Recent Photos
Recent Photos Plugin provides with a widget to display n numbers of recent photos from the media library in the sidebar. The display can be customized through custom css or integrated in main style sheet file. Also…
Consider an alternative
Recent Photos shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 50+ sites and was last updated 17 years ago, and scores 25/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (50+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 16 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 2.9 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Recent Photos stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| photos | >100 |
| sidebar | >100 |
| thickbox | >100 |
| widget | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
About Recent Photos
From the official readme · v0.0.2Description
Recent Photos Plugin provides with a widget to display n numbers of recent photos from the media library in the sidebar.
The display can be customized through custom css or integrated in main style sheet file.
Also provides an option to use Thickbox (along with the patch code necessary for running thickbox)
Demosites:
Author info:
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Configuration Options
- Title: Title for the widget will be displayed as per your theme
- Number of the photos: Number of photos that will be displayed in the sidebar
- Randomize: Check to display photos in random order
- Browse Photo Link: Full link to your photos/gallery page
Leave blank if you don’t want to show the link. - Use Thickbox: Enables/Disables the use of thickbox for this widget
- WordPress Path: Applicable only if Thickbox is enabled
This option is necessary to provide the patch for thickbox to correctly display thickbox related images
(loadinganimation and close). If your wordpress installation is in a subdirectory provide the path for the same
followed by a forward slash
Eg. wordpress/
When the WP installation is in ‘wordpress’ subdirectory - Use Custom CSS: Enable/Disables the use of Custom CSS
- Custom CSS: For styling this plugin requires following CSS ids and classes to be defined
#recent_photos_envelope{margin:0 0 30px 0;}
.recent_photo_image a {float:left;display:inline;margin:0 16px 15px 0;border:1px dashed #888;padding:5px}
.recent_photo_image a:hover {border:1px dashed #000}
The above css code is default css provided with the plugin
Installation
Requirements
- PHP: 4.4.x or 5.x.x
- mySQL: 4.0, 4.1 or 5.x
- WordPress: 2.9 or newer
Basic Installation
- Plugin folder in the WordPress plugins folder must be
recent-photos - Upload folder
recent-photosto the/wp-content/plugins/directory - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
- Go to WP Admin > Appereance > Widgets and put the ‘Recent Photos’ widget in your sidebar
- Configure the options as per your requirements and wordpress installation
Upgrade Instructions
- Just Click ‘Upgrade Plugin Automatically’ within the WordPress Plugin Admin Area
- Go to WP Admin > Appereance > Widgets and put the ‘Recent Photos’ widget in your sidebar
- Configure the options as per your requirements and wordpress installation (New option for Randomize should be there)
Changelog
0.0.2
- Added option to randomize photos
0.0.1
- Initial Release
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.
Best Recent Photos alternatives
All photos plugins →
FAQ
Recent Photos: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 6, 2026
Is Recent Photos free?
Yes. Recent Photos is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Recent Photos safe to use in 2026?
Recent Photos shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 50+ sites and was last updated 17 years ago, and scores 25/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Recent Photos?
Recent Photos is active on 50+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 10,431 times since it launched in March 2010. It was downloaded 63 times in the last 30 days.
Does Recent Photos work with WordPress 7.1?
Recent Photos is officially tested up to WordPress 2.9.2, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Recent Photos last updated?
The latest version, 0.0.2, was released on March 29, 2010 (17 years ago).
Who makes Recent Photos?
Recent Photos is developed and maintained by Hemant Nandrajog (instruite).
What are the best alternatives to Recent Photos?
The most popular alternatives to Recent Photos are FancyBox for WordPress (30K+ installs), Meks Simple Flickr Widget (20K+ installs) and Image Optimizer by 10web (3K+ installs).
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