Help center
How can we help you?
Guides for hosts and guests, answers to common questions, and a direct line to our support team when you need a human.
Browse by topic
Start with the basics.
Getting started
Dropola turns any celebration into one shared photo and video gallery. You create an event, we hand you a QR code, and everyone who scans it can add their memories — no app, no setup. Here's the whole journey, from sign-up to a live gallery.
- Sign up free with your email, then confirm your address from the verification email we send — that unlocks your dashboard.
- On your Dashboard, tap Create event and enter an event name and date (a description is optional). Your unique join code and QR code are generated the moment you save.
- On your event card, tap the pencil icon (Edit event) to set it up your way — turn on the guestbook and RSVP, choose a public or private gallery, and add a cover image or colour on a paid plan.
- Tap the QR icon to Download QR or Print QR, then share it however you like — a table card, a screen, or a group chat. The moment a guest scans it, their uploads land in your gallery.
Dropola Tip — Your event's QR code and link never change, so you can print and hand them out well before the big day. Scan it with your own phone first to see exactly what your guests will.
For guests
If someone shared a Dropola QR code or link with you, you're a guest — and there's genuinely nothing to install or sign up for. Everything happens right in your phone's browser.
- Point your phone camera at the event QR code and tap the link that appears, or open the dropola.com/event link the host sent. The event opens straight in your browser.
- Tap to add photos or videos from your camera roll, add your name if you'd like your uploads credited, and send — they upload straight to the host's gallery in full quality. If the host set up albums, pick the one your photos belong to before you send.
- If the host turned on RSVP, choose Yes, Maybe, or Can't make it, set how many people you're bringing, and add a note. You can come back and change your answer any time.
- Leave a message in the guestbook as you upload — and when the host makes it public, you'll get to read every note your fellow guests left. On Pro and Premium events you can also tap the mic to record a short voice message, up to a minute, just for the host.
Dropola Tip — On a private event you'll only see the upload screen, not everyone else's photos — that's the host's choice, and your uploads still reach them safely. A public event adds a shared gallery you can all browse together. On a public event, use the page controls under the gallery to browse older photos — pick how many to show per page and flip back through the evening.
For hosts
Your event is your control room before, during, and after the day. Open it from your Dashboard to watch uploads roll in, keep the gallery tidy, adjust every setting, and take your memories home. Once an event's upload window closes it moves down to Past events, where you can still open the gallery and download everything before the media is deleted.
- Open your event to see the Event insights panel up top — a live count of photos and videos, how many guests contributed, and a heads-up on any duplicates. Tap the Duplicates card (or Needs review, when moderation is on) to jump straight to those items. New uploads appear in the gallery automatically. Filter by type, album or guest from the row of buttons above the photos, and choose Manage albums in the album menu to set up albums like Ceremony or Reception — then select photos and use Move to album to tidy everything up.
- On Premium, set Media moderation to Review before publishing so every upload waits for your approval before guests see it. The Needs review tab above the gallery collects everything waiting for you: hover a photo and use the tick to approve it or the eye to hide it, or tap Select to handle many at once. On a phone, tap the ⋯ button on a photo for the same options. Hidden media stays under the Hidden tab, and only approved photos ever play in the slideshow. On any plan, you can delete a photo or video at any time.
- Tap the pencil icon (Edit event) on your event card to shape the event: switch the gallery between public and private, toggle Guestbook, Public guestbook, and RSVP, pause everything with Event active, or add a cover image, theme colour, password, and your own logo on paid plans. When you turn Password protected on for the first time, choose a password before saving — later you can leave the field blank to keep it. If you close the dialog with unsaved edits, Dropola asks before throwing them away.
- Download any photo or video in full quality from its ⋯ menu, or tap Select, pick up to 30 and choose Download. Start a Slideshow to play photos on the big screen, and export your guestbook and RSVP list as CSV or PDF — free on every plan. On Pro and Premium, tap Voice messages to play back and download the notes guests recorded, and grab the whole gallery — voice messages included — as a ZIP. In the slideshow, swipe or use the arrow keys to move between photos and press Space to pause.
Dropola Tip — Public gallery and Allow guest uploads are two independent switches: the first decides whether guests can browse everyone's photos, the second whether they can add their own. Either way, you always keep the one full view of everything.
Photo booth
The photo booth is a full-screen camera page you leave running on a device at the venue. No app, no account: guests tap one button, pose for the countdown, and their photo is uploaded to your event straight away, credited as "Photo Booth". It's available on Pro and Premium.
- Open your event's Edit event dialog and go to the Photo booth section. It's on by default — pick a background there, and use Open photo booth to see it live.
- On the tablet you'll leave at the venue — an iPad works great — open Safari and type dropola.com/event/YOURCODE/booth into the address bar (or open the ⋯ menu on your event card and choose Open photo booth). Tap Start, allow the camera when asked, and the page fills the screen and keeps it awake.
- Guests tap Take photo, get a 3-2-1 countdown and a flash, then see their shot. Keep it sends it to the gallery; Retake throws it away. If nobody taps for 30 seconds, the photo is kept automatically so the booth never gets stuck.
- Every booth photo appears in your gallery like any other upload — if you use Review before publishing, it waits for your approval first. The booth never asks for the event password, even on a password-protected event, so only leave it running where you want it used. Turn it off any time under Edit event, or pause uploads to close it along with everything else.
Dropola Tip — A tablet on a stand with a ring light works wonders — give it a quick test on the day. On an iPad, turn on Guided Access (triple-click the side button) so guests stay in the booth and can't wander into other apps, and if the device has more than one camera use the switch button in the top corner to pick the one facing your guests.
Guest lists & RSVPs
Every event comes with a free guest list. Turn on RSVP and guests can tell you if they're coming right from the event page — no account needed — while you watch the whole headcount from one screen.
- On your event card, tap the pencil icon (Edit event), and switch on RSVP active — it's free on every plan. Guests then get a short form on the event page to reply Yes, Maybe, or Sorry, I can't make it, plus how many people they're bringing.
- Open Guests & RSVPs from the sidebar and pick your event. The Responses overview up top gives you a live count of who's going, who's a maybe, and who can't make it.
- Want to log a reply yourself? Tap Add guest to enter a name, response, guest count and note by hand — perfect for RSVPs that arrive by phone or in person. Edit or remove any entry whenever you like.
- Search or filter the responses, choose how many to show per page, and tap Export to download the whole list as a CSV for your planning.
Dropola Tip — The Going and Maybe tiles count people, not replies — one "Going" answer for four guests shows as four. That's your real headcount for catering and seating.
Planning & checklists
The Checklist is your own private planning space — somewhere to track every task, project, and to-do for your event or ceremony, kept completely separate from your guests and galleries. It's free on every plan, and only you can see it.
- Open Checklist from the host sidebar and tap Create your first board. Give it a name like “Sarah & Tom's wedding”, then start blank or pick a ready-made template — Wedding, Birthday party, or Corporate event — to fill the board with the usual tasks in one tap.
- Add items with Add task, then open any task to give it a due date, a priority, a colour label, notes, and its own list of subtasks. Anything overdue is flagged for you automatically.
- Switch layouts any time with the Board / List toggle — a Kanban board with To do, In progress, and Done columns you drag tasks across, or a simple checklist you tick off. Use Search to jump straight to any task.
- Open a board's ⋯ menu to Rename it, Clear completed to clear out finished tasks, or Delete it. Make as many boards as you need — one per event, or one for each part of the plan.
Dropola Tip — Your checklists live on your account, not on a single event — so you can start planning before the event even exists, and keep separate boards for different celebrations side by side.
Budget Planner
Budget Planner is your private space to plan the money — set a limit, log every expense as it firms up from estimate to final price to paid, and see where the money is going. It works for a wedding, a party, a holiday or anything else, lives on your account rather than on an event, and is free on every plan.
- Open Budget Planner from the host sidebar and tap Create your first budget. Name it, choose what it's for (Wedding, Party, Birthday, Corporate event, Vacation or Other), pick a currency and set an overall limit if you have one. The type pre-fills sensible categories like Venue, Catering or Flights — rename, recolour or cap any of them on the Categories tab.
- Tap Add expense for every cost. Give it an estimated amount, and later the actual price once it's confirmed and how much you've paid so far — Dropola works out what's still outstanding and whether it's unpaid, partly paid or paid. Add a category, vendor, owner (who's paying), due date, a link to the quote or booking, and notes.
- The headline tiles show your limit, total cost, what's paid and what's still due. Open the Analysis tab for the full picture — budget used, payment progress, spend per category against its cap, who's covering what, spend by month and the next payments due. Anything over a limit or overdue is flagged.
- Use the search and the category, status and owner filters to find any expense fast, then open the ⋯ menu to change the budget's settings, export everything as a CSV for your spreadsheet, or delete it.
Dropola Tip — Leave Actual cost empty until you have a firm quote — the estimate is used in the meantime, so your totals are always as accurate as what you know today.
Notes
Notes is a simple private notepad on your account. Use it for anything you want to keep handy — ideas, addresses, vendor numbers, a speech draft. It isn't tied to any event, only you can see it, and it's free on every plan.
- Open Notes from the host sidebar and tap New note. A subject is optional — you can just write the message. Line breaks are kept, and web links become clickable when you open the note.
- Pick a colour to group notes at a glance, and tick Pin to top for the ones you need most. Pinned notes always show first.
- Tap any card to open it. From there you can copy the text, pin or unpin it, change its colour, edit it or delete it. Deleting asks you to confirm first and can't be undone.
- Use the search box and the colour filter to find a note fast. Export CSV downloads all your notes as one spreadsheet file.
Dropola Tip — Colours work best with a system — for example yellow for ideas, green for things that are booked and blue for contacts.
Plans & billing
Your plan lives on your account, not on a single event — upgrade once and every event you create gets the same features, up to your plan's event limit. Start free and move up whenever you want more space, more time, or extra polish.
- Free covers 1 event with 1 GB of storage, a 1-month window for guests to upload, and 30 days to view and download afterward — ideal for trying Dropola out.
- Pro unlocks 2 events with unlimited uploads, a 3-month upload window and 6 months of access, plus a cover image, theme colour, password protection, guest voice messages, and full-gallery ZIP downloads.
- Premium raises that to 3 events, a 6-month upload window and a full year of access, and adds photo moderation, your own logo in place of the Dropola one, and priority support.
- Upgrade any time on the Account page — checkout is secure and your account unlocks its new features the moment payment goes through, across every event your plan covers.
Dropola Tip — “Upload window” and “access window” are two different clocks: the first is how long guests can keep adding memories, the second is how long you can view and download them afterward. Save your favourites before access ends.
Common questions
Everything you're wondering, answered.
Still need a hand?
Email us and someone from the Dropola team will get back to you — usually within a few hours. Prefer to chat? Once you're signed in and have accepted cookies, there's a chat bubble in the corner of your dashboard and host pages for a quick word with us.