What is a smart Wi-Fi photo frame?
A smart Wi-Fi photo frame is a digital photo frame that uses Wi-Fi and cloud capabilities to offer an advanced feature set. Some of these smart features include intuitive mobile apps for on-the-go photo-sharing, accessing and controlling your frame remotely, importing photo albums from external sources such as social media, and much more.
Most smart photo Wi-Fi frames are high-end, premium frames. You’re not likely to find these smart features on any mid-range or cheap digital frames. Most of these cheap and mid-range options typically with only USB/SD cards and internal storage.
Smart Wi-Fi frames also include a host of slideshow customizations and settings. With top smart frames like the Pix-Star, you can adjust the play order and frequency of photos. You can even include videos in slideshows and play audio files from a connected USB/SD card. You can start slideshows remotely, change their sources, adjust slideshow settings, and more – no matter where you are in the world.
It’s worth noting that some popular Wi-Fi smart frames charge optional monthly subscription fees. Smart frames like the Nixplay and Skylight are subscription-based. We suggest avoiding these as competing frames like the Pix-Star offer all of the same features – and better – without charging extra fees.
Smart Wi-Fi photo frames can often group into multi-frame control groups. They offer cloud storage and backups that are managed through either a supported mobile app or web interface. Down below, we’ll take a look at some of the important features and functions to look for in a great smart picture frame for 2022!
What to look for in a smart Wi-Fi photo frame?
The first thing you should look for in a smart Wi-Fi photo frame is Wi-Fi and cloud connectivity. Wi-Fi should be easy to set up (usually during the initial setup process). Registering your frame to unlock cloud storage, backups, and related features should also be smooth.
Make sure that the frame doesn’t lock key features like Wi-Fi or cloud-enabled feature behind a paywall. For example, Nixplay Wi-Fi frames charge an optional monthly subscription fee. If you decide not to purchase this subscription, you can only send photos to one frame at a time over email. Note that you can’t send pictures in bulk either. Cloud storage is locked behind their paywall, you can’t use the mobile app or web interface, can’t remotely access your photos, etc. Skylight frames use a similar subscription-based model.
Another key feature of a great smart Wi-Fi frame is an intuitive mobile app. It needs to allow sending many photos to many frames at the same time. For example, the Pix-Star Snap mobile app can send up to 250 photos to several Pix-Star frames at the same time. Set the photos to display automatically the moment they’re received to make sure nobody misses another important update.
Finally, remote configuration support is a must-have feature. Pix-Star uses its web interface to remotely configure its frames’ settings, start slideshows, manage storage, import web albums, etc. Other frames use their mobile app – through this method offers fewer features and adjustable settings.
Remote-control support is a great feature for families and elderly users. You can start slideshows and adjust their frame’s settings – no matter where you are in the world. It works well with web albums (importing albums from social media and photo-sharing sites) and automatic cloud backups to make photo-sharing quick and effortless for the whole family!
What is the best smart Wi-Fi photo frame for families?
The Pix-Star Wi-Fi smart frame is arguably the best digital frame for families on the market at the moment. They’re affordable, easy to set up, and have loads of family-focused features. The mobile app (Pix-Star Snap) isn’t locked behind a subscription paywall. You can send photos in bulk to several receiving frames, along with videos and audio messages.
Pix-Star’s web dashboard is where much of the magic happens. Here you can create multi-frame control groups, manage your frames remotely, import photo albums from external sources, and much more.
The remote configuration feature is ideal for families. Log into your Pix-Star smart frame’s web dashboard to adjust their settings, start slideshows, update firmware, manage cloud storage, and much more. On top of this, you can change slideshow sources and settings from anywhere in the world. It’s great for families that want to get elderly users and non-tech-savvy members involved.
Pix-Star’s web albums let you import photo albums directly from social media, photo-sharing, and online storage platforms. These imported albums can automatically update and sync when you add new photos. They’re also saved for offline use and slideshows can be started from them via the web dashboard.
Pix-Star sells both a 10-inch and a larger 15-inch smart Wi-Fi frame. Both can mount on the wall and support landscape and portrait orientations. Alternatively, use the attachable stand to rest the frame on a flat surface. Included are a remote controller, motion sensor, and auto-on/off schedules. Manage these settings directly on the frame or through the web dashboard.
Can smart Wi-Fi frames import pictures from social media?
Pix-Star’s Wi-Fi frames can import photo albums from a dozen external sources, including social media. Supported sources include Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Dropbox, Google Drive & Photos, and even from your computer.
This feature is known as web album support. It’s only found among the best digital smart frames, though Pix-Star offers arguably the most robust web album feature. Once saved internally, unlike many other top frames – Pix-Star’s web albums can be added to slideshows, viewed individually, and more.
Do smart Wi-Fi photo frames work without Wi-Fi?
The Pix-Star smart photo frame with Wi-Fi is one of the few that work well offline. Competing frames like Aura, Nixplay, and Skylight have very limited offline features. You can’t view files and folders saved to the internal storage. Many features are locked behind the subscription paywall – which we recommend avoiding.
For a digital Wi-Fi frame to work well offline, you need at least 4GB of internal storage and USB/SD card support. For example, Pix-Star’s frames can start slideshows directly from a USB/SD card. Additionally, they don’t restrict the maximum size of supported USB/SD cards. This gives you virtually unlimited storage space as you don’t need to rely on internal storage to hold and view photos/videos.
