Help — Family Media Manager

1. What FMM is, and why it's private

FMM is our family's own photo and video website. It lives at familymediamanager.co.uk.

It's different from Facebook or Instagram:

It's ours. The photos are kept on our own website, not on a big company's computers.
No adverts. No strangers. You can only join if I send you an invite.
You choose who sees what. Every photo can be for everyone, just family, or just a few people.
I check everything first. New uploads stay hidden until I've had a look. That stops mistakes, like a photo going to the wrong people.
Children are protected. Parents can choose who never sees photos of their children.

2. Joining with your invite link

You can't sign up on your own. I send each person their own invite link. It might come by email, WhatsApp, text message, or as a QR code you scan with your phone camera.

To join

Tap the invite link. A page opens that says Welcome to Family Media Manager! and Hi with your name.
Email Address — this is optional. It helps me know who you are.
Choose a Username — this is the name you'll log in with. Use letters, numbers, _ or -. At least 3 characters.
Password — at least 8 characters. Type it again in Confirm Password.
Tap Create My Account.

Then wait for me. You'll see: "Thanks for registering - Bob will approve your account shortly." You can't log in until I've said yes. I usually do it the same day.

Logging in afterwards

Go to familymediamanager.co.uk and tap Log in (top right).
Type your Username and Password.
Tap Login.

Good to know:

An invite link works for 30 days. If yours has run out, ask me for a new one.
Forgotten your password? Ask me. I can set a new one for you.

3. Finding your way around

The menu is at the top of every page. On a phone it may wrap onto two or three lines — that's fine.

Posts: Family news, stories and documents.
Galleries: All the photo and video galleries you're allowed to see.
Upload: Add your own photos and videos.
My uploads: Change who can see the things you've shared.
My children: Only for parents I've set up. See section 7.
Help: This guide.
Ask Bob: My help website. See section 9.
Your name: Tap it to open My account.
Log out: Logs you out. Always do this on a shared computer.

Looking at photos

Tap Galleries.
Tap a gallery to open it.
Tap any photo or video to see it big.
Use ❮ and ❯ to move between photos (or the arrow keys on a computer). Tap × to close.

At the bottom of a big photo you may see "Visibility set by …". That tells you who decided who can see it — the person who uploaded it, or me.

"Shared with you"

Sometimes someone shares a single photo with you, even though you can't see the rest of their gallery. Those photos appear in a box called 🎁 Shared with you at the top of the Galleries page. It only shows up when there's something in it.

4. Uploading photos and videos

Each upload makes a new gallery — a little album with a title.

Tap Upload in the menu.
Gallery Title — give it a name, like "Beach day 2026".
Description — optional. A line or two about it.
Who can see this? — choose who it's for. Family is already picked. See section 5.
Children shown in this gallery — tick any children in the photos. See section 6.
Tap 📁 Click to select files and choose your photos and videos. On a phone this opens your photo library.
Tap Upload Gallery.

What you can upload:

Photos: JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP. Videos: MP4, MOV, AVI.
Up to 250MB per file.
Up to 20 files at once. Got more? Do a second upload.

After uploading, your gallery waits for me to check it. Only you and I can see it until then. You'll see it in My uploads marked "Waiting for Bob to approve".

Posts work the same way. Go to Posts, tap New Post, write your title and words, add a picture or document if you like, then tap Submit for Approval.

5. Choosing who can see your uploads

You choose who can see every gallery, photo and post. There are four levels, plus two lists for fine-tuning.

The four levels

Public — anyone on the internet, even people without an account. Example: a photo of the garden you're proud of. (Anything with a child tagged can't be Public — see section 6.)

Friends — friends of the family and family. Example: photos from a barbecue that friends came to.

Family — family only. This is the usual choice, and it's already picked for you. Example: Christmas morning photos.

Private — only you and me. Example: a photo you want to keep safe but not share yet.

The two lists

Tap Who can see this to open them. They have tick boxes with people's names (and groups, like a household).

Also allow (even if their tier is lower) — lets one extra person in. Example: the photos are Family, but you want your neighbour Jean, who's a Friend, to see them too. Tick Jean under Also allow.
Hide from (always wins) — keeps someone out, whatever else is set. Example: the photos are Family, but they're a surprise for Uncle Pete's birthday. Tick Uncle Pete under Hide from.

Hide from always wins. If someone is in both lists, they're hidden.

If you're a Friend rather than Family, these lists only show people who are in the same groups as you. That's normal.

6. Tagging children in photos and videos

If a photo or video shows a child, please tag them. It takes a second, and it lets their parents decide who sees it.

When you upload: under 🧒 Children shown in this gallery, tick each child in the photos.

FMM often does it for you. If a child's name is in a file name — say Lily_birthday.jpg — or in the gallery title, FMM ticks that child for you. You'll see:

Tagged automatically: Lily (from file name Lily_birthday.jpg)

If it's wrong, just untick it. Camera names like IMG_4521.jpg don't have a name in them, so tick those children yourself.

Children can't be Public. Anything with a child tagged is kept off the open internet. If it was set to Public, it's changed to Family and you'll see: "Items with children tagged can't be Public - changed to Family". (A parent can allow Public for their own child — see section 7.)

7. For parents: the "My children" page

If you're a parent, I'll link your children to your account. You'll then see My children in the menu.

On it, for each child, you can set a standing rule: "Always hide items tagged with [your child] from:" — and tick people or groups.

Example: hide photos of my children from one person

Say you'd rather your cousin Dave didn't see photos of your daughter Lily.

Tap My children in the menu.
Find Lily.
Under Always hide items tagged with Lily from:, tick Dave.
Tap Save rule.

That's it. From now on, Dave won't see any photo, video or post tagged with Lily — now or in the future. It doesn't matter who uploaded it, or what they chose. Your rule wins.

A few things to know:

The person who uploaded a photo can still see their own upload, and I can always see everything. But they can't share it with Dave.
Allow Public items showing this child — leave this unticked unless you're happy for photos of your child to be on the open internet. Most parents leave it unticked.
Under Tagged in, you can see the photos your child is tagged in. If some are hidden from you, it says how many.
Your rule is private. When I look at a photo, I see that a parent's rule is hiding it from someone, but not which parent.

8. Changing who can see things later: "My uploads"

You can change your mind at any time. You don't need to ask me.

Tap My uploads in the menu.
You'll see your galleries and posts, with who can see each one. "Visibility set by …" shows who last changed it.
Change the level, open Who can see this to change the lists, or tick/untick children.
Tap Save. It works straight away.

Changing just one photo: tap Single photos/videos → under a gallery. Each photo has its own settings. "Same as gallery" means it simply follows the gallery.

Removing a gallery: go to My account → My galleries and use 🗑️ Delete. This can't be undone.

Your name: in My account, you can set a Display name — for example "Grandma Jean" instead of your username. Leave it empty to use your username.

9. Getting help: Ask Bob

Stuck? Something not working? Just ask.

Tap Ask Bob in the menu, or go to bob490.co.uk.
There are short help videos there.
Use Ask a Question → to send me a message. I'll get back to you.

Video guide

Thank you for being part of our family's website. Happy sharing!
— Bob