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Lightbox with PhotoSwipe

By Arno Welzel

Design & Themes /

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

Lightbox with PhotoSwipe Review - In-Depth Analysis

Integrates PhotoSwipe for displaying images in WordPress. Supports single images and galleries.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

7.23/10

User Rating

4.9/5 (based on 115+ reviews)

Active Installations

20,000+

Update Frequency

Below Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

5 / 10 (Medium Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

This plugin integrates PhotoSwipe to WordPress. All linked images in a post or page will be displayed using PhotoSwipe, regardless if they are part of a gallery or single images.

You can also display EXIF data from supported image types.

As of version 4.0.0 this plugin requires at least WordPress 5.3 and PHP 7.0. Older PHP version will cause problems. In this case you have to upgrade your PHP version or ask your hoster to do so. Please note that WordPress itself also recommends at least PHP 7.4.

Please keep in mind: not the visible thumbnail is relevant, but only the image link. Images should always be linked to the file and not to the attachment page. Since version 5.6.1 there is an option to fix attachment links which can be enabled if needed; however, this may slow down your website since then all links on a page will be checked if they are attachment links.

Comparing to Alternatives

Lightbox with PhotoSwipe stands out among WordPress lightbox plugins with its focus on simplicity and unobtrusive styling. Several alternatives exist, each with their own feature sets and design philosophies.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Minimal and unobtrusive styling that integrates well with themes
No advertising or intrusive branding
Lightweight and fast performance
Supports EXIF information display
User-friendly with sensible default settings

Weaknesses

Has had a medium severity security vulnerability recently fixed
No pro version with additional premium features
Limited customization options compared to some alternatives
Relies on PhotoSwipe library version selection for optimal display

User Sentiment Analysis

The plugin enjoys overwhelmingly positive feedback with a 4.9-star average from 115 ratings, reflecting high user satisfaction and reliability.

Positive highlights

"Really decent plugin with sensible defaults and unobtrusive styling" – Daniel Fuchs
"Works perfect to show images in a lightbox. 100% support." – Michael Rieder
"The Best PhotoSwipe, works beautifully and well supported." – Josh Journey
"Super lightweight and does all the things without complicated backend." – Anonymous
"Number one WP lightbox, shows pictures in large format without distraction." – tastymouse

Common complaints

Weaknesses

Recent medium severity stored XSS vulnerability discovered and fixed
No paid version limits advanced feature availability
Some initial setup needed to select correct PhotoSwipe version for best display

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users seeking a lightweight, easy-to-use lightbox plugin that integrates seamlessly without imposing styles, especially those valuing simplicity and performance.

Not ideal for

Users requiring extensive customization options, advanced premium features, or those concerned about recent security vulnerabilities may want to consider alternatives or wait for further updates.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers a fully functional lightbox with sensible defaults, EXIF info display, and no ads, suitable for most users.

Final Verdict

Lightbox with PhotoSwipe is a highly rated, lightweight plugin that delivers a clean and efficient lightbox experience without unnecessary complexity or advertising. Its strong user satisfaction and ease of use make it an excellent choice for those wanting a straightforward solution.

However, users should be aware of a recent medium severity security vulnerability that has been fixed and the lack of a premium version for advanced features. Those needing extensive customization or heightened security assurances might consider alternatives.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Lightbox with PhotoSwipe plugin.

PhotoSwipe integration

image display

lightbox gallery

Screenshots

FAQ

The plugin uses JavaScript modules for PhotoSwipe 5. This will not work, if you use any kind of “JavaScript optimizing” with a WordPress plugin which combines all frontend scripts into one single file. Make sure that Lightbox with PhotoSwipe is excluded from any kind of “optimization”, otherwise the plugin may not work.

All linked images in a post or page will be displayed using PhotoSwipe, regardless if they are part of a gallery or single images.

Make sure that you link the image or gallery directly to the media and not the attachment page (in galleries the option link=file should be set).

If you want to display an image in it’s own lightbox which does not display other images from the same post or page, you can add the attribute data-lbwps-gid to the link element with a unique value for this image. This value must not be a number since numbers are already used internally. For example you could the file name of the image like this:

<a href="myimage.jpg" data-lbwps-gid="myimage.jpg"><img src="myimage-300x300.jpg" alt="My Image" /></a>

You can also add the same data-lbwps-gid attribute to multiple single images to combine them in the same lightbox.

Note: the parameter was renamed from data-gallery-id to data-lbwps-gid in version 2.97 to avoid conflicts with existing themes or plugins!

Starting with release 3.1.14 this is also supported for Elementor image widgets and Elementor image carousel widgets.

Please note: the order of the parameters have changed in version 1.90.

Some other plugins use PhotoSwipe as well and it may be neccessary to disable Lightbox with PhotoSwipe on some pages or posts – for example on the product pages of WooCommerce.

You can either configure the pages/posts manually in the settings or you can use the filter lbwps_enabled. This filter gets the ID of the current page/post and if the lightbox is currently enabled (true or false). If the filter returns true, the lightbox will be used, if it returns false the lightbox will be disabled – which means, no scripts and stylesheets will be included at all on the current page/post.

Example:

// Disable Lightbox with PhotoSwipe on WooCommerce product pages  function my_lbwps_enabled($enabled, $id) {     if (function_exists('is_product')) {         if (is_product()) return false;     }      return $enabled; }  add_filter('lbwps_enabled', 'my_lbwps_enabled', 10, 2);

The individual parts of the caption can be modified using the following filters. Each filter gets the ID of the current page/post and the original text to be used. You can either return the text as it is or modify it if needed.

lbwps_caption_caption lbwps_caption_title lbwps_caption_description lbwps_caption_filename lbwps_caption_exif

Example:

// Add copyright notice to caption title  function my_lbwps_caption_title($title, $id) {     return sprintf('%s<br>Copyright (c) %s Foobar', $title, date('Y')); }  add_filter('lbwps_caption_title', 'my_lbwps_caption_title', 10, 2);