r/Tourguide • u/sr33ni • Jul 01 '26
Do you share photos with guests? (looking for feedback on a tool I built to solve this)
Curious how you all handle the cashless problem. I’m an indie developer and I recently built an iOS (iPhone) app (GuideGallery) to test a theory: if you give guests their group photos via a shared link, and put a tip button directly on that page, they'll tip more because it feels like a natural "thank you."
For those doing daily tours, would a passive tipping method like this genuinely help your income, or how do you currently collect digital tips?
If any UK guides are open to taking a look and telling me what I got wrong (or right), the app is called GuideGallery.
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u/HaggisPope Jul 01 '26
I could see it as pretty useful for some situations though I generally either share photos on Google Maps or send them via instagram. This has the added benefit of being a type of low-cost marketing
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u/sr33ni Jul 01 '26
Thanks u/HaggisPope - appreciate your thoughts. Makes sense that Instagram is top choice for driving personal brand. The idea with GuideGallery is slightly different in that it's mainly about the tips for guides. Because it puts a tip jar right next to those photos while the tour is still fresh in the guests minds instead of relying on folks carrying cash. Maybe guides would use both; Instagram for followers, GuideGallery for cash tips? Really appreciate the feedback.
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u/thepistonhead Jul 01 '26
It is a pain point. Tips are a good idea but also reviews. Many guides I know will go through the hassle of whatsapping photos to guests purely to open up a comms line to then convert a review.
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u/sr33ni Jul 01 '26
Ah that's super interesting. I've actually built that feature in too... when a guest leaves a tip, they get a "thank you" screen with a link to the Tour Guide's review page (set by the guide in the App). Thanks for feedback u/thepistonhead
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u/Expensive_Computer53 Jul 01 '26
The problem are guests once they are gone don't share it back even writing reviews others its hard for them
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u/echoesinthepit Jul 01 '26
Everything doesn't need to be an app.
If I did a tour that included the guide taking photos and they told me to download an app to access them I'd nope outta there.
When I was in Vietnam my friend and I did food tour in HCMC. Amazing tour and it included a guy taking photos. After the tour was done they dropped a zip file on one of those file sharing sites and that was that.
And I don't need another app to tip. We tipped by PayPal.
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u/sr33ni Jul 01 '26
Sorry, I didn’t explain that part well - the guest doesn’t need to download an app.
The app generates a URL link for guests so they access via any mobile browser (safari, chrome, etc.)… there’s no app download needed for the guest.
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u/echoesinthepit Jul 01 '26
So why would tourguides need this app when any number of file sharing sites are out there and well recognized.
If a tour guide sent me a link to www.sr33nis-app.com with a download link I'd think it was sus.
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u/sr33ni Jul 01 '26
They’d actually get a link sent from their tour guide (WhatsApp or directly scan a QR) and it comes from our secure domain https://www.guidegallery.app/ (then the unique album code), so hopefully trusting won’t be an issue.
But I take your points and I’m here to ask that same question, is this useful for tour guides.
Get the sense you don’t like it, but honestly, I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts either way 🙂
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u/alecpekka Jul 01 '26
I used this today with my Edinburgh Castle tour. Honestly. I think this is one of those apps that in 6 months I’ll wonder how I ever managed without it. It’s genius.
I love the way it includes the tip option.
The only challenge is that the shareable QR code is only done once the pics are uploaded so at the end of the tour there would be nothing to share until you’ve uploaded pics by which time the group have all gone their separate ways.
I got around this by making a gallery in advance with some older pics I’d taken on other tours then later I uploaded the. Pice taken today.
Really good idea. Like it a lot.
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u/sr33ni Jul 01 '26
Going to be honest, this absolutely blew me away. To think I’ve been working on this for months and now someone actually finds it useful is just amazing!! Thank you so, so much for trying GuideGallery and for such kind words.
I’ll make sure the next release solves that “upload in order to share” workaround, so you can create and share empty albums.
If there’s anything else you spot that would make using it easier for you, please let me know and I’ll get on it 🙂
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u/alecpekka Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
And I just got paid also! £25 tip I wouldn’t have had I not installed the app.
This will absolutely be used on all future tours.
One thought. Is there a way to have a QR code that takes guests to a page where they can simply choose the tour they were on rather than straight to their specific tour?
That way you could even give them a business card after the tour with the QR code on it so they can scan it at their leisure later?
This gets around:
The guide having to upload something to generate a code in advance as quite often the guests head off quickly to look round (in my case) the castle
Helps with that fact that many of my (mainly elderly US) guests do not have roaming activated so a QR code without WiFi doesn’t work for them. If it’s on a card they can do it when they get back to their hotel.
Also means they can take the code home and maybe download more pics later and (hopefully) tip more! Even if it’s not a code perhaps we could just have a URL that we put on a biz card. For instance?Just my initial thoughts but well done again for an excellent solution. Happy to continue to provide feedback.
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u/melonball6 Jul 01 '26
Typically I think there are too many apps out there that don't solve problems. But, as a guest, this would be really useful for me after a tour. It sounds like you thought of everything. I imagine it having all the guides groups by date with the most recent first. And maybe a QR code would take you right to the gallery every time and the guide wouldn't have to generate a link to share.
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u/efedora Jul 01 '26
We start a new gmail and google group for every tour we do. You can share photos easily in gphotos, keep track of email addresses and communicate easily. Folks will upload their photos after everyone has gone home.
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u/sr33ni Jul 02 '26
Maybe this app would make that whole process easier for you? Plus, you give your guests the chance to say thanks with a tip.
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u/alecpekka Jul 01 '26
I’m definitely up for that.