What to look for in a digital frame you can send pictures to?
A great mobile app
The first and arguably most important feature to look for in a digital frame you can send pictures to is a great mobile app. Since we almost always have our smartphones with us, fluid and intuitive mobile apps make photo-sharing on the go simple and accessible for everyone in the family.
Many top digital frames have a great mobile app that lets you send pictures, video clips, and audio messages. You can send several pictures at the same time, send several frames at the same time, and more.
Wi-Fi & cloud connectivity
Another essential feature for a digital frame you can send pictures to is Wi-Fi & cloud connectivity. You should be able to send photos wirelessly to the frame, have them backed up to the cloud, and remotely manage/control your frame from anywhere in the world.
Now, these are not universally offered features. They’re more common in the high-end of the market – which is why we recommend staying away from cheap and mid-range frames. High-end frames like the Pix-Star digital frame offer extensive Wi-Fi and cloud connectivity.
Free cloud storage and no monthly fees
Ensure the frame offers free cloud storage and doesn’t charge any recurring subscription fees. There is enough versatile and capable digital frame in the high-end market to justify avoiding subscription-based digital frames.
For example, both Nixplay and Skylight digital frames are subscription-based. You have to pay monthly fees to unlock features like cloud storage, access to the mobile app, unlock video and audio support, access to remote frame management, custom playlists, etc.
By contrast, Pix-Star offers all of these features – more comprehensively – without charging a cent extra for full access to Pix-Star’s robust feature set.
Internal storage and USB/SD card support
Ensure the digital frame offers at least 4GB of internal storage space and USB/SD card support. You should be able to play slideshows directly from a connected USB/SD card and all of your photos should be available offline. Avoid digital frames that need constant Wi-Fi to work properly (e.g., Skylight frame and the Aura digital frame lineup).
Aspect ratio, display size, and screen resolution
Finally, we prefer the 4:3 aspect ratio. It perfectly matches most of the photos we take on modern smartphones, meaning you don’t need to worry about cropping, distortion, stretching, or photos being boxed in by black bars. Ensure the display has a minimum resolution of 800×600, 150cd/m2 of brightness, and is at least 8-inches in size.
What is the best digital frame you can send pictures to?
The Pix-Star digital frame is likely the best digital frame you can send pictures to in 2022. It’s packed with robust features, an easy-to-use interface, and a great mobile app/web interface.
Pix-Star’s digital frames are available in either 10-inch or 15-inch versions, with free-for-life cloud storage and extensive offline capabilities. Pix-Star offers immersive slideshows, and a broad viewing angle, and is one of the only top digital frames made for both families and individual users.
Best web interface
Pix-Star’s web interface and dashboard are arguably the best in their class. Here you can create multi-frame control groups where you can manage up to 25 Pix-Star frames from anywhere.
You can adjust their settings, start and manage slideshows, make changes to local and cloud storage, update firmware, update and import web albums, control the motion sensor and auto-on/off schedule, and much more.
Pix-Star’s web interface is free to use and only requires you to register your frame during the setup process.
Excellent value for money
Pix-Star’s digital frames offer fantastic value for money. There are no monthly fees or hidden costs, unlike competing frames like Nixplay and Skylight.
Pix-Star offers free-for-life cloud storage, full access to the mobile app & web interface, video & audio support, remote configuration support, web albums, and much more. These are typical features locked behind other frames’ subscription paywalls.
Extensive offline accessibility
Pix-Star’s frames come with 8GB of internal storage, unlimited USB and SD card support, and an inbuilt file explorer. All incoming photos are automatically saved to the Pix-Star’s internal storage for offline availability.
While offline, you can start slideshows from any files and folders via the media gallery. Additionally, you can connect a USB or SD card to the frame and play slideshows directly off them. Pix-Star’s plug & play feature means you don’t need to copy the USB/SD card’s content to local storage before viewing them in slideshows.
Can a digital frame you can send pictures to also play videos?
Pix-Star’s digital frame let you send both pictures and videos to the frame via the Pix-Star Snap mobile app. Note that video clips are limited to 2-minute clips. While this might not seem like much, it’s more than almost every other popular premium digital picture frame on the market.
Pix-Star is unique in that it lets you play video clips in slideshows alongside photos. Few other frames support this in their slideshow settings. Additionally, Pix-Star lets you set these videos to play muted by default when included in slideshows – should you choose to do so.
Does a digital frame let you send pictures from social media?
The Pix-Star digital frame’s web album feature lets you import photos directly from social media to the frame’s internal storage. Pix-Star supports a dozen external sources including Facebook, Instagram, Google Photos, Google Drive, Flickr, Dropbox, your computer, and more.
Once imported to your Pix-Star frame, web albums are saved to both the cloud and locally on the frame. They’re also available for offline use to include in slideshows. Additionally, you can use the Pix-Star web dashboard to start slideshows from specific web albums on any of your linked frames – no matter where you are in the world.
Can I send pictures to a digital frame by USB or SD card?
You can send pictures to the Pix-Star digital frame by USB and SD card, using any size of supported USB/SD card. Pix-Star’s digital frames also support a plug & play feature that lets you play slideshows directly from a USB/SD card – giving you essentially unlimited storage space for your photos.
Alternatively, you can copy the content of the USB or SD card to the Pix-Star frame’s internal storage. This is often done when users don’t want to leave the USB or SD card inserted at all times.
Note that Pix-Star lets you play audio files over slideshows from a connected USB/SD card. Note that you can’t store these audio files on your Pix-Star’s local storage.
