Plugin Pulse Beta
← Pulse

Shared Albums for Google Photos & Apple iCloud

by Jan Zeman · Media

Embed shared Google Photos and Apple iCloud albums directly from the source, without uploading copies to WordPress.

Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.

Health

A 88/100

no flags

Active installs

500+

≈510 estimated

Momentum

+8%

downloads vs prior 30d

Biggest opportunity: Swap “embed” and “gallery” for “albums” and “photos”. “embed” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “albums” sits at #4 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “gallery” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “photos” sits at #10 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.

How scoring works →
88 Health · A
Maintenance 100/100
Rating quality 86/100
Support 70/100

88 health vs 62 average across 3,308 Media plugins

Install conversion

How it's measured →

7.9%

of downloads still active

At least 500 of 6.4K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Media plugin keeps 0.8%, across 2,327 plugins.

Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Media plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.

This plugin shipped 41 releases in the last 12 months, and every existing install that updated counted as another download. wp.org publishes no split between first installs and updates, so we show the raw rate rather than guess at one.

Details

Version
3.0.0
Last updated
yesterday
Added
2026-01-26
Requires WP
5.5
Tested up to
7.1.4
Requires PHP
7.0

Directory ranking optimization

How it's scored →

How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.

93 / 100

Excellent listing optimization

Most to gain: Rating quality

Update recency 100/100

Updated 1 day ago

WP compatibility 100/100

Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer

Rating quality 66/100

4.9★ over 11 reviews, weighted for review count to 4.2★ and held back under 25 reviews

Listing tuning 100/100

5 of 5 tags set · short description in place

Support resolution 100/100

2 of 2 support threads resolved in the last 2 months

To rank higher: Too few reviews to rank on quality — nudge happy users to leave one.

Get the full rank-higher report →

Daily downloads

Since 28 Jan 2026 · 282 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive

+8% vs prior 30d
465 Nov 2026

30-day downloads

Rolling 30-day volume · peak 1.3K · peaks are release surges

1.3K5 Nov 2026

Directory rank vs rivals

wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you

Shared Albums for Go · #8682youGallery for Google P · #6725Simple Google Photos · #7019WoowGallery · #5954

Rating trend

Star average over time · dips mark rough releases

4.95 Nov 2026

Health trend

Composite health score, snapshotted daily

885 Nov 2026

Update activity

How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.

2.5K5 Nov 2026

Release cadence

Actively maintained
from wp.org release tags

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

41

releases in the last 12 months

yesterday

latest release · v3.0.0 · 4 Nov 2026

41

tagged releases on record

Recent releases

3.0.0 · 4 Nov 20262.5.3 · 31 Oct 20262.5.2 · 16 Oct 20262.5.1 · 16 Sep 20262.5.0 · 14 Sep 20262.4.6 · 6 Sep 20262.4.5 · 14 Aug 20262.4.4 · 19 Jul 20262.4.3 · 17 Jul 20262.3.7 · 8 Jun 20262.3.6 · 5 Jun 20262.3.5 · 5 Jun 20262.3.4 · 4 Jun 20262.1.8 · 25 Apr 2026

What its installed base runs

via wordpress.org

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

v2.3 80%
v2.1 20%

Estimated active installs

The public count shows “500+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.

tracked estimate
500–600 ≈510

Crossed into this band 21 days ago and a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, so the real count is still just over 500.

At the current install trend, crossing 600+ in roughly 39 days.

Install history since 27 Jan 2026

5005 Nov 2026

Recent reviews

All reviews on wp.org ↗
  1. ★★★★★ markcarrara
    4mo ago

    It took awhile to understand the short code syntax but once I got it, it did exactly what I wanted. Google albums load much faster than if stored on my website with the cheap hosting I have

    Read on wp.org ↗
  2. ★★★★★ meanderingminds
    5mo ago

    This lightweight plugin allowed me to easily link Google Photo albums we already had to a memorial page on our website. It has so many customizable options and we will be able to integrate our stories and memories of our loved ones with the photos much more easily than trying to teach people how to use Google Photos. The fact that anything I thought of as a “this would be great to have” feature was already included is amazing! Thank you so much for all of your hard work on this plugin.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  3. ★★★★★ valterbruno
    5mo ago

    This plugin is excellent for managing a photo album with Google Photos.I haven’t found any others with these features yet.The shortcode is very simple, both to create and edit.The author is very helpful, quick to respond, and responsive to any new needs.Highly recommended. Valter

    Read on wp.org ↗
  4. ★★★★★ luisbenitez777
    7mo ago

    I’m just hoping that in the future a fullscreen-mode=mosaic, can be added to preview the smaller photos in addition to the main image. It’s a beautiful plugin; you can tell there’s effort and dedication behind it. I truly find it gorgeous. 5 STARS. ¡GRACIAS!

    Read on wp.org ↗
  5. ★★★★★ naveenbachwani
    7mo ago

    The Shared Albums for Google Photos plugin by Jan Zeman has been terrific for my photo blog, making it effortless to pull photos from Google Photos into my gallery pages without the hassle of manual uploads. I also suggested a few feature requests to suit photographers’ needs. Jan was not only prompt in his response, but soon pushed an updated release that included those improvements! This plugin is well worth using and deserves five stars.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  6. ★★★★★ imaginans
    7mo ago

    Per l’incorporamento degli album pubblicati su Google Photos è di gran lunga il miglior plugin che ho trovato. Great job. Thanks, Jan PS. If you could enter the name of the photo that would be great This topic was modified 3 months, 3 weeks ago by imaginans.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  7. ★★★★★ sandefjordtk
    7mo ago

    Sandefjord Tennis Club uses Shared Albums in Google Photos to display slideshows on Digital Signage in our clubhouse. This is a great way to showcase photos—not only on our webpage and social media but also when members and guests visit our club facilities. Tips on how to use this: Create a page in WordPress for the album you would like to display. Example of shortcode to use with cache refresh set to 1 hour. [jzsa-album link="YOUR URL HERE" mode="slider" show-title="true" show-counter="false" width="1920" height="1080" source-width="1920" source-height="1080" slideshow="true" slideshow-delay="5" interaction-lock="true" start-at="random" cache-refresh="1"] Remember to choose template “Page Builder Full Width”, “no sidebar”, “disable navigation” and “disable Footer” in the Page Settings Add the following CSS code to remove the white space on the top of the page .pagebuilder-section { padding: 0 0 !important;} Extra: Add the following CSS code to add a nice title on the page. Adjust the size of the font as necessary .jzsa-album .swiper-pagination { font-size: 70px !important; font-weight: bold !important; color: #000000 !important; background-image: linear-gradient( to bottom, rgba(255,255,255,0) 0%, rgba(255,255,255,1) 25%, rgba(255,255,255,1) 75%, rgba(255,255,255,0) 100% );} Also I recommend resizing photos to 1920×1080 px in Google Photo album to make sure the photos are displayed correctly. If you are using a WordPress caching-plugin, make sure the page is excluded from caching. Add the website to your favorite Digital Signage system. I recommend AbleSign as they provide Digital Signage for free with unlimited # of screens. This is a really easy way to display your photo album, not only on your WordPress homepage, but anywhere you can think of where you can display a webpage!

    Read on wp.org ↗
  8. ★★★★★ toonwolf
    8mo ago

    I recently started using the Shared Albums for Google Photos (by JanZeman) plugin, and it has been a game-changer for my WordPress site. It is a really feature-rich, easy-to-use tool that makes it incredibly simple to display photos from Google Photo Albums without the usual headache of manual uploads or complex API configurations. What impressed me even more than the plugin itself was the developer’s responsiveness. I had a couple of suggestions for some minor feature tweaks, and Jan was super fast in responding. Not only did he listen to the feedback, but he actually improved and released a new version of the plugin with those exact improvements in record time. If you are looking for a modern, responsive way to showcase your Google Photos—backed by a developer who genuinely cares about the user experience—I cannot recommend this plugin enough. Really impressive work! 5 stars from me…

    Read on wp.org ↗

AI assistants

How it's measured →

Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.

This plugin’s searches fall outside the topics measured so far. See the topics measured so far.

Readme readiness

8 of 8 pass · checked 3 Nov 2026

Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.

  • ✓ Says what it does "Embed Google Photos directly from the source, without uploading copies to WordPress."
  • ✓ Has a FAQ 7 questions in the FAQ.
  • ✓ FAQ asks real questions 7 of 7 read like questions a user would type.
  • ✓ Names who it is for Names its audience or use cases ("built for", "use it", "if you want").
  • ✓ Names what it works with Mentions Zoom.
  • ✓ Headings and lists 13 headings and 8 lists.
  • ✓ Enough to quote 5,796 characters of description.
  • ✓ Tags match the text All 5 tags appear in the text.

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

  1. 2026-10-15 400+ → 500+ up after 36 days in tier
  2. 2026-09-09 300+ → 400+ up after 33 days in tier
  3. 2026-08-07 200+ → 300+ up after 41 days in tier
  4. 2026-06-27 100+ → 200+ up after 48 days in tier
  5. 2026-05-10 90+ → 100+ up after 1 days in tier
  6. 2026-05-09 80+ → 90+ up after 5 days in tier
  7. 2026-05-04 70+ → 80+ up after 3 days in tier
  8. 2026-05-01 60+ → 70+ up after 6 days in tier

Competes with

The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).

Embed this report card

Drop a live Pulse card for Shared Albums for Google Photos & Apple iCloud into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/janzeman-shared-albums-for-google-photos" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Shared Albums for Google Photos & Apple iCloud — Plugin Pulse"></iframe>
Preview card ↗

Shared Albums for Google Photos & Apple iCloud: 500+ active installs, 4.9★ (11 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-05. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/janzeman-shared-albums-for-google-photos

Spotted a number that looks wrong? Report a data issue and we'll check it against the source.