same PartyLab gallery regardless of how guests accessed the link.
Every guest, every device. One gallery.
One-time event packages from $44.99 USD.