How does the digital picture frame app work?
The digital picture frame app installs on your iOS or Android phone or tablet, letting you share photos from your gallery – or through your camera – with one or more digital frames at the same time. For example, Pix-Star’s digital picture frames come with the Pix-Star Snap mobile app. Here you can share up to 250 photos with several of your Pix-Star frames at the same time.
Most digital picture frames with apps require you to manually add the frame’s unique email address or code to its mobile app. Once added, the app remembers the frame, and you simply need to select the receiving frame from the list of added picture frames.
Almost all digital picture frames require Wi-Fi to share photos with the frame. If you send pictures to the digital picture frame while it’s not connected, the photos won’t be received. Once you reconnect the frame to Wi-Fi, the backlogged photos should arrive on the frame.
It’s worth noting that not all digital picture frame apps are the same. Nixplay and Skylight frames lock access to their app – and most of its features – behind their “Plus” subscription paywall. Other mobile apps don’t let you send photos to multiple frames at the same time, and some frames only let you send a couple of photos at the same time (e.g., Frameo mobile app).
We recommend getting a digital picture frame that’s free to use, isn’t locked behind a paywall, and lets you send photos to multiple digital picture frames at the same time. Bonus points if sent photos are backed up to the cloud and automatically to the frame’s internal storage.
What is the best digital picture frame app?
The Pix-Star Snap is one of the best digital picture frame apps on the market at the moment. You can send up to 250 photos to several Pix-Star frames at the same time – no matter where you are in the world. You can choose photos from your phone’s gallery, send entire folders and/or collections, and even send video clips (maximum length of 2 minutes) and audio recordings to any of your Pix-Star frames.
Pix-Star is currently adding its popular remote configuration feature to its mobile app, which will become available soon. Remote configuration support is one of Pix-Star’s most versatile and capable features, letting you manage and control up to 25 Pix-Star frames from anywhere, adjust their settings, start slideshows, manage cloud and local storage, and link new web albums, etc. Remote configuration is currently only available on the Pix-Star web interface but is coming soon to the Pix-Star Snap mobile app.
Unlike competing frames like Nixplay and Skylight, Pix-Star doesn’t charge any extra recurring subscription fees to unlock access to their mobile app and/or web dashboard. Other mobile apps – such as the Aura mobile app – won’t let you send video clips or manage multiple frames (or send to several frames at the same time).
What is the Frameo digital picture frame app?
The Frameo digital picture frame app is a 3rd party mobile app designed to let various digital frames receive photos from your phone. Frameo has become an increasingly popular choice among newer brands, particularly Chinese brands, as they don’t need to build a custom mobile app.
The issue with 3rd party mobile apps like Frameo is that there isn’t necessarily a one-size-fits-all solution to photo sharing. For example, Pix-Star’s frames have a highly suited mobile app called Pix-Star Snap. Here you can send up to 250 photos to several frames at the same time, send video clips and audio recordings, and remotely configure your frames (coming soon) via the app.
For reference, the Frameo digital picture frame app only lets you send up to 10 pictures at once. You’re also limited to sending 15-second video clips (though some frames support 30-second video clips). With Pix-Star’s frames, you can include video clips in slideshows, set incoming photos to display in the currently playing slideshow, and have all sent photos automatically saved to the cloud (Pix-Star offers free-for-life cloud storage).
Do all digital picture frames have an app?
Not all digital picture frames have an app and it’s a feature that’s more or less limited to a handful of the best digital picture frames including Pix-Star, Nixplay, Skylight, Dragon Touch, and Aura frames. Very few mid-range and cheap digital picture frames have a mobile app for sending photos wirelessly. Most of these cheaper mid-range and cheap digital picture frames rely on USB and SD card support for photo-sharing.
We highly recommend getting a digital picture frame with a mobile app, especially for families and elderly users. You can send photos to any of your frames from anywhere in the world, bulk share pictures, send video clips, and even remotely configure your frame’s settings and slideshows. Note that some digital frames like Nixplay and Skylight charge additional subscription fees to gain access to their mobile app and most of its features.
Do digital picture frame apps save photos to the cloud?
Pix-Star’s digital picture frame app (Pix-Star Snap) automatically saves all photos to the cloud as they’re received on each Pix-Star frame. This cloud storage is managed via the Pix-Star web dashboard whereby you can move photos around, delete the cloud copy (and by extension the local copy should you choose), and even remotely start slideshows from linked and saved web albums.
Pix-Star’s digital picture frames offer free-for-life cloud storage, no monthly fees, and an intuitive web dashboard. Note that some competing digital picture frame apps including those of Nixplay and Skylight frames require additional subscriptions to unlock their mobile app and expand cloud storage. We don’t generally recommend buying a digital picture frame with monthly fees.
Can I remotely control a digital picture frame with its app?
Very few digital picture frame apps offer remote configuration natively inside the app. In most cases where remote configuration is an offered feature, it’s done through a supported web dashboard. That being said, Pix-Star is adding the ability to remotely configure and control your Pix-Star frames via the Pix-Star Snap mobile app. It’s currently under development and is coming soon.
Pix-Star’s remote configuration feature lets you manage and control up to 25 Pix-Star frames from a single user account from anywhere in the world. You can adjust each frame’s settings, start slideshows, manage local and cloud storage, update and sync new web albums (photo albums from social media), and more.
