«This link is no longer available.»Six words, everything gone.
The problem isn't that links expire: it's that they expire on their own, on a day you didn't choose, without telling anyone.
Why links expire, and it isn't malice
Transfer tools exist to move a file from A to B: that's the job, and once it's done keeping the file costs them money and does nothing for you. Seven days is a reasonable choice for that trade, not a trap.
The problem starts when that trade gets used for a different purpose. Wedding photos, a client delivery, the album from a party aren't a transfer: they're material people come back to months later. Using a pipe as a warehouse works right up until someone comes looking.
By the time the client remembers to download, the address you sent doesn't exist any more.
A link can die in three ways, and you know two of them
The first is the time limit, the only one you're told about in advance. The second is space: if the place you uploaded to is full, or the subscription hosting it has lapsed, the link stops working without anyone having picked a date.
The third one nobody mentions and it's the most common: whoever created the share deleted the folder, changed account, or left the company. It applies to every tool — ours included — and it's why «never expires», said without explanation, is a phrase that means nothing.
Whoever opens it finds the material there, now and in a year, without you resending anything.
The real difference is who holds the switch
Here no countdown starts when you share: there's no date, no timer, and no email warning you that everything disappears in twenty-four hours. Whoever reopens the address, reopens it.
Closing it is possible, and it's your decision: collection pauses when the party is over and reopens if someone turns up late. It's the opposite of a link that decays on its own — control stays with the person who shared, instead of living in somebody else's calendar.
What we can't promise you
An eternal link doesn't exist, and anyone selling you one is describing something else. If you delete the photos, the address won't find them. If you close the account, the same. No tool can guarantee a URL that outlives your own decisions.
What can honestly be said is narrower and more useful: there's no mechanism deciding on your behalf when that link stops working. The difference between «never expires» and «expires when you say so» is entirely there, and it's the only one that changes anything in practice.
When an expiring link is exactly right
If you need to send four gigabytes to a stranger once, a timed transfer is the right tool: it does exactly that, it does it well, and the expiry there is automatic tidying rather than a loss.
It changes when those photos are from a day that mattered, when twenty people need to receive them, or when somebody will come looking next year. At that point you aren't sending: you're putting away.
The switch exists and it's yours: what doesn't exist is a timer that starts without asking you.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the link ever actually expire?
- Not on its own: no countdown starts when you share. It stops working if you pause it, or if you delete the photos or the account.
- Can I close collection once the party is over?
- Yes, you pause it whenever you like and reopen with another click — handy for the person who remembers to upload a week late.
- Does whoever receives the link have to sign up?
- No. They open the address in the browser and see the photos, or upload if collection is open. No account, no app.
- Are the photos compressed like when I send them in a chat?
- No, they stay at the size they were shot at: the difference shows the day one of those images has to be printed.
- What happens if I go over my plan's storage?
- Storage is a separate matter from how long a link lasts, and the plans are listed on their own page. A link doesn't die from the passing of time, and that stays true on any plan.
- Who can see the photos I share the link to?
- Only whoever received the address, if the box stays private. There's no public page and it isn't found by searching.
Try it with something you'll need in a year
Put last party's photos in and send the address to whoever was there. Then reopen it in six months: that's the test.