Client Proofing on an iPad: What Your Client Actually Gets

Proofing is a sorting job. The client looks at a lot of frames, keeps some, and narrows those down. A bigger screen makes each frame easier to read. A tablet also tends to be used sitting down, often with a partner looking at the same screen, which is exactly the setting where a couple agrees on album frames.

It is still a screen held in a room, not a calibrated monitor. It shows expression, framing and which of three near-identical frames has everyone's eyes open. It is not the place to approve a skin tone or check critical focus, and the proofs are not built for that job anyway, as the last section explains.

When the browser window is at least 768 pixels wide, the review room uses its wide layout: thumbnails in a panel on the left, the photo in the centre, and comments in a panel on the right. On a narrower window the side panels shrink, then the thumbnails panel folds away, so the photo keeps its room. Below 768 pixels the client gets the phone layout instead: the photo on top, then a switch between thumbnails and comments.

There is one level of choice here, not two, and the download buttons sit in the top bar rather than on each thumbnail, so the hover issue described below for the one-page layout does not arise. A Full screen button in the top bar gives the photo the whole screen. The press-and-hold on the send button is the one step worth putting in your message, because a quick tap does not send.

The link opens as a normal web page. If you set a password, that is the one screen in the way. After it, the client sees your logo or studio name, the gallery title, your welcome note, and a row of buttons: share the gallery and download all photos when you allow them, plus any payment link or full-resolution files you added.

Below that is the grid. Photos keep their own shape, so a portrait stays a portrait. The number of columns follows the width of the browser window, not the device name:

So the same tablet can show three columns held one way and four held the other, when its wider side crosses into the widest layout. Photos load as the client scrolls toward them, so a long gallery does not have to arrive in one go.

The client can also flip the gallery between light and dark with a toggle at the bottom of the screen. That choice is remembered for that gallery in that browser, and it does not change what anyone else sees.

A tap on a photo in the grid only opens it. It never picks anything, so scrolling with a finger cannot favourite a frame by accident. Picking happens in the full-screen view, on a black background, with a tray of controls under the photo.

Three details are worth knowing. A single tap takes a moment to register, because the page waits briefly to see whether a second tap follows. The tray shows the photo's filename and a counter such as 12 / 240, so the client can tell you exactly which frame they mean. And on the last photo, once anything is picked, the Next button becomes Send my picks with the count on it.

Picks save as they are made. A running count of stars and loves sits at the bottom of the grid, and picked photos carry a star or heart badge, so a client who puts the tablet down and comes back later sees where they got to. Everyone who opens the same link edits one shared set of picks, which matters when a couple uses two devices; that is covered in multiple people choosing photos from one gallery. How the two levels map to a real shortlist is in the star and love pick levels guide.

On the one-page layout, tell your client these before they find them. None is a failure, but each can read as one to someone used to a photo app.

• There is no swipe between photos. The full-screen view moves with the Previous and Next buttons in the tray. A swipe does not page through the set.
• Tapping beside the photo closes it. The black area around the photo returns to the grid. On a tablet, with more black space around a landscape frame, that is easy to hit by accident. Nothing is lost; the picks are already saved.
• The single-photo download icon is hover-styled at tablet widths. When you allow downloads, each photo in the grid has a small download button. On a phone-width screen it stays visible. From the medium width up it is styled to appear on hover, and a touch screen has no hover. The Download all photos button at the top of the gallery is always shown when downloads are on. The full-screen view has no download button of its own.
• The full-screen view has no zoom control of its own. It shows the whole frame fitted to the screen, with room left for the tray below.
• After sending, picking stops. Taps on a photo no longer star or love it, because the selection is locked. You can reopen picks from the studio if the client changes their mind.

On the one-page layout, when you split a gallery into sections in the studio, the client still sees one scrolling page. Above the grid sits a jump bar: one button per section, each with its photo count. Photos you did not file into a section come first, and the jump bar labels them Highlights. Tapping a section button scrolls straight to that part of the page.

On a tablet the jump bar is the fastest way through a big wedding set. A client can go straight to the ceremony, pick there, then jump to the portraits. There is nothing to open and nothing to go back up from.

In the full-screen view, Previous and Next move through the whole gallery, not just the section the client started in.

On the one-page layout, when you leave it on, a Slideshow button above the grid plays the gallery full screen with no controls on it. It moves to the next photo every 4.5 seconds. Tapping anywhere ends it.

On a tablet this is a good first look for two people on a couch, before anyone starts picking. Suggest it in your welcome note: watch it through once, then open the grid and start starring. More on running a remote reveal this way is in the virtual reveal slideshow guide.

On the one-page layout these are off by default and switched on per gallery by you. The review room has its own comment panel and no colour labels. When they are on, the tablet is the most comfortable device for them.

• Draw and comment. In the full-screen view a Draw and Comment button opens a panel from the bottom of the screen. The client can turn on drawing and circle a spot on the photo with a finger, then send the drawing with a written note. A larger screen makes that circle land where they mean it.
• Colour labels. A row of the five Lightroom colours sits above the tray. One tap sets a label, tapping the same colour clears it, and each photo holds one label shared by everyone with the link. Agree what each colour means before the round starts.

The full walkthrough of the note panel is in the proofing gallery with comments guide.

Every photo in the gallery is a proof: a JPEG compressed in the browser when it was uploaded, sized for fast viewing on a screen. That is why a large gallery opens quickly on a tablet over home internet or a mobile connection.

It also means the proof is the wrong file for pixel-peeping. A client who studies a proof closely to judge fine detail in a retouch is looking at a copy made for choosing. Set that expectation plainly: the gallery is for deciding which frames, and the finished files come separately.

Those finished files travel as a full-resolution ZIP you upload to the gallery when the client is ready. Each handoff stays live for 3 days, and you can upload it again at any time. Opening a ZIP full of large files is easier on a computer than on a tablet, which is worth saying in the delivery message. Why proofs are sized the way they are is covered in what file size client proofs should be.

Most tablet confusion is prevented by four sentences in the message that carries the link. This version is for the one-page layout; for a review-room gallery, swap in SELECT PHOTO, SEND MY SELECTIONS and the 2-second hold. Adapt it to your own voice:

Your gallery is ready. Open it on your tablet or computer and tap any photo to see it full screen. Tap once to star the ones you like, tap twice to love your favourites, and use Previous and Next to move through them. When you are sure, press Send my picks at the bottom; that locks your selection, so decide together first.

If you allow downloads, add one line: to save photos, use Download all photos at the top of the gallery. That sidesteps the hover-styled icon on each thumbnail. For the wider picture of running a round, see the client photo proofing guide.

This page states no external figure and makes no claim about Apple devices or software. Every statement about clientgallery.io was checked against the product code on 30 September 2026: galleries created since 25 September 2026 opening in the review room by default while older galleries keep the one-page layout; the review room's wide layout from 768 pixels with thumbnails, photo and comments panels that step down on narrower windows, its FIT to 300% zoom, SELECT PHOTO, the ALL and SELECTIONS filter, comments with pen, arrow and box tools, SEND MY SELECTIONS with a name, an optional email and a 2-second hold, EDIT SELECTIONS, and the download buttons in its top bar; and, on the one-page layout, the grid column count by window width (two, three and four); a grid tap opening the full-screen view and never picking; a single tap starring and a quick double tap loving in the full-screen view, with the short wait before a single tap registers; the star and heart buttons and tapping the same level to clear; Previous and Next with wrap-round and no swipe gesture; a tap on the surrounding area closing the view; the filename and counter in the tray; Send my picks replacing Next on the last photo; the name and email step that locks picks; the per-photo download button visible at phone width and hover-styled from the medium width up, and the always-shown Download all photos button when downloads are on; the jump bar with its Highlights label; the slideshow advancing every 4.5 seconds and ending on a tap; the per-gallery light and dark toggle; comments, drawing and the five colour labels being off by default per gallery; proofs compressed in the browser at upload; and the full-resolution ZIP handoff live for 3 days per upload.