Unlike a traditional photo frame that requires you to have a paper-based print made from your favorite image before you can display it, a digital picture frame allows you to transfer digital photos directly from your mobile device, digital camera, a computer, or the internet and then display them—either one at a time or as part of an animated slideshow. Digital picture frames (alternately referred to as digital photo frames) come in a wide range of sizes and connect directly to your home’s Wi-Fi for easy photo transfers and sharing.
The best digital picture frames can help you stay connected to long-distance family members. Video Mailer Card
The best digital picture frames—including the Aura Walden Digital Photo Frame (our pick for best digital frame overall)—offer an easy way to showcase your favorite photos. These frames make a great gift. They’re especially suitable for the non-tech-savvy people or older people, who want to see the latest photos of family and friends without needing to be active on social media. Here are our top picks for the best digital photo frames you can buy today.
Frame display size: 15-inch | Display resolution: 1600 x 1200 pixels | Cloud service compatibility: Aura
Best for: Showcasing your photos in an elegantly designed frame.
The Aura Walden digital photo frame has a timeless design and a crisp 2K, 15-inch display. Like other Aura frames, the Walden has no internal storage or memory card slot. Instead, the frame uses Aura’s unlimited and free cloud storage. Simply select the photos you want to display using the Aura mobile app and transfer them to your frame’s cloud account. You can also invite others to share both photos and video clips, making it great for families who want to enjoy moments from afar. Because it’s all cloud-based, there’s no limit to the number of photos or video clips you can add to a slideshow that runs continuously on the frame.
The app lets you adjust the speed photos cycle through as well as whether to show photos in chronological or random order. For video clips, the frame has a built-in speaker so you can hear audio from the video clips if you want, but you can also mute if you just want photos. Best of all, you can mount this frame and get a crisp, gorgeous picture, no matter the time of day.
What our editors say: Tech editor Rebecca Isaacs tested the Aura Walden frame and loved how vibrant photos looked on-screen. She says, “The Walden frame gave me a crisp picture and a wide viewing angle, making it great for large living spaces. I also loved how I could easily add photos via the app. Another perk is that if I didn’t like how a photo looked on-screen, I could go in and adjust the crop to my preference. The classic design makes it great for any living space, too.”
Frame display size: 8-inch | Display resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels |Memory card slot: USB port, SD card slot
Best for: Displaying digital images stored on a USB flash drive or on an SD memory card.
The Atatat Digital Photo Frame offers a 1080p display at a bargain price. Thus, it makes photos look detailed and vibrant. The frame has a variety of slideshow modes, so you can select your favorite transition effect, for example. And it has a remote control you can use to adjust the screen’s brightness. One great feature: You can add your favorite tunes to the memory card with your images, and then use those tunes to play in the background with slideshows.
This affordable digital picture frame can stand on a flat surface, or it can hang on a wall. In addition to showcasing photos, the frame can serve as an alarm clock, digital clock and display upcoming events from your calendar. It can also turn itself on or off at specific times.
Frame display size: 10-inch touchscreen | Display resolution: 1280 x 800 pixels | Storage capacity: 8GB | Cloud service compatibility: Skylight
Best for: Emailing images to the frame from anywhere, so they can automatically be displayed as a slideshow.
The 10-inch Skylight Frame is very easy to operate. Simply plug it into any electrical outlet and link it with your home’s Wi-Fi. Then, using the frame’s own unique email address, start sending it photos and short video clips to display as an animated slideshow from your own computers and mobile devices. You can share its email address friends and family, so they can also send pictures to the frame.
This approach is great if you have an elderly parent or grandparent who isn’t tech-savvy nor active on social media. Just set up the Skylight frame in their home and then send photos to it from anywhere via email. The Skylight mobile app lets you customize how the frame displays images and remotely manage the up to 8GB of images stored onboard. Plus, it’s offered in a 15-inch frame now for those that want a larger screen to showcase their photos.
What the writers say: Tech editor Rebecca Isaacs tested the 15-inch version of this frame and says, “Once it was set up, I loved how easy it was to email photos to the frame. Once they were sent, they would display moments later. During my testing, I felt it was a great option for grandparents who still wanted to see photos of grandchildren but weren’t connected to social media, as they could see photos essentially in real time.”
Frame display size: 10.1-inch touchscreen | Display resolution: 1,280 x 800 pixels | Storage capacity: 8GB | Cloud service compatibility: 10GB Nixplay cloud storage, Google Photos, Facebook, Instagram, Dropbox
Best for: Displaying images stored online or within the frame via a customizable slideshow.
The Nixplay 10.1-Inch Touchscreen Photo Frame can display still images as a slideshow and mix them with video clips (up to 15 seconds long). The frame has two built-in speakers for use with video clips. You can customize the slideshow experience and rotate the frame between landscape and portrait mode. The Nixplay frame adjusts the images accordingly, a handy convenience.
Nixplay has six frame finish options, including black, wood, white and polished steel. And while you can store thousands of images within the frame’s internal storage, you can also store images on either Nixplay’s own cloud service or on popular services like Google Photos, Facebook, Instagram or Dropbox. This is a versatile frame that's offered at an attractive price. The Nixplay mobile app makes it easy to set up and manage the frame and its contents. For an optional monthly fee of $5, you can enable extra features like the ability to display videos up to two minutes long.
What our editors say: Tech editor Rebecca Isaacs purchased this in 2022 for her parents and says, “The Nixplay is super easy to operate. I love how I could adjust display times and add images with just a few taps in the mobile app. I also really enjoyed being able to open the app and create special photo playlists for my parents, whether it’s of my nephew or of my cats.”
Frame display size: 7-inch touchscreen | Display resolution: 1,024 x 600 pixels | Cloud service compatibility: Google Photos
Best for: A multipurpose smart display that shows photos.
The Google Nest Hub is a versatile smart home assistant with a 7-inch touchscreen display and built-in Google Assistant. You can ask the Nest Hub questions, control your smart home, have the hub display steaming video content, stream music on-demand plus handle a wide range of other tasks.
The Nest Hub can also display your favorite photos when you’re not using it for other tasks. You can set up the screensaver to display a slideshow of your favorite photos stored in a Google Photos folder.
What the writers say: “We love having a slideshow of photos appear on our Google hub,” says contributor Melissa Perenson. “It’s easy to share a Google Photos folder via the Google Home app.”
Frame size: 15.6-inch touchscreen | Display resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels | Cloud service compatibility: Amazon Photos, Facebook
Best for: Using a large Alexa smart displays a slideshow of your favorite images.
The Amazon Echo Show 15 is a versatile smart home hub with a stunning 15.6-inch touchscreen display. It can stand horizontally or vertically, and it can hang on a wall as well. It has a 5-megapixel camera for video calls, and two one-inch speakers and a three-inch subwoofer for audio. The Echo Show supports streaming video (including TV shows and movies) and music from a wide range of sources.
You can also use the Echo Show 15 as an interactive calendar and scheduling tool for the entire family. Of course, it also responds to Amazon Alexa verbal commands and questions. When the screen is not otherwise in use, it can display your favorite collection of digital photos as an animated slideshow. The Amazon Echo Show pulls images from your online Amazon Photos albums or Facebook; if you're an Amazon Prime subscriber, you get unlimited online storage for your photos. Amazon sells the handheld remote separately, though. And for the Echo Show 15 to work, you need to stay connected to the internet.
Frame display size: 32-inch | Display resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 pixels | Cloud service compatibility: Yes |
Best for: Transforming the smart TV that hangs on a wall into a digital frame that can display your photos or famous works of art in high resolution.
Unlike other smart TVs, The Frame has a 1-inch thin chassis that’s optimized for hanging on a wall. Its design resembles a picture frame, so it looks like any other picture frame in your home. Whenever you’re not watching your favorite shows or movies, the TV transforms into a high-resolution digital picture frame that displays either your own digital photos and video clips, or famous works of art (it comes with 100 art images onboard, additional images cost extra via the Samsung Art Store). The Frame uses a mobile app to transfer photos and art to the TV via the cloud. Out of the many sizes The Frame comes in, the 32-inch 1080p QLED TV was the first to get refreshed for 2023.
This smart TV has a matte display, so there’s no screen reflection even in the presence of bright light. And to match the decor of your home, you can choose from several outer bezel (frame) colors and designs. There’s even a motion sensor that will turn on the TV and showcase your photos or artwork only when people are in the room. It will then automatically turn off when the room is empty. The smart TV aspect of The Frame uses the Tizen OS, so it’s ready to stream content from all of your favorite services.
The newest digital photo frames come in a wide variety of styles, at varying prices. Here are important points to consider.
When choosing the best digital picture frame for your home, you'll want to consider a few features ... [+] including display orientation, size and more. Pictured here is the Skylight 10-inch frame.
This display’s number of pixels determines how much detail you see within each image. Plus, the resolution can affect the clarity and vibrancy of each photo’s colors. Much as you find with a monitor, tablet or laptop screen, the higher the resolution the more pixels on the display—and the better the image can appear.
Some frames store your photos locally, some rely on external storage and some access your images from cloud services. If the frame uses internal storage, how much do you get? Keep in mind, 8GB of internal storage is enough to hold thousands of JPEG digital images or hundreds of brief video clips. A frame with 16GB or 32GB of internal storage will hold considerably more content. If the frame does not have its own internal storage, it may have a USB port for a flash drive, or a built-in memory card slot for an SD card. Either option allows you to bring images to the frame by copying them external media.
If the frame connects to your home’s Wi-Fi, it can stream images from a cloud service such as Google Photos, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox or the frame’s own cloud service. Look for frames that support the cloud services you already subscribe to, or for frames that have a free cloud service (as the Aura digital photo frames do).
Consider the frame’s appearance. Determine if it will look good within your home or office. Some frames come in a variety of color options, while others stick to a generic black or silver frame with a simplistic but modern design.
Pricing for digital photo frames continues to drop as the technology improves, so for between $50 and $200, you can be confident that you’ll be able to purchase a really good quality digital photo frame, from a recognizable brand, that will make your favorite photos look great.
Consider the size of the display and whether it fits where you intend to place it. Some digital frames can hang on a wall. Others include stands and software so you can position the frame in either portrait or landscape mode—and the frame adjusts your images accordingly.
Some digital picture frames, like the Aura Walden, feature a removable stand so you can display it ... [+] on a table or hang it on a wall.
While you manage some digital photo frames directly from the frame itself, most frames have a mobile app for your phone or tablet that allows you to manage which images you display on the frame. The app also lets you adjust settings like how long each image is on screen and which animation the frame uses to transition between images.
Especially if you’re purchasing the frame as a gift for a non-tech savvy person, ease of use and the ability to control the frame remotely (via the internet) are key features to look for.
Frames like the Skylight Digital Photo Frame have their own, unique email address you can set up remotely. The person you gift the frame to simply needs to plug it in and connect the frame to their home’s Wi-Fi. All setup—including sending images to the frame (immediately and over time)—then gets handled remotely. You can invite friends and family members to send images to the frame’s email address directly from their phone or computer.
Some photo frames serve as a smart home hub and speaker with a built-in digital voice assistant. The Google Nest Hubs offer the Google Assistant, while the Amazon Echo Show frames offer direct access to Amazon Alexa, for example.
Other convenient features to look for include whether the frame adjust its brightness based on your room’s ambient light, or if the frame automatically dims (or turns off) your frame at night.
We combined research with hands-on testing and experience, and we spoke with product experts and industry leaders to help us determine the products that made the cut. We carefully evaluated each digital picture frame’s design, display size, resolution and more. We also paid attention to what sets each digital picture frame apart from its competition.
The Forbes Vetted tech team is well-versed in all things digital, having written articles and in the category (a couple of staffers, including Dave Johnson, our deputy editor, have even authored books). The tech section is overseen by Consumer Tech & Electronics Editor Rebecca Isaacs, an industry veteran who has been covering consumer technology for over four years.
This story was written by Jason Rich, an accomplished writer, journalist, photographer and experienced product tester. Over his career, he has accumulated hours of in-depth product research and has conducted firsthand testing, including for the writing of this story.
We know tech tends to become quickly outdated. To keep this piece fresh and accurate, it’s regularly updated; its current iteration was published in November 2023.
Forbes Vetted regularly covers all types of consumer electronics and then reviews and recommends the best products in specific categories. Here are some other articles you might enjoy reading:
I'm a technology reporter and senior writer at Forbes based in San Francisco. Have a tip? Email me at ebakerwhite@forbes.com or emilybakerwhite@protonmail.com.
I'm a technology reporter and senior writer at Forbes based in San Francisco. Have a tip? Email me at ebakerwhite@forbes.com or emilybakerwhite@protonmail.com.
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I'm a freelance journalist and product reviewer specializing in parenting and education. My writing has been featured by AARP, Scholastic, Insider, Yahoo, MSN, AAA and more. I spent six years as a high school English teacher, and then began writing full time after my daughter was born. I'm the proud mom to her as well as twin boys (and a fur baby). I have a bachelor of science in education from Penn State and a master of arts in education from Michigan State. You can learn more about me or connect with me on my website.
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I am a freelance writer specializing in general wellness, relationships, home, and lifestyle trends, with work appearing in Women’s Health, Prevention, Health, Yahoo Life, and more. I have a master’s degree from American University, live by the beach, and hope to own a teacup pig and taco truck one day.
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