A Shared Tape is a Tape with more than one person on it. You invite the people who were there; they can watch the whole Tape and add their own recordings to it, and so can you. Everyone sees one continuous memory, with each recording marked by who filmed it.
Sharing is by invitation only. There's no feed, no followers, and nothing public. A Tape is seen by exactly the people its owner invited.
Inviting someone to a Tape
Press and hold the Tape and choose Invite to Tape.
Or, when creating a Tape, use Invite to Tape under Optional Setup to invite people the moment it exists.
Choose who.
Your Friends & Family are listed first. Below them you can Search Videflo by @username for anyone with a Videflo account, or tap Invite by Text to send a link to someone who isn't on Videflo yet.
They see Invited until they accept.
You can cancel an invitation from the same screen at any time.
When the first person joins, the Tape becomes Shared.
It gets a Shared badge, appears under the Shared filter, and the menu row becomes Manage Shared Tape.
Invitations out doesn't mean shared yet
A Tape with invitations that nobody has accepted is still private. Its menu says Manage Invites, and it stays in your personal Tapes until someone actually joins.
Joining a Tape you've been invited to
- Invited by username: a notification arrives in the bell on Home, and the invitation is listed under Settings → Profile → Tape Invitations. Tap Accept to join, or decline.
- Invited by text: tap the link in the message. With Videflo installed, it opens straight in the app and offers Join Tape. Without it, the link opens a page telling you to get Videflo; install it, sign in, then tap the link again.
Once you've joined, the Tape appears in your library like any other. You can watch it, and Continue Recording adds your own recordings to it.
Adding to a Shared Tape
Everyone on a Tape records into it the same way: Continue Recording, hold the phone the way the Tape was started, film, Finish. Your recording is protected in Videflo Cloud and then appears for every member, in the order things happened.
- Each recording shows who filmed it. Your name and picture sit beside yours; theirs beside theirs.
- Renaming a recording is for the person who filmed it. Nobody else can retitle your recording.
- Deleting a recording is for the Tape's owner. Only the owner can remove a recording from a Shared Tape, including their own and everyone else's, and doing so removes it for everyone.
- A card lights up at the edge when somebody else has added to a Tape since you last opened it.
Your backup setting applies to what you contribute
If you've switched off Back Up to Videflo Cloud, a recording you add to a Shared Tape stays on your phone and never reaches the other members. Turn backup on for contributions to be seen.
What the owner controls
- Invite People
- Add more members, at any time.
- Remove
- Take someone off the Tape. They won't be able to add anything new; what they already added stays in the Tape.
- Stop Accepting Recordings / Start Accepting Recordings Again
- Close the Tape to new recordings, from everyone including you, while leaving it watchable. Reopen it whenever you like.
- Export Tape
- Only the owner can export the whole Tape to Photos. Every member can watch it.
- Delete Tape
- Deletes the Tape for everyone, including recordings other people added. Videflo says so before it does it.
- Storage
- The owner's Videflo Cloud allowance pays for the whole Tape, including other people's recordings. A Tape can't take new members while its owner's storage is full.
Leaving a Tape
On a Tape somebody shared with you, the menu offers Leave Tape where Delete Tape would be. You'll stop seeing the Tape. Recordings you added stay in it, because it's the owner's memory, and the copies on your own phone stay yours.
If you'd rather a recording of yours didn't stay, ask the owner to delete it; only they can.
Tips
Invite people at the start of an occasion, not the end. Grandma filming the candles from the other side of the table is exactly what Shared Tapes are for.
A Friends & Family connection makes inviting quicker, but it isn't required. You can invite anyone by @username or by text.
If you're the owner and space is tight, remember every member's recording counts against your allowance. Manage Storage shows the largest Tapes.
Common mistakes
Sending someone a Videflo invite link and assuming they're on the Tape.
A link is an invitation. They're on the Tape when they've installed Videflo, signed in, and tapped Join Tape. Until then the people screen shows them as invited.
Deleting a Shared Tape to tidy your own library.
That deletes it for everyone. If you don't want to see it any more and you're not the owner, Leave Tape instead. If you are the owner, export it first, or just leave it be.
Troubleshooting
The Tape still says Invite to Tape after I invited someone.
- Look again. With invitations out and nobody accepted, the row reads Manage Invites, and the Tape stays personal until someone joins.
- Once they accept, the Tape becomes Shared the next time your library refreshes: open the Tape, or pull the Tapes tab down. It isn't instant.
Someone joined but I can't see their recording.
- Their recording has to finish uploading from their phone first. Ask them whether Back Up to Videflo Cloud is on and whether they're online.
- Open the Tape again, or pull to refresh. New recordings arrive on the next refresh.
Continue Recording isn't offered on a Shared Tape.
- The owner may have chosen Stop Accepting Recordings. The Tape can still be watched.
- Check you're signed in. Videflo can't offer a contribution to an account it can't identify.
I couldn't invite someone: “storage is full”.
- The owner's Videflo Cloud allowance is full, and a Tape can't take new members while it is. Free up space or choose a larger capacity in Settings → Videflo Cloud → Manage Storage, then invite again.
Frequently asked
Can I share a Tape with someone who doesn't have Videflo?
Yes. **Invite by Text** sends them a link. To join and add recordings they'll need Videflo, an account, and a subscription of their own. If you'd only like them to watch, export the Tape to Photos and send them the video instead.
Does a member need their own subscription?
Yes. Videflo requires a subscription to open, for everyone. Storage for the Shared Tape itself comes out of the owner's allowance, not the member's.
Can I turn a Shared Tape back into a private one?
Not today. You can remove every member and stop accepting recordings, which leaves it effectively yours, but the Tape stays marked as shared.
Can two people be the owner?
No. A Tape has one owner, the person who created it, and everyone else is a member.
Related articles
Friends & Family and the Together row
Connecting with the people you share memories with, finding someone by username, and what a connection does and doesn't do.
Notifications: the bell, and what arrives on the lock screen
What Videflo tells you about, where to read it, and how to turn push notifications on or off.
Exporting a Tape to Photos
Turning a whole Tape into one ordinary video, saved straight into your Photos library.
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