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Updates

What's new

Features, improvements, and announcements. We ship every week.

FeatureAug 27, 2026

Guest names on downloaded files

When a guest saves a photo from their gallery, the filename says who is in it and what event it came from — spring-gala-jane-obrien-003.jpg, not IMG_4127.jpg. Single saves and full-gallery downloads, videos included.

  • The name comes from the badge scan or the registration form — wherever the event already knows the guest
  • Filenames are cleaned for every computer: accents fold, apostrophes drop, nothing a filesystem will choke on
  • Group sessions name the person downloading, plus a count for the rest — jane-obrien+2
  • No name on file? The download falls back to a clean event name. A phone number never ends up in a filename
  • The File Naming template on the event now shapes real downloads, with a live preview that matches what guests actually get
  • Off by default — flip "Include the guest's name" on the event or the brand when you want it
ImprovementAug 27, 2026

The mobile gallery handles 5,000-photo events

Guests can browse a big event's gallery on a phone without the browser giving up. Pinch to zoom works properly, scrolling stays smooth however deep they go, and the crash on long viewing sessions is gone.

  • Pinch and double-tap zoom in the photo viewer, with the full-resolution image the moment you zoom in
  • Huge galleries render only what is on screen, so an old phone scrolls a 5,000-photo event without breaking a sweat
  • The browser crash on long viewing sessions is gone — the viewer loads photos at the size your screen can show
  • Page zoom works again for guests who need it, and tapping a form field no longer lurches the screen on iPhone
FeatureAug 27, 2026

See which device shot every photo

Hand three iPads to three photographers, name each iPad, and every photo remembers which one shot it. Filter Media by device to see any station's work — no accounts, no sign-ins for the crew.

  • Every upload carries its device — booth, tether, iPhone, video, watch folder, all of them
  • Device filter chips appear on the Media grid the moment an event has more than one camera
  • AI portraits and composites credit the camera that shot their source photo
  • Works offline: the credit rides along and lands when the photo syncs
FeatureAug 27, 2026

GDPR Mode now collects real consent

Turn on GDPR Mode and the event asks before it takes. Registration collects real consent, face search waits for a yes, and every AI tool tells a guest where their photo goes before the shutter fires.

  • Registration consent enforced on the web form, the iPad kiosk, and the booth — offline included
  • Face search and face tagging wait for explicit consent on GDPR events, and every answer is recorded
  • AI Scenes and AI Photo Studio now say, in plain words, that a photo goes to an AI model — declining still gets a normal photo, never a dead end
  • Guests can tap "Find me" on any photo in their gallery to claim their shots by face
  • Events without GDPR Mode are untouched — a lightweight one-tap notice on AI tools, nothing else changes
ImprovementAug 27, 2026

Event creation shows every tool

Creating an event now shows the whole toolkit: what is on for this event up top, everything you could add right below it, one tap either way. And the portal finally behaves in a half-width window.

  • The full tool catalogue is visible at event creation — no more "+ 7 more" hiding the good stuff
  • Gallery and Messaging wear an "Always on" badge instead of a toggle that never did anything
  • Apps & Tools reflows from three columns to two to one as the window narrows, instead of crushing every card
  • The white page keeps its rounded corners while you scroll, on every page in the portal
ImprovementAug 21, 2026

Show guests only what they can print

A guest walks up to the Sharing Station, finds their session, and sees four things where they remember taking three photos. The fourth is the recap video, and it is the one thing that will not come out of the printer. You can now leave it off that screen.

  • Gallery Content is its own tab in the Sharing Station settings: Show Photos, Show Videos
  • Turn videos off and the station shows only the stills a guest can print, with the session count matching what is on screen
  • Set per station, so a print station and a video-reel station can run side by side at the same event
  • The video is never withheld: it still uploads, still lands in the online gallery, and still goes out on the share link
  • Change it mid-event and the station catches up within seconds, with no restart
ImprovementAug 10, 2026

Every print, and which station made it

Printing has its own page now: how many sheets each station ran, what is left on the roll, and which tool the job came from — so you can answer "did that print?" without walking to the printer.

  • A print log that says where each sheet came from — booth, kiosk, or a guest phone
  • Media levels per station, with a low-paper warning that arrives once instead of every minute
  • A station is a machine, not a machine-per-event: set it up once and it follows you to the next job
  • Matte and glossy are set per tool, so the booth and the Sharing Station can differ at the same event
  • Live Ops: every running event, its stations and its vitals, on one screen
ImprovementAug 10, 2026

Type the venue, keep the rest

Save an event with a venue address and the city, state, ZIP, country and map pin fill themselves in. It only ever fills blanks, so anything you typed by hand stays exactly as you typed it.

  • City, state, ZIP, country and the map pin resolve from the address on save
  • Fills empty fields only — it will never overwrite something you entered
  • A lookup that fails says so, instead of looking like the save did not work
ImprovementAug 11, 2026

Settings where you expect to find them

The Sharing Station settings now sit under the tab their name implies, brand kits import cleaner colours from your website, and a few controls that had quietly lost their home are back.

  • Sharing Station: every section grouped under the tab it belongs to
  • Importing a brand from a website keeps a real secondary colour instead of inventing one, and skips a plain white page instead of calling it your brand
  • Delete Brand and Set as default are reachable again
  • Turning a tool on creates its first station, so it is ready to configure straight away
  • Renaming a single-station tool renames the station, not the tool
  • Gallery view mode lives in the link, so the grid or session view you send is the one they open
AppsJul 27, 2026

A photo booth that runs itself

Connect a Canon to an iPad, lock the screen, and walk away. Guests tap, count down, and leave with their photos before they step off the mark.

  • Live view on the glass, an on-screen countdown, and the shot back in seconds
  • Guests take the whole session with them on the spot: scan the QR, or send it to their phone by text or email
  • Standard or burst capture, retakes, and a looping session video, all wearing your branding
  • Print from the booth to the same station your Sharing Station uses
  • Kiosk lock with a staff exit passcode, and a screen that never sleeps on a guest
  • The booth heals its own camera connection, so a dropped cable does not end the night
  • Devices in regular use stay signed in, so an iPad never logs itself out mid-event
ImprovementJul 26, 2026

The gallery got a lot better on a phone

Guests can save their own set again, session videos play in place, and every guest link now wears your brand from the browser tab down.

  • Download All on a session link saves that guest their own photos, not the whole event
  • Session videos loop right in the grid, and always sit at the end of the set
  • One lightbox on every guest surface, with click-to-zoom on desktop and drag to pan a zoomed photo
  • Header logo sizing plus left, center, or right alignment, per gallery
  • Your brand favicon on personal galleries and session share links, not just the main gallery
  • A deleted session link says so instead of spinning forever
FeatureJul 23, 2026

Guests can order a print from their own phone

A guest opens their gallery on their phone, taps Print, and the photo comes out at your Sharing Station. No line at the booth, and no staff standing in the middle of it.

  • Print straight from a personal gallery or a shared session link, on any phone
  • Guests see their place in the line and the real progress, so nobody stands and wonders
  • Set how many prints each guest gets, and they see how many they have left
  • Your own pickup message on the confirmation screen, set per event or once for the whole brand
  • The Print button only appears while a station is genuinely online, and goes away once the event is over
  • 4x6, 5x7, 6x8, and 8x12 on your dye-sub printer, printed edge to edge
  • Off by default: switch guest printing on per event when you want it
FeatureJul 20, 2026

Two new ways to put your look on a photo

Photo Styles now takes the exact .cube LUT your colorist handed you, and AI Photo Studio is out of hiding with honest, usage-based billing.

  • Import a .cube LUT and see it applied exactly, on the iPad and in the gallery
  • No .cube file? Build one from a reference image with the built-in wizard
  • AI Photo Studio makes branded, AI-generated portraits, opt-in per event
  • AI usage bills per delivered photo, with a per-event breakdown
  • Set a spend alert that warns you rather than cutting a live event off
ImprovementJul 18, 2026

A clearer read on what happened at your event

One set of numbers instead of four that disagreed, sessions you can slice by studio and photographer, and messages that only reach the guests who actually turned up.

  • Session Insights: one stats surface across sessions, guests, and the event hub, so the counts finally agree
  • Company-wide Insights is in the menu now, instead of a URL you had to know
  • Filter sessions by capture studio, photographer, and day, with live counts
  • Upload photos straight into Media from the portal
  • A "Guests with photos" audience for messages, so a big imported roster does not all get texted
  • Long lists keep loading as you scroll instead of stopping at a cap
ImprovementJul 15, 2026

The right photos, to the right guest, once

We walked Find My Photos and guest delivery end to end: better matching, tighter privacy, and no more duplicate texts.

  • A guest who shares a phone number or email with someone else no longer inherits their photos
  • A selfie claims only the face it actually matched, not everyone else in the frame
  • Find My Photos searches every enrolled guest at the event, not a slice of them
  • One "your photos are ready" text per session, even when a guest comes back for more
  • Faces process faster, and re-processing a photo stops duplicating its tags
  • Photo counts in the portal match what a guest actually sees in their gallery
AppsJul 6, 2026

The camera knows who just walked up

Smart Guest Recognition: when someone already in your guest list steps in front of the camera, they join the session automatically — no tapping, no lookup. The right people are on the list before you lower the camera.

  • Registered guests are recognized and added to the active session automatically
  • They get the whole session — including detail shots their face is not in
  • Your guest roster updates live as people are recognized
  • Works with guests from check-in, a scanned QR, or a past event
ImprovementJul 6, 2026

Jump between studios without losing your place

Running two headshot studios and a booth on one event? The new studio strip and sidebar sub-items make each tool instance its own workspace — switch between them in one click, with each one keeping its own settings.

  • A studio strip at the top of the event workspace — every instance, one click apart
  • Sidebar sub-items for each tool instance, so nothing hides behind a dropdown
  • Each studio keeps its own configuration, folders, and preview
FeatureJul 2, 2026

Talk to us right inside BrandStudio

Message us from inside the app or the website and get a real reply in the same thread — no email ping-pong, and your past conversations stay put.

  • A help widget in the portal and on the website — ask a question without leaving what you are doing
  • Two-way threads: our replies land back in the same place you asked
  • Your conversation history is saved, so you can pick up where you left off
  • Reach us whether you are signed in or just browsing
ImprovementJul 1, 2026

A faster, clearer event workspace

We rebuilt how you move around an event — a collapsible sidebar, quicker navigation, and one place to set up every tool.

  • A single collapsible sidebar for an event — jump between tools and settings faster
  • One unified tool manager, in both events and your Brand Kit
  • Consistent tool names everywhere, matching what you see on the site
  • Snappier loading with fewer full-page reloads
AppsJun 30, 2026

Instant gallery on iPad

The capture app now keeps your event photos on the device, so the gallery opens instantly instead of re-downloading every time.

  • Photos are cached locally — reopen the gallery and it is there immediately
  • No more waiting on a full re-download each time you check the gallery
  • Less data used at the venue, especially on slower connections
  • Groundwork for full offline device-to-device sync
FeatureJun 15, 2026

Magic Search — search photos by what is in them (early access)

Type what you remember — "red dress on stage", "people laughing at the bar" — and find the photo, even with no names or tags. Rolling out to early-access events now.

  • Search any gallery in plain language — describe the moment, not the filename
  • Finds photos by what they show: clothing, setting, mood, what people are doing
  • Works alongside Find My Photos — search by face, or search by scene
  • Rolling out to early-access events — ask us to switch it on for yours
AnnouncementJun 15, 2026

A brand-new BrandStudioHQ.com

We rebuilt our website from the ground up — clearer story, real customer work, and a closer look at every tool.

  • New homepage that shows the full event-day flow, start to finish
  • A page for every tool, with live demos of how each one works
  • Plain-English pricing with no surprises
  • Real photos from real events instead of stock imagery
FeatureJun 13, 2026

Badge Scanner — scan attendees straight into your event

Point the app at a conference badge and pull the attendee in instantly. Works with Cvent, Eventbrite, vFairs, and Expo Logic.

  • Scan a badge to register a guest in seconds — no typing
  • Connects to Cvent, Eventbrite, vFairs, and Expo Logic attendee lists
  • Reads both QR codes and standard 1D/2D barcodes
  • Links every scanned attendee to their photos automatically
FeatureJun 13, 2026

Brand Kit Hub

One home for your logo, colors, tools, and defaults — and a single click to apply them across every event.

  • Set your branding and tool defaults once, in one place
  • Apply your defaults to every event at once, or only the ones you have not customized
  • See how your kit is being used with built-in insights and activity
  • Brand-level team access: give people the right role per brand
AppsJun 13, 2026

Video capture and branded reels

Record video at the booth and turn a session into a branded vertical reel, ready to share.

  • Record video right inside the capture app, with multiple recording modes
  • Turn a session of photos into a branded vertical reel automatically
  • Crop-to-fill and burst-loop options for social-ready clips
  • Reels carry your logo and colors, like everything else
AppsJun 13, 2026

Bluetooth shutter remote

Trigger a Photo Booth or Selfie Studio capture from a handheld remote — no reaching for the screen.

  • Pair a standard Bluetooth remote to start a capture
  • Works in Photo Booth and Selfie Studio on iPad
  • Built-in pairing test and compatibility check
  • Supported on Mac as well as iPad
FeatureJun 13, 2026

Let guests contact the host

Add a "Contact host" button to any gallery. Guest messages go straight to the organizer, not to us.

  • A customizable contact widget on your gallery, matched to your branding
  • Replies route to the host so guests reach the organizer directly
  • Turn it on per event or set a default for the whole brand
  • Guests can ask a question without leaving the gallery
ImprovementJun 13, 2026

Explore a sample event

New here? Open a fully loaded sample event and feel how the whole thing works in about a minute.

  • A ready-made demo event you can explore before your first real one
  • See galleries, sessions, and delivery without setting anything up
  • A "you have new photos" moment lands the first time a guest gets a delivery
FeatureMay 22, 2026

Confidence Sync — every device, always in step

Photos, guests, and edits move between your devices the moment they change — and keep flowing even when the internet does not.

  • Changes on one device show up on the others right away
  • A clear status that tells you exactly how your devices are connected
  • Keeps delivering over local Wi-Fi when the venue connection drops
  • Galleries and slideshows update live as new photos come in
FeatureMay 18, 2026

See your sync, live

A new Monitor view shows what each device is doing right now — which photos have landed and how they got there.

  • Live activity feed of uploads and deliveries across your devices
  • Honest transport labels: Wi-Fi network, nearby, cloud, or offline
  • Spot a device that has fallen behind before it becomes a problem
ImprovementMay 12, 2026

Quietly more reliable

We hardened the event-day path so the system catches and fixes its own hiccups before you ever notice them.

  • Background checks that repair small inconsistencies on their own
  • Crash and error fixes across the busiest moments of an event
  • Uploads recover and retry automatically after a dropped connection
  • Stronger handling of large, fast-moving events
ImprovementMay 6, 2026

Uploads that never get in your way

Storage limits no longer interrupt a live event, and duplicate photos are caught before they ever reach a gallery.

  • Running low on storage never blocks an upload mid-event
  • Duplicate photos are detected and filtered automatically
  • SD-card imports no longer re-upload the same shot twice
  • Cleaner counts so your gallery totals always match
FeatureApr 24, 2026

Find My Photos, across every event

Guests can take one selfie and find themselves across all of your events — not just the one they attended.

  • A single selfie finds a guest in every event you have run
  • A branded, polished Find My Photos page on your own link
  • Returning guests can claim their photos from past events
ImprovementApr 18, 2026

Face Match keeps getting smarter

Confirm or reject a match and the system learns from it — so the right photos reach the right guest more often.

  • Confirm and reject controls that improve future matches
  • More accurate results per event over the course of the day
  • Guests are notified as new photos of them arrive, automatically
ImprovementApr 11, 2026

Email that looks like yours

Every message to a guest now goes out under your brand — your sender name, your reply-to, your look.

  • Set a sender name and reply-to address at the brand level
  • A unified, branded email template across every guest message
  • Optional "Powered by BrandStudio" toggle on galleries and registration
  • Replies reach you, not a no-reply inbox
FeatureApr 4, 2026

Full offline sync over local Wi-Fi

When the venue internet is bad, your devices share photos, guests, and sessions directly — so the show goes on.

  • Devices sync to each other over the local network, no internet needed
  • Photos, guests, and full session details all travel offline
  • Everything reconciles automatically once you are back online
  • Built for ballrooms and basements where Wi-Fi is unreliable
FeatureMar 26, 2026

Messages & Notifications

Compose, schedule, and send branded SMS and email to guests — straight from the portal.

  • New Messages tool: view full message history for every event
  • Compose custom SMS and email messages to guests directly from the portal
  • Schedule messages for later delivery
  • Audience filtering: send to all guests, specific sessions, or individual guests
  • Template variables: {guest_name}, {event_name}, {gallery_url} for personalized messages
ImprovementMar 21, 2026

Mobile App Experience

Tool configuration is cleaner and easier to use on small screens.

  • Tool config pages now use Settings/Preview tabs on mobile
  • Preview no longer overlaps bottom navigation on small screens
  • Smaller, mobile-friendly titles that fit narrow viewports
  • Improved responsive layout across all tool configuration pages
ImprovementMar 18, 2026

Gallery Improvements

Faster galleries with session grouping, pagination, and smoother loading.

  • Session grouping with proper session codes displayed in the gallery
  • Paginated loading for faster gallery performance on large events
  • Shimmer placeholders while photos load for a smoother experience
  • Today-only toggle to quickly filter gallery to today's photos
  • Session sections config option: choose how sessions appear in the gallery
AppsMar 13, 2026

iOS App Updates

Full-resolution lightbox, save-to-Photos, and automatic upload recovery.

  • Full-resolution lightbox photos with pinch-to-zoom
  • Save to Photos button in Event Gallery for quick local saves
  • Gallery opens full-screen on iPad for immersive browsing
  • Upload recovery on foreground: pending uploads resume automatically
  • Cloud error logging for improved diagnostics and support
FeatureMar 7, 2026

Media Management

Assign guests to photos, reach gallery links faster, and download sessions as a ZIP.

  • Assign or remove guests on individual photos from the Media lightbox
  • Guest gallery links accessible from Sessions and Guests views
  • Session download: Download All button generates a ZIP emailed to you
FeatureMar 4, 2026

Face Recognition Dashboard

See who is enrolled, how many matches they have, and filter your people list.

  • New 'Face Enrolled' tab on the People page
  • View enrolled people count and face embedding statistics
  • Match count displayed per enrolled person
  • Quick filtering between all people and face-enrolled people
FeatureFeb 27, 2026

Company Switcher & Brand Wizard

Switch companies from the titlebar and build a brand kit in three guided steps.

  • Company switcher in the titlebar: quickly switch between companies you belong to
  • New 3-step Brand Kit creation wizard: identity, default tools, and team access
  • Brand-level team access: assign viewer, contributor, or admin roles per brand
  • Redesigned event dashboard with SVG group icons and dot grid background
  • Hover underline fixes across all interactive cards
FeatureFeb 24, 2026

Face Recognition & Find My Photos

Guests find every photo of themselves with a single selfie — and can tag friends.

  • Automatic face detection on all uploaded photos
  • Find My Photos: guests take a selfie to find all their event photos
  • Tag a Friend: tag friends in photos and send them an invitation
  • Face match results broadcast in real-time to iOS capture app
  • Admin face review dashboard with confirm/reject controls
AppsFeb 19, 2026

iOS Capture App

Tether Canon for live view and full camera control — Sony, Nikon, and Fuji deliver photos over USB — with live face detection.

  • Camera tethering: Canon with live view + remote control; Sony, Nikon, and Fuji with instant photo hand-off
  • Live capture with real-time face detection overlay
  • QR code scanning to quickly add guests to sessions
  • SD card import with RAW-to-JPEG conversion
  • Photo editing with brightness, contrast, and curves controls
  • iPad support with adaptive layouts
  • Background upload queue with offline support
ImprovementFeb 14, 2026

Gallery Improvements

Branded galleries on a dedicated subdomain, with dark mode and a better lightbox.

  • Infinite scroll / lazy loading for large galleries
  • Lightbox with keyboard navigation, pinch-to-zoom, and swipe
  • Dark mode across all gallery pages
  • Brand logo and favicon on all gallery pages
  • Gallery subdomain: gallery.brandstudiohq.com
  • Friendly admin URLs: /events/{brand}/{event-slug}
ImprovementFeb 11, 2026

Security & Account

Two-factor authentication, backup codes, and hardened gallery protection.

  • Two-factor authentication (2FA) with authenticator app
  • Backup codes for 2FA recovery
  • Enhanced password reset flow
  • Strengthened XSS protection on galleries
  • Upload size limits and file validation
FeatureFeb 6, 2026

Photos & Organization

Drag-and-drop folders, grid and masonry views, and per-folder branding overlays.

  • Hierarchical folder organization with drag-and-drop reordering
  • Grid and Masonry view options with S/M/L thumbnail sizes
  • Auto-create date-based folders from photos
  • Custom branding overlays per folder
  • Bulk download as ZIP with custom file naming
ImprovementFeb 3, 2026

Performance

Zero-egress R2 storage, sharper thumbnails, and real-time gallery updates.

  • Cloudflare R2 storage for zero egress fees
  • Improved 600px thumbnails for high-DPI displays
  • Local photo caching for faster loading
  • 30-second API timeout for reliability
  • Real-time WebSocket updates for galleries and slideshows
FeatureFeb 2, 2026

Camera Tethering & Session Capture

Shoot straight from your Canon into per-guest sessions, organized as you go.

  • Canon camera tethering over USB — shots flow straight from the camera into the app
  • Session-based capture — group each guest’s photos into their own session for clean, per-guest delivery
  • Photos tab with folder organization to keep an event’s media tidy as you shoot
  • Network-aware: keeps shooting and queues uploads when venue Wi-Fi wobbles
FeatureJan 30, 2026

Custom Domains & Brand Kits

Host galleries on your own domain, branded end to end.

  • Custom domains (Cloudflare for SaaS) — galleries live on your domain, not ours
  • Brand kits — logo, colors, and overlays applied across galleries, slideshows, and delivery
  • Every touchpoint a guest sees looks like your studio
AnnouncementJan 29, 2026

BrandStudio is Here

Event photos in your guests’ hands instantly, at full quality.

  • Capture — Canon tethering and session-based shooting, native on iPhone, iPad, and Mac
  • Deliver — guests get a private, branded gallery by text or email moments after the shutter
  • Display — live slideshows and kiosk mode for the event itself
  • Your brand, your domain — custom domains and full brand kits so every gallery looks like yours