The short version: the album shows what the host has approved, attributed by name, and nothing else. Here's the full list.
What everyone on the album sees
- The event's name, date, description, and host (the "Hosted by" line, with the host's photo).
- Approved photos and videos, newest first, at full quality when opened or saved.
- Who added each one: the display name of the guest, confirmed or wearing a small mark reading Unverified, or the host's name with a Host badge.
- The guest list: names and photos of every guest who added photos, confirmed or marked.
- The highlight reel, from the album's second photo, playing only what's approved (unless the host switched it off).
- How many photos and contributors the album has.
What guests never see
- Email addresses. Not yours, not anyone's. The host can see the email behind a signed-in upload on their own dashboard; it never reaches the album. If an event let you add an email without confirming it, nobody sees that one at all: not the host, not other guests, not the album. It sits unconfirmed against your photos, Partyreel sends it nothing, and the only thing it can ever do is let you claim those photos if you confirm it later.
- Photos waiting for review, hidden photos, or removed photos. They aren't dimmed or blurred for guests; they simply aren't sent to the page. The one exception is your own: at an event that reviews uploads, Your uploads (the round button beside Add photos) says which of yours are still waiting and marks one that isn't in the album, with no reason given. Nobody else sees either.
- Like counts. Guests can like photos, but only the host sees the totals.
- Who follows whom. Follower lists and counts are private to each account.
- Anything behind a Private album's gate. The door stays shut until the gate lets someone in (the password, the host's yes, the invite list), and no photos leave the server meanwhile, not even a preview. A password album's door names the album and counts what's inside, never the host. Where the host lets each guest in or keeps an invite list, the door names the album and the host, never the date. A closed album's door names nothing at all. See messages guests might see.
- The host's controls, stats, or plan. Even an error message ("this event accepts photos only") is worded so it never reveals what the host is paying for. The one deliberate tell is a clip's: a free event's clips carry a small mark, and the clip maker says so in one line (Free events mark their clips.), so nobody takes it for part of every clip.
The preview state
A visitor who hasn't finished at the door sees the newest 9 photos and a count of the rest: the album's cover shows through the open door at the welcome, and the preview waits behind the sheet that follows. That preview is a real, deliberately capped set, not a blurred version of the whole album, and it's the reward the door is asking for a name, an email or a first photo in exchange for.
Two things put a visitor there: an event that asks for a confirmed email before somebody has confirmed one, and an event whose host asked everyone to add a photo before the album opens. The host is never held by either.
What the host sees that you don't
The host's view of the same album adds the email behind each verified upload, like counts, the review queue, hidden items (dimmed, still in place), and the stats row. That's the deal on an album that asks for an email first: the host asked for a confirmed name and email behind every upload so they know who's contributing. What Partyreel itself keeps is in your data and deleting your account.