Shared Albums for Google Photos (by JanZeman)

by Jan Zeman

Description

Shared Albums for Google Photos (by JanZeman) allows you to easily display publicly shared Google Photos albums in your WordPress posts and pages using a simple shortcode. The plugin uses the modern Swiper library to provide a beautiful, touch-enabled gallery experience.

Note: This plugin is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google LLC. Google Photos™ is a trademark of Google LLC.

Features

Google Photos Gallery And Slider – Display public Google Photos albums as responsive galleries or sliders
Photo And Video Support – Supports both images and videos from shared Google Photos albums
Fullscreen Viewer – Mobile-friendly fullscreen viewing with touch gestures, keyboard controls, and slideshow support
Photo Info Overlays – Dynamic placeholders for counters, filenames, dimensions, dates, and EXIF data
Download And Link Buttons – Optional inline and fullscreen action buttons
Performance Features – Lazy loading, progressive loading, caching, and large album support
Shortcode Playground – Admin-only sandbox on the Settings page for experimenting with [jzsa-album] shortcodes and previews
Mosaic Strip – Optional mosaic thumbnail strip alongside the main viewer, including a fullscreen mosaic mode

Many more customization parameters and samples are available on the plugin’s Settings & Onboarding page.

How It Works

The plugin fetches your public Google Photos album and creates a responsive gallery. Simply paste the share link from Google Photos into the shortcode.

Security & Error Handling

SSRF protection – validates Google Photos URLs
Proper output escaping for XSS prevention
WordPress coding standards compliant
Swiper library bundled locally
User-friendly error messages for invalid album links

Usage

Basic Usage

[jzsa-album link="https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOg3EA51ATc_YWHyfcffDCzNZFsVTU_uBqSEKFix7LY80DIgH3lMkLwt4QDTHd8EQ?key=RGwySFNhbmhqMFBDbnZNUUtwY0stNy1XV1JRbE9R"]

Common Example

[jzsa-album link="https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOg3EA51ATc_YWHyfcffDCzNZFsVTU_uBqSEKFix7LY80DIgH3lMkLwt4QDTHd8EQ?key=RGwySFNhbmhqMFBDbnZNUUtwY0stNy1XV1JRbE9R" mode="slider" corner-radius="16" show-link-button="true" show-download-button="true"]

Shortcode Parameters

The only required parameter is link – the Google Photos share URL.

All other parameters are optional.

This readme intentionally keeps shortcode examples short to avoid drift.

For the complete and current parameter reference, defaults, inheritance rules, a very very large number of customization parameters, many samples, and the shortcode playground, use the plugin’s Settings & Onboarding page in WordPress admin:

Settings -> Shared Albums for Google Photos

Getting Your Album Share Link

Open Google Photos and select an album
Click the share button (or three-dot menu > Share)
Click “Create link” or “Get link”
Copy the album share link and paste it into the shortcode:

[jzsa-album link=”https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNxLo…”]

Important: The album must be public (shared via link) for the plugin to access it.

Credits

Uses Swiper – MIT License
Uses Plyr – MIT License
Developed by Jan Zeman

Privacy Policy

This plugin does not collect or store any user data.

Use of external Google services

The plugin fetches public Google Photos album pages from https://photos.google.com and image files from *.googleusercontent.com in order to render the galleries.
Only publicly shared album links are supported; the plugin has no access to private albums or any content that is not already available via a public share link.
The plugin does not collect, store, or transmit user credentials or personal data. It only caches album HTML and image URLs in WordPress transients for performance, and this cache is stored locally in your WordPress database.

Support

Bug reports: Open an issue on GitHub
Feature requests: Post on the support forum
Leave a rating: Review on WordPress.org
Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/janzeman

Installation

Install & Activate the plugin
Open the plugin’s Settings & Onboarding page. It includes a very very large number of customization parameters, many samples, and a live shortcode playground.
Start with a sample there, then use your own Google Photos albums in posts and pages.

Screenshots

Slider mode with navigation and paging
Slider mode with mosaic strip
Gallery mode
Carousel mode (also shows the video capability)
Fullscreen mode with description and EXIF info overlay
From low- to high-resolution image support
Every sample includes a live preview - edit and see the result immediately
Description with custom font
Fullscreen mosaic support
Mosaic strip in the overlay mode

Faq

Does this work with private albums?

No, the album must be shared publicly via a link. Google Photos does not provide API access to private albums without OAuth authentication.

How many photos can I embed?

The plugin can handle up to 300 photos per album. This is a limitation from Google Photos, which typically returns around 300 photos in the initial page load.

For performance and stability reasons, very old iOS devices using legacy WebKit may automatically be limited to 25 photos on the client side, even if the server-side limit is higher. All other platforms (desktop, Android, modern iOS/iPadOS) can use the full per-album limit you configure.

Will this slow down my site?

No. The plugin uses lazy loading, progressive image loading, and local bundled frontend assets. Album data is cached, and the refresh interval is configurable with cache-refresh (default: 7 days).

Can I customize the appearance?

Yes! You can override the CSS by adding custom styles to your theme. The main container class is .jzsa-album.

Does it work on mobile?

Absolutely! The gallery is fully responsive and supports touch gestures (swipe, pinch-to-zoom).

How does the download button work?

When enabled with show-download-button="true", a download button appears in inline (non-fullscreen) view. Clicking it downloads the current full-resolution photo to your device. The download uses a server-side proxy to bypass CORS restrictions from Google Photos.

Use fullscreen-show-download-button to control the fullscreen download button separately. If omitted, it inherits from show-download-button.

How does the play/pause button work?

In fullscreen mode, a play/pause button appears above the photo counter at the bottom center. Click it or press the spacebar to toggle slideshow on/off. The button shows a play icon (▶) when paused and a pause icon (⏸) when playing. This works regardless of the fullscreen-slideshow setting – if slideshow is disabled, the button lets you start it manually.

What happens if I update the shortcode?

The cache is automatically cleared when you save the post, so changes take effect immediately.

What if I use the wrong URL format?

The plugin provides clear feedback:

Errors (gallery won’t display):
– Invalid URL: Not a valid Google Photos link
– Album is private or link expired: “Unable to Load Album” error
– Empty album: “No Photos Found” error

Reviews

EXCELLENT, BUT one suggestion

By luisbenitez777 on April 23, 2026

I'm just hoping that in the future a fullscreen-mode=mosaic, can be added to preview the smaller photos in addition to the main image. It's a beautiful plugin; you can tell there's effort and dedication behind it. I truly find it gorgeous. 5 STARS. ¡GRACIAS!

Works as described. Good UX!

By naveenbachwani on April 9, 2026

The Shared Albums for Google Photos plugin by Jan Zeman has been terrific for my photo blog, making it effortless to pull photos from Google Photos into my gallery pages without the hassle of manual uploads.

I also suggested a few feature requests to suit photographers' needs. Jan was not only prompt in his response, but soon pushed an updated release that included those improvements!

This plugin is well worth using and deserves five stars.

Ottimo plugin

By imaginans on March 31, 2026

Per l'incorporamento degli album pubblicati su Google Photos è di gran lunga il miglior plugin che ho trovato. Great job. Thanks, Jan

PS. If you could enter the name of the photo that would be great

Excellent for Digital Signage slideshows

By sandefjordtk on March 30, 2026

Sandefjord Tennis Club uses Shared Albums in Google Photos to display slideshows on Digital Signage in our clubhouse. This is a great way to showcase photos—not only on our webpage and social media but also when members and guests visit our club facilities.

Tips on how to use this: Create a page in WordPress for the album you would like to display. Example of shortcode to use with cache refresh set to 1 hour.

[jzsa-album link="YOUR URL HERE" mode="slider" show-title="true" show-counter="false" width="1920" height="1080" source-width="1920" source-height="1080" slideshow="true" slideshow-delay="5" interaction-lock="true" start-at="random" cache-refresh="1"]

Remember to choose template "Page Builder Full Width", "no sidebar", "disable navigation" and "disable Footer" in the Page Settings

Add the following CSS code to remove the white space on the top of the page

.pagebuilder-section {
    padding: 0 0 !important;
}

Extra: Add the following CSS code to add a nice title on the page. Adjust the size of the font as necessary

.jzsa-album .swiper-pagination {
	font-size: 70px !important;
	font-weight: bold !important;
	color: #000000 !important;
	background-image: linear-gradient(
      to bottom,
      rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%,
      rgba(255,255,255,1) 25%,
      rgba(255,255,255,1) 75%,
      rgba(255,255,255,0) 100%
    );
}

Also I recommend resizing photos to 1920x1080 px in Google Photo album to make sure the photos are displayed correctly. If you are using a WordPress caching-plugin, make sure the page is excluded from caching.

Add the website to your favorite Digital Signage system. I recommend AbleSign as they provide Digital Signage for free with unlimited # of screens.

This is a really easy way to display your photo album, not only on your WordPress homepage, but anywhere you can think of where you can display a webpage!

Amazing functionality and support

By toonwolf on March 22, 2026

I recently started using the Shared Albums for Google Photos (by JanZeman) plugin, and it has been a game-changer for my WordPress site. It is a really feature-rich, easy-to-use tool that makes it incredibly simple to display photos from Google Photo Albums without the usual headache of manual uploads or complex API configurations.

What impressed me even more than the plugin itself was the developer’s responsiveness. I had a couple of suggestions for some minor feature tweaks, and Jan was super fast in responding. Not only did he listen to the feedback, but he actually improved and released a new version of the plugin with those exact improvements in record time.

If you are looking for a modern, responsive way to showcase your Google Photos—backed by a developer who genuinely cares about the user experience—I cannot recommend this plugin enough. Really impressive work! 5 stars from me...

Nice, but ...

By GMRobbins on January 29, 2026

I was excited to see your plugin in the new section here and downloaded it. to check it out.

It was an easy install with good instructions with easy-to-understand shortcodes. It took a while to get the yellow and red banners away, but I learned more about the shortcode with each try. If I may offer an opinion on some of the features, I liked the image quality and speed. I ran through most of the shortcodes; I was hoping gallery mode meant a grid of images with pagination. In carousel mode, I feel it would be best, if clicking on one of the 3 panel images, it took you to that particular image's full, non-cropped image.

I am not sure if any of these suggestions could be accomplished by shortcode, but I thought I would give you some feedback. Appreciate your work!

Changelog

2.1.8

Fullscreen support of mosaic. Many thanks @luisbenitez777 for sharing the idea.
Warning added: Google truncates descriptions to 100 chars. Thanks @naveenbachwani for the detailed repro steps.

2.1.7

Fixed info-wrap bug

2.1.6

Fixed slider mode getting stuck on loading spinner (regression from 2.1.5)

2.1.5

Reworked Guide page loading to reduce blocking and improve responsiveness
Improved cache/help guidance on the settings page
Big thanks to @naveenbachwani for detailed testing, UX observations, and support-thread feedback

2.1.4

Screenshots added

2.1.3

Add “How the cache works” section
Improve Guide page loading experience

2.1.2

Make caching description more clear and prominent

2.1.0

Settings page moved to top-level admin menu with subpages for easier navigation and reference
Google Photo description can be supported after all 🙂
Introduce a halo effect to improve text readability

2.0.11

Swiper loop navigation

2.0.10

Lighter loading for large sliders

2.0.9

New fullscreen-display-max-width and fullscreen-display-max-height
New info-wrap and info text alignment parameters
New gallery-buttons-on-mobile behavior for touch devices
Responsive layout improvements

2.0.8

File name bug fix

2.0.7

New dynamic photo info overlays
EXIF placeholders with background loading
Slider, carousel, gallery and fullscreen photo info
All Settings page samples are editable by now, not only the Playground

2.0.6

Touch devices: Controls appear on tap and fade out on inactivity

2.0.5

Fullscreen vs inline controls
Video download support
Download UX & settings improvements

2.0.4

New: Mosaic thumbnail strip (mosaic="true") for slider and carousel modes
Mosaic feature inspired by Mateusz Starzak’s fork
Added fullscreen-background-color (default #000) to control fullscreen background separately
Fixed gallery mode where show-download-button="true" did not render the download button
Fixed slideshow option logic: use disabled, manual, or auto for slideshow and fullscreen-slideshow
Fixed fullscreen-toggle="click" for video slides in gallery mode
Improved iPhone pseudo-fullscreen behavior, including fullscreen arrow navigation
Added restore-to-last-viewed position when closing fullscreen
Thanks to Peter and Ulf for detailed bug reports and testing

2.0.3

New parameter: “cache-refresh”
Clear Cache button added

2.0.1

Fixed album titles being truncated (dates and special characters are now preserved)

2.0.0

Gallery mode support
Experimental video support
Shortcode parameters and their default values changed (Breaking. Apologies!)

1.0.6

New animated logo

1.0.3

Improved Settings page with more intuitive onboarding and richer, example-driven documentation
Added Shortcode Playground on the Settings page to test and preview [jzsa-album] shortcodes without leaving admin

1.0.2

Initial Settings page and onboarding content

1.0.1

Release related improvements

1.0.0

Initial release
Modern Swiper 11 library integration
Fullscreen mode with dedicated button
Play/pause button in fullscreen with spacebar keyboard shortcut
Download button with server-side proxy (optional, disabled by default)
Zoom support (pinch on touch devices)
Keyboard navigation (arrows to navigate, spacebar to play/pause in fullscreen)
Lazy loading for optimal performance
Progressive image loading with error recovery and placeholders
Click-to-fullscreen option
Random start position for galleries
SSRF protection and proper escaping
WordPress coding standards compliance
24-hour caching mechanism
User-friendly error messages for invalid album URLs
Responsive design with touch gestures