Does the Skylight picture frame support a USB/SD card?
The Skylight picture frame does not support a USB/SD card – despite having the necessary hardware (a USB port and SD card slot. The company states that these ports have no function and that you cannot load photos or other media to the frame by USB/SD card. This is odd considering that USB/SD card support is an almost universally offered feature in the digital picture frame world.
This means that without paying for the Skylight Plus subscription plan, the only way to load pictures to the frame is by email (which only lets you load 3 photos at a time). This severely limits the frame’s offline functionality and makes them a less than ideal choice for the modern home & family.
How to import photos from Facebook to the Skylight picture frame?
The Skylight picture frame does not support a web album feature. As such, you cannot directly import photos or photo albums to local storage from external sources like social media, photo-sharing, and online storage platforms. This web album feature is found with several other top frames such as the Pix-Star and is a must-have feature for the modern home & family – especially in our connected online world.
Pix-Star’s frames offer a robust and easy-to-manage web album feature. You can use the web dashboard to log into and select photo albums from supported platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Google Photos & Drive, Dropbox, Flickr, and more.
Web albums are backed up to the cloud and saved to local storage for offline use. Web albums can also be included in slideshows along with photos from other sources (such as the mobile app, email, etc.). You can even start slideshows from selected web albums from anywhere in the world – and adjust them on the go.
Finally, Pix-Star’s web albums can automate much of the photo-sharing process as you can set linked albums to automatically sync whenever new photos are added. This means you simply need to load the desired photos to a single linked album, link all your Pix-Star frames to this album, and the rest will be taken care of by Pix-Star!
Can the Skylight picture frame be remotely configured?
The Skylight picture frame cannot be remotely configured nearly as comprehensively as Pix-Star’s frames. While there is a way to gain online access to view, download, and share your photos, this is locked behind a subscription paywall (Skylight Plus). It still doesn’t offer any way to remotely control your frame, link them up in multi-frame control groups, adjust their settings, start & manage slideshows, manage local & cloud storage, etc.
By contrast, Pix-Star’s frames offer arguably the most robust remote configuration feature on the market. You can use the web interface to remotely manage and control up to 25 connected Pix-Star frames from anywhere in the world. You can adjust their settings, manage local & cloud storage, link & import web albums, start & manage slideshows, update firmware, and more. It’s an excellent feature for families and elderly users as you can effortlessly manage who sees what, when, and how – without the recipient needing to lift a finger.
Does the Skylight picture frame charge a monthly fee?
The Skylight picture frame charges an annual “optional” subscription fee that costs around $39 per year. This subscription is required to unlock almost all of the Skylight frame’s features such as cloud storage, online access, video & audio support, use of the mobile app for photo-sharing, and more.
One major issue with the Skylight frame is that you can’t delete photos. This means that once the frame’s internal storage fills up, you’ll have no choice but to subscribe to Skylight Plus. Additionally, without this premium plan, the only way to send photos to the frame is by email – and you can only send 3 pictures at a time. Skylight digital picture frames don’t support a USB/SD card and as such, there’s no way to load photos to the frame without Wi-Fi (which requires a very strong signal to work effectively).
We don’t ever recommend buying a digital frame that’s subscription-based. Several other top frames like the Pix-Star offer all of the “locked” features for free – and offer them more effectively in many cases. Pix-Star’s frames offer free-for-life cloud storage, video & audio, access to a mobile app & web interface, importing photos from social media, USB/SD card, and much more!
How does the Skylight picture frame compare with the Pix-Star?
The Skylight picture frame seems to be a decent alternative to the Pix-Star frame on paper – but this isn’t the case in the real world. The Skylight picture frame’s base price is a little higher than Pix-Star’s, yet you get the functionality and features of a mid-range or even cheap digital frame with a decent display.
Skylight’s frames don’t offer USB/SD card support, you can only load photos to the frame by email (three photos at a time), the mobile app is locked behind a subscription paywall, and there is no online access or remote configuration feature. You can import photos directly from external sources like social media or photo-sharing sites. You can create a folder and set it to sync to the frame automatically when new photos are added. Cloud storage, video and audio support, access to multi-frame control groups, and custom playlists are all locked features that require you to purchase the Skylight Plus subscription plan.
By contrast, Pix-Star’s frames are free to use. They don’t charge any sneaky hidden or recurring fees – yet they offer a far more robust feature set than Skylight’s frames (even with the Skylight Plus plan active). Pix-Star’s frames offer free-for-life cloud storage, access to the Pix-Star Snap mobile app & web interface, importing photos from external albums and folders (e.g., social media, photo-sharing, and online storage platforms), remote configuration support, video & audio, and far more versatile slideshows.
Pix-Star’s frames are a much better value for money choice than Skylight’s picture frame. You get more features, a user-friendly design, ease of use, and can send & receive photos & videos from anywhere in the world in just a few moments. Pix-Star’s USB/SD card support gives you virtually unlimited storage space and extensive offline functionality that’s perfect for sharing large quantities of photos. We don’t recommend choosing subscription-based digital frames when top options like the Pix-Star offer all the same – and better – features without charging a cent extra!
