Using Alternative Apps and Shared Albums Instead of Mainstream Social Media

Photocircle is another option for a more visually oriented circle of friends and family. The app has an ad-supported version, but you can lose the ads and focus on everyone’s fabulous photos by upgrading to a PhotoCircle+ subscription for about $8 a year per person.

If your primary objective is to share photos with everyone in your family — including those who don’t have a smartphone or who aren’t particularly comfortable with technology — you still have options.

For example, both Google Photos and Apple’s Photos app support shared photo albums, in which multiple people can add, view and comment on pictures in that album from their phones, tablets and computer browsers. Use the Shared Album setting when creating a new album, then name it and add the email addresses of the people you want to see the photos. Once they accept your invitation, they can see the photos and get alerts when new images are added.