File types and upload limits

The formats we read

We accept what phones really produce. HEIC is the iPhone default and skips conversion; Mov too for video. Each file is inspected at its header instead of its extension, which is why a renamed format doesn't get through and a corrupted one trips in the same place.

Anything off the list is turned away on arrival. For guests that's a non-issue, since their phones shoot nothing else; it matters when exporting from an editing app.

1. Check the format. Whatever a phone records goes through. Renaming a file achieves nothing.
2. Check the size. Photos 25 MB, voice notes 50 MB. For video start with the length; it pulls the size along.
3. Hold it against the plan. Video length, storage and item count come with the event plan, not from the guest s device.

MP3 isn't on the list. To upload a completed audio file, export it as M4A or WAV.

The file sizes

Each kind has a ceiling, and for photos and voice notes it's the same on each plan. For video it's calculated from the permitted recording length: cut so a clip of that length plays at a standard bitrate. The 2 numbers therefore can't drift apart.

What's inspected is the actual file on the server, not the phone's stated size. A device that misreports doesn't get through on that basis.

Only video reaches a ceiling in practice. Photos and voice notes sit well below theirs.

What comes from the plan

3 limits track the event plan instead of the guest s device: the recording length of a video, album storage, and — on the free tier only — the number of contributions. Upgrading before the party raises them together; changing it afterward comes too late for the uploads already turned away.

The length of a voice note goes here too: 30 free seconds, no time limit on the paid tiers.

The contribution cap exists on the free tier only. Above essential storage is the single ceiling.

Setting your own limits

You may cap video and voice-note length for your event, within plan limits. That helps when you want many short contributions instead of a few long ones, or when the location network can't carry anything large.

Upwards isn't possible. What the plan doesn't give can't be set on the event.

The same file twice

If a guest sends the same photo a second time, no second entry shows up. Each file gets a checksum on arrival, and within one event an the same file counts precisely once — against the count and against storage alike.

That saves you tidying up after somebody who wasn't sure the first attempt worked and just tapped again.

When storage runs out

Once storage runs out the event rejects new files even though they're all valid. The guest learns that the album has run out of space and to request the host. For you that's the point where a plan change helps faster than any explanation.

On the free tier the 60-contribution cap counts too, and it's inspected on arrival instead of later.