Tutorial·about five minutes to read, two to do
Four steps: pick a design, add the photos, write something, send the link. This walks through each one, and flags the few places people get stuck.
Three minutes, no narration to sit through — just the whole thing from an empty page to a sent card. Open it on its own page if you would rather watch it full size.
Start in the design gallery. Tap any card to see it open the way your recipient will see it — that matters more than the cover art, because the cover is only the first two seconds. Choose one and hit Use this design.
You can change the design later without losing your photos or your message, so do not agonise over it.
This is the part the whole thing exists for. When the card is opened, the photos fall out of it — the way prints do when you pull them from a paper envelope. Upload from your device, drag them onto the page, or take one on the spot with your phone camera.
Send the biggest files you have. Nothing is compressed on the way through, which means whoever receives the card can download the original and print it properly. A photo that only looks right on a screen is a photo you have half lost.
Free cards take three photos, up to 5 MB each. A one-time Card Pack raises that to fifteen.
There are three text fields, and you do not need all of them. A greeting at the top, the message itself, and however you sign off. Fonts run from serif to handwritten to plain; you can move any text box, resize it, recolour it, and add a shadow if it is sitting over a busy photo.
If a card-sized message is not enough, add a long-form letter behind it. And you can record a voice message free, which for grandparents is frequently the part they replay. Video messages come with a Card Pack.
Stuck for words? Card message ideas has wording you can lift, and what to write when the card is hard covers the difficult ones.
Preview shows exactly what arrives at the other end — the card opening, the photos falling out, the voice message. Worth doing once, if only for the small satisfaction of it. Then send however suits the person receiving it:
No account is needed on their end, and nothing to install. They can also download the card as a single file that opens years later with no internet at all — what keeping a card means.
A screenshot of a photo is a fraction of the file. Find the real one, even if it takes a minute longer.
Three that mean something beat fifteen from the same afternoon. The card is not a camera roll.
One shared memory or private joke does more than a paragraph of warm generalities.
It is free, it takes twenty seconds, and it is the part older relatives play back more than once.
Not for a free card, and never for the person receiving one. Card Packs are a one-time purchase, not a subscription — there is nothing to cancel.
Three on a free card, up to 5 MB each. A Card Pack takes it to fifteen per card.
JPEG, PNG and HEIC — so straight from an iPhone is fine. HEIC is converted to a full-quality JPEG on the way in; nothing else is recompressed.
Yes, any time while the card is live. Edits show up immediately for anyone opening the link — useful when you notice the typo after hitting send.
One button inside the card, and the photos come down at full resolution. They can also save the whole card as a single file that works offline afterwards.
Two things: the photos arrive at the quality you sent them, and the card can be kept as a file you own rather than a link that eventually dies. The comparison piece puts us next to the alternatives.
The first card is free — three photos and a voice message, no account needed to start.
Read next
The other side of this guide — from tapping the link to the photos falling out.
If the person on the other end is the reason this is complicated, start here instead.
The designs with an animated cover, for the occasions that warrant one.