Changelog

Every version of GuestLens, newest first. To update, see Updating.

5.0.0 - 2026-11-03

Seven changes, all from buyer comments. See Updating from 4.2 to 5.0.

• New: the theme customizer. A host makes their own Custom theme for an event: a title font, three colors, where the event name sits on the cover, and the cover image, with a live phone preview. See The Custom theme.
• New: three fonts for the Custom theme: Playfair Display, Dancing Script, and Montserrat. They ship with GuestLens, and a guest page downloads one only when it uses it.
• New: Photos only on the slideshow. A box in event Settings hides the side panel and the "Shared by" line, so the screen shows only the photos. See Photos only.
• New: pick the plan for an event. A host with two or more plans picks which one pays, on Create event and on a booking. See Create an event.
• New: the ZIP download as a plan feature. A new plan switch, on in every plan. Off, the host sees an Upgrade button instead. See Plans.
• New: your own home page. Put your landing page in resources/views/custom/home.blade.php and visitors see it at your main address. Updates never replace it. See Your own home page.
• New: a second Branding color for the menu highlight, the soft highlights, the logo mark, and the dark side of the sign-in background. Leave it empty to keep using the accent color.
• Fixed: a photo deleted, hidden, or rejected while the slideshow was running kept showing until the page was reloaded. It now leaves the slideshow within about 10 seconds.

4.2.0 - 2026-10-28

Fixes and small changes from buyer comments. See Updating from 4.1 to 4.2.

• New: the customer link from a booking. On a booking, next to Create event, a box turns on the event's customer link and sends it with the guest link, with an optional password. See Turn a booking into an event.
• New: leave Bookings on one day empty for no limit, so a day never fills up.
• Changed: event Settings hides a setting the plan does not include (video, the guestbook, voice notes, and the custom hostname), instead of showing it turned off.
• Changed: the sign-in screen gradient follows your accent color. A sign-in background photo still replaces it.
• Changed: the bar at the top of the customer view is gone. Sign out is in the menu, also on a phone.
• Changed: the Save cover and Save logo buttons are gone, because the file saves as soon as you pick it. They still show in a browser without JavaScript.
• Fixed: the Payments pages showed a shorter admin menu, without Sponsors, Bookings, System health, Audit log, and Sign out.
• Fixed: error pages such as "Page not found" showed the GuestLens mark, not your logo.
• Fixed: with a long S3 endpoint, such as Cloudflare R2, the Overview was wider than the window on some screens. A Cloudflare R2 endpoint now shows as "Cloudflare R2" there, and a long answer in System health wraps.

4.1.0 - 2026-10-26

Fixes from buyer comments, and a PHP security warning. See Updating from 4.0 to 4.1.

• Fixed: saving a plan turned off four features. The plan form had no box for the video slideshow download, the offline HTML album, the customer access link, and bookings, so every save turned them off. The form now has all four (bookings only while bookings are on for the site). The update turns the first three back on in every plan and every purchase.
• Fixed: an uploaded logo sat on a dark square. A black logo could not be seen, and a wide logo was cut off. The logo now shows at its own shape, up to 40 pixels tall, with no background.
• New: Branding has a Show the site name next to the logo box, for a logo that already has the name in it.
• Fixed: the active menu item, the focus ring, and some badges kept a light orange tint. They now follow your accent color.
• Fixed: with approval off, the guest page said a new file was "waiting for the host to approve it" while it was still being processed. It now says the file will show soon, and talks about approval only when the host must approve.
• Fixed: voice notes did not play from the short guestbook list on the guest home page. They did play on the guestbook page.
• New: the installer and System health warn when PHP is older than the October 2026 security release.
• The Uploads page of this guide says more clearly when to use S3-compatible storage for video.

4.0.0 - 2026-10-24

Two new features, a new place for site sponsors, and fixes, all from buyer comments. See Updating from 3.0 to 4.0.

• Customer access. A host gives their own customer, such as the couple, a private link to one event, with an optional password. The host ticks what it opens: the slideshow link, QR codes and printing, moderation, the guestbook, the gallery and downloads, and the event settings. See Customer access.
• Google Drive storage. Keep every photo, video, and voice note in your own Google Drive, one folder per event. See Google Drive storage.
• Site sponsors by plan. Show a site sponsor on every event made under the plans you pick, for example your Free plan. See Site sponsors.
• Fixed: deleting an event left its files in storage. Deleting an event or a host now deletes the photos, videos, voice notes, and exports from this server, S3, or Google Drive. Events deleted before 4.0 are cleaned too.
• Fixed: a closed event showed "Sign the guestbook". It now says "Read the guestbook", and hides the button when there are no messages.
• Fixed: the "Page not found" page and the other error pages now use your accent color. The 500 page keeps the fixed color, because it must show even when the database is down.
• New: Branding has a Guest page note field, to change "No app. No sign-up. Works on any phone." without editing the language file.
• Fixed: a plan limit of 0 showed as 0. The plan list, the event pages, and the purchase email now say "No limit" or "No end date". A plan with 0 events gave the host no events at all. It now gives unlimited events, and plans already bought this way get their events when you finish the update.
• New: the guest link on the event Overview and on QR & print is now a link. Click it to open the guest page in a new tab. The slideshow link and the customer link work the same way.
• Switching from S3 to another storage no longer stops the files already on S3 from showing.
• One new plan switch: Customer access link.

3.0.0 - 2026-10-13

Eight new features, each one asked for by buyers. See Updating from 2.0 to 3.0.

• Bookings. Hosts take bookings from their own clients on a public page, with packages, a calendar, and an optional deposit paid online. An accepted booking becomes an event in one click. See Bookings and Taking bookings.
• Photo book PDF. Each photo with the guest's name, caption, and messages, in one print-ready PDF with page sizes for photo books, bleed, and crop marks. See The photo book.
• Video slideshow download. An MP4 of the photos and voice notes, with optional music, made in the host's browser. See Video slideshow download.
• Offline album. One HTML file with the photos and the guestbook that opens with no internet, and an index.html option in the ZIP. See Offline album.
• Site sponsors. Your own sponsors on all events, or on the hosts and events you choose, with dates and click counts. See Site sponsors.
• Spam protection. A hidden field and a timer on every public form, and an optional Cloudflare Turnstile or Google reCAPTCHA. See Spam protection.
• Host support. A Help link for hosts and an optional live chat widget on host pages only. See Host support.
• API and Perfex CRM connector. A JSON API with keys, and a module that manages hosts and events from Perfex CRM. See The API and Perfex CRM connector.
• Three new plan switches: the video download, the offline album, and bookings.

2.0.0 - 2026-10-06

Five new features, each one asked for by buyers. See Updating from 1.0 to 2.0.

• Captions and notes. Guests caption each file while it uploads, and hosts write or change any caption. Captions show in the gallery, the lightbox, the slideshow, the ZIP (captions.csv), and the photo report. See Captions and photo details.
• A page for each photo in the host area, with the large picture, its details, and its caption.
• Photo report PDF. The approved photos as an album or a report, in three layouts, with a cover and the guestbook. See Photo report and photo book.
• Event sponsors. Logos and links on the guest page, a card on the slideshow, and an optional line on the table cards, with click counts. See Event sponsors.
• Guest donations. Guests send the host money by card or PayPal. You keep an optional fee and pay the rest when the host asks. See Guest donations and payouts.
• Location stamping. Off by default. When you, the host, and the guest all say yes, the place each photo was sent from is saved for the host, never in the file. See Location stamping.
• Four new plan switches, so you can sell these features in your bigger plans.

1.0.0 - 2026-10-02

The first release.

• Browser installer for MySQL, MariaDB, and SQLite, with a requirements check and the cron line.
• Guest pages with chunked, resumable uploads for photos and videos, made for slow venue Wi-Fi.
• Moderation of photos, videos, comments, and guestbook messages, with keyboard shortcuts.
• A guestbook with written messages and voice notes, and a printable PDF.
• A big-screen slideshow that updates by itself.
• QR codes in PNG and SVG, three table card designs, and a poster, on US Letter or A4.
• ZIP download of a whole event, built in the background for large events.
• Eight event themes.
• Plans and one-time payments by Stripe, PayPal, and bank transfer.
• White label branding, S3-compatible storage, custom hostnames, System health, and an audit log.
• Every piece of text can be translated from one language file, lang/en.json. See Translate GuestLens.