How to send pictures to a digital frame?
There are four main ways to send pictures to a digital frame; using a supported mobile app, emailing photos, importing pictures from social media, and via USB or SD card. While there are other photo-sharing methods, these four represent the most commonly used and versatile.
Sending pictures to a digital frame using its mobile app is the most versatile and accessible feature. Several of the most popular frames offer a mobile app for sending pictures to any of your frames no matter where you are in the world. Some frames like the Pix-Star also let you send video clips and audio messages using the mobile app.
Importing photos from social media and photo-sharing sites is another great way to automate the photo-sharing process. This feature is often called “Web album support” and isn’t widely offered outside of a handful of the best digital frames. Pix-Star’s frames let you import photos from a dozen external sources such as Facebook, Instagram, and Google Photos. They’re saved to the frame’s internal storage and you can include them in slideshows from anywhere in the world.
Email pictures to a digital frame is an elderly-friendly and widely usable photo-sharing feature. It’s offered by more frames than other features (web albums and mobile apps) and can be used on more devices. Emailing pictures is simple and familiar, though not quite as versatile as sending photos via a supported mobile app or as web albums.
Finally, sending photos to a digital frame by USB or SD card is the only offline method here. Some digital frames have a plug & play feature that lets you play slideshows directly from the connected USB or SD card without having to copy anything to the frame’s internal storage first. This is the ideal setup for families, elderly users, and bulk photo-sharing as internal storage is kept free.
Can I send pictures to a digital frame by SD card?
With Pix-Star, you can send pictures to your digital frame by SD card and USB. Pix-Star’s frames have 8GB of internal storage for holding photos locally on the frame. You can transfer photos from a connected USB or SD card to this internal storage and then remove the USB/SD card.
Unlike many other popular digital frames, Pix-Star has a plug & play feature. This lets you play slideshows from a connected USB or SD card directly on your Pix-Star frame without having to copy its content to the frame’s local storage first. Since Pix-Star doesn’t limit the maximum size of connected USBs or SD cards, you can use a USB/SD card as unlimited – yet highly accessible – external storage.
Note that many digital frames still require you to copy the USB or SD card’s content to the frame’s internal storage first. Additionally, you have to make sure the connected USB/SD card is formatted correctly and doesn’t exceed the frame’s maximum capacity restriction (often 32GB or 64GB, but can go as low as 4GB on budget digital frames).
How many pictures can I send to a digital frame at once?
Using the Pix-Star Snap mobile app, you can send up to 250 photos to several Pix-Star digital frames at the same time. These photos save automatically to each receiving frame’s internal storage. You can include these photos in slideshows and manage them via Pix-Star’s media gallery.
Pix-Star supports a USB/SD card plug & play feature that lets you play slideshows directly from a connected USB or SD card. As Pix-Star doesn’t restrict their maximum size, you can use a USB or SD card to view unlimited photos on any of your Pix-Star frames.
You can also use Pix-Star’s web album feature to bulk import photo albums from a dozen external sources. These include social media like Facebook and Instagram, photo-sharing sites like Flickr and Google Photos, and cloud storage platforms like Dropbox and Google Drive. Here you can automate photo-sharing for several Pix-Star frames and set linked web albums to automatically sync any new photos that you add.
Do I have to pay monthly fees to send pictures to a digital frame?
Nixplay and Skylight digital frames charge a monthly fee to unlock their full feature set. To send pictures to their digital frames using the mobile app, you have to play for Nixplay and Skylight “Plus” recurring subscriptions. This premium plan unlocks other features like cloud storage, multi-frame control groups, video and audio support, custom playlists, and more.
The main issue with subscription-based digital frames is that competing frames offer the same – and better – features without charging extra. For instance, Pix-Star’s frames offer free-for-life cloud storage, full access to their web and mobile apps, video and audio support, multi-frame control groups, remote configuration support, web albums, and more – without charging any extra fees or subscriptions.
Can I save pictures I sent to my digital frame to the cloud?
Pix-Star frames automatically save incoming photo mail to the cloud. Photo-mail includes any photos shared to your frames via the mobile app and email. Web albums are also saved to the frame’s internal storage.
Pix-Star’s web dashboard offers a remote configuration and management feature. Here you can manage each of your frame’s cloud storage, change their settings, start slideshows, and more. You can delete photos from the cloud, delete their local copy, move files and folders around, and more.
Make sure that the digital frame you are looking at includes free cloud storage. You don’t want to have to pay a recurring subscription fee for a feature that’s offered for free – at a similar or lower price point. Popular subscription-based digital frames include Skylight and Nixplay frames.
Can you send videos to a digital frame?
You can send 2-minute video clips to any of your Pix-Star digital frames using the Pix-Star Snap mobile app. Here you can also send 2-minute voice messages recorded directly inside the app. Pix-Star’s frame let you include video clips in slideshows alongside photos, set them to play muted by default, and even play audio files over slideshows (from a connected USB or SD card).
