Your questions about EventSlide
App, videos, moderation, weak Wi-Fi, privacy, cost: here are the answers, grouped by topic. Each one is drawn from what the software really does.
For your guests
What your guests see, and what is asked of them.
5 questions
Do my guests have to install an app?
No. They scan the QR code with their phone’s camera and send their photos from the browser. No account, no download, no email.
What if the QR code will not scan?
A six-character code lets them join the event by hand. The code is also shown in a corner of the wall, for latecomers.
Do my guests have to give their name?
No. A first name is possible if the guest feels like it, and it then shows with their photo on the wall. Nothing else is asked.
Can guests send videos?
Yes, short 15-second videos. They are converted to play on the wall, and play without sound: a room already has its music.
What do guests know about what happens to their photos?
Before their first photo they read a short notice: who will see their photos, whether you check them before the screen, how long they are kept and how to have one removed. It is written from your event’s own settings and in their language, and shown again if you change one of those settings mid-evening.
For you, the host
Set up, open, moderate: what you do before and during the party.
5 questions
Can I choose what appears on the screen?
Yes, and it is the default: every photo waits in a moderation queue until you approve it. Nothing reaches the screen without your approval.
How do I moderate during the party?
On a phone, one photo at a time: swipe right to publish, left to refuse. On a computer you get the whole queue and keyboard shortcuts: J and K to move, P to publish, R to refuse, Z to undo. See the details of moderation.
Can everything be published automatically?
Yes, but it is meant for a small party among close friends, and the app warns you when you choose it. As soon as colleagues or extended family are in the room, approve each photo yourself.
What happens to a refused photo?
It never shows on the wall, is not in the shared gallery and counts toward no mission. Swiped the wrong way? On a computer, Z undoes it.
When does the event open to guests?
When you open it, with a button on the event page, or at the opening time you scheduled. Until then it is a draft: the QR code lets nobody in. You can schedule a closing time too: closing the event stops uploads without deleting anything.
The wall and the room
The screen, the layouts, the missions and the languages.
7 questions
What equipment do I need in the room?
A screen or projector, and a computer (or any device that can show a web page full screen). With our hosted service you also need an internet connection on site. Once the display page is open full screen, no keyboard is needed.
What if the venue’s Wi-Fi is weak?
On the guests’ side, a photo picked with no signal is queued on the phone and sent when the network returns, even if the page has been closed. On the wall’s side, with our hosted service the screen depends on the venue’s connection. To keep it playing if the network drops, you need a machine on site: see host EventSlide yourself.
Can the wall run all evening unattended?
Yes, it is built to run by itself for eight hours. That holds for a machine installed on site; with the hosted service, it depends on the venue’s internet connection.
Which layouts are there?
Seven: one photo at a time, mosaic, polaroid, film strip, collage, split screen and clothesline. You can see them all on the how it works page.
Can I change how the wall looks?
Yes: each evening has its own look, picked from several or put together to your taste (accent colour, pair of fonts, frame style). The colour is checked so that it stays readable from ten metres.
What are photo missions for?
You write a few prompts, for example “the best dance move”, and your guests see them as a checklist on their phone. A mission is answered when a published photo names it. There is no leaderboard and no score: everyone sees only their own list.
Which languages does EventSlide speak?
French, English, German, Spanish and Italian, across the whole interface: the guest’s phone, the moderation console, the admin pages and the wall. The wall’s language is a setting on the event. What people write (captions, first names, prompts) is never translated.
Privacy
Where your photos go, and what is done with them.
5 questions
Where are the photos hosted?
In France, with OVHcloud, for our hosted service. If you install EventSlide yourself, they stay on your own machine. The details are on the privacy page.
What happens to the photos’ GPS position?
It is erased, along with device identifiers, from every photo on arrival. A guest’s camera records the coordinates of wherever they are standing, often somebody’s home: they must not end up on a wall or in a gallery.
Are there ads? Are my photos resold?
No, there are no ads and your photos are not resold.
Who sees the photos?
On the wall, the photos you approved, and only those. In the shared gallery, whoever you send the link to, while it is open, with the password if there is one. Only the event’s owners can make that link.
How long are the photos kept?
Nothing is deleted unless you ask, and your guests are told so. If you set a retention period, the album is erased that many days after the event closes. Export it first.
After the party
Getting the photos, sending them to everybody.
5 questions
How do I get the photos after the party?
With a shared gallery: the morning after, you make a link on the event page and send it to everybody. Each person downloads the photos one by one, or all at once as a ZIP file.
How long does the link stay open?
7, 30 or 90 days, as you choose, a month if you do not choose. You can also switch it off whenever you like: nothing opens any more, even in a tab that is already open.
Can the gallery have a password?
Yes, it is optional. Choose one of at least 12 characters and send it separately from the link. The link’s address is shown only once, when you make it: copy it right away.
Are the photos in full resolution?
Yes, without GPS position or device data. Only the photos that were on the wall are in it. A video comes as it was converted, not as the phone filmed it.
And my own copy of the album?
You can download it from the event page, including the photos you took off the wall.
Price and access
What it costs, and how to get in.
3 questions
Does EventSlide cost anything?
Our hosted service is free, by invitation for now. The software is free software: you can also install it yourself.
How do I get access?
Ask from the request access page. Access is by invitation, for now.
Can I donate?
A way to donate is planned, and is not open yet. A donation will not unlock anything: the service is the same for everyone. See the about page.
The technical side
For those who want to install it themselves.
5 questions
Can I install EventSlide on my own machine?
Yes. You need Docker (or Node 24 or later) and an https address your guests’ phones can reach. The Docker image is published, signed and scanned with each release, for amd64 and arm64 machines, a Raspberry Pi for instance. It is all explained on the self-hosting page.
Why does it need an https address?
Because the QR code encodes that address: a QR code pointing at “localhost” is the most common way for a setup to fail on the night. And the host’s login cookie is only sent back by a browser over https. Always test your QR code with your own phone before the guests arrive.
Can it be used with no internet at all?
Not today. A machine on a local network with no domain name and no certificate cannot serve https that phones will trust, and EventSlide will not run over plain http in production. The project records this case as an open question.
How do I back up my photos?
The software ships a backup command, to run before the event and the morning after. It re-reads what it has just written. The step people skip is the one that matters: getting the archive off the machine, onto another computer or a drive you can unplug.
What licence is EventSlide under?
AGPL-3.0, a free software licence: the code is public on GitHub, and you can read it, change it and share it. If you modify EventSlide and let others use it over a network, you must offer them the source of your version.
A question that is not here?
A whole evening, step by step, is on the how it works page. For technical questions, the project’s issue tracker is open to everyone.
Ready for your next party?
Ask for access to our hosted service: free, by invitation.
Comfortable with servers?Host EventSlide yourself