How to turn your Amazon Echo Show into a digital photo frame
Remember digital photo frames? They were pretty popular a decade or two ago, but they've since been replaced by smart displays from companies such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook. The Echo Show range from Amazon, for instance, consists of a bunch of smart displays that all support a feature called Photo Frame. It essentially turns your Echo Show into a digital photo frame that can show all your pictures with a simple voice command.
Here's what you need to know - including how to turn your Echo Show into a digital photo frame and whether it can display photos from Amazon Photos and Facebook or even uploads from your mobile device.
We check 1,000s of prices on 1,000s of retailers to get you the lowest new price we can find. Pocket-lint may get a commission from these offers. Read more here.
Also: What is Alexa and how does it work?
How to turn your Echo Show into a digital photo frame
You need to set up the "Photo Display" feature in order to use an Echo show as a digital photo frame and leverage Amazon's Photo Frame three-house slideshow mode. This includes adding photos and using a commands.
Step 1: Initial setup
All you have to say is "Alexa, set up my Photo Display" to get started. Or, swipe down from the top of the Echo Show screen and select Settings > Clock and Photo Display. (For the Echo Show 5, select Home and Clock > Clock and Photo Display.) Once done, choose one or more sources for your photos.
Step 2: Add your photo source
You need to connect your Amazon Photos, Facebook, or device to your Echo Show and select which photos to display. It's easy and takes less than a minute to do. Follow the steps below.
You can even choose which albums Amazon's Photo Frame feature will display via the device settings for your Echo Show in the Alexa app. (Scroll down to Photo Display and choose from Daily Memories, This Day, Favorites, Recents, and other options that pull from your Amazon Photos account. You can also connect a Facebook account or upload images from your smartphone or tablet.)
Display your photos from Amazon Photos
If you're an Amazon Photos user, download the Amazon Photos app and log into your account. Then, go to Settings > Upload Settings > Save Photos. This will auto-upload all photos from your camera roll to Amazon Photos.
Also within the Amazon Photos app, you can tap the Amazon Smile icon in the top left of the home page to take you to your profile. There, select "Personalize Amazon Devices," and you’ll your compatible smart displays such as the Echo Shows and Fire TV displays. Choose your device and select the albums you would like to display. They will appear on the Show screen. You can swipe left or right to scroll through them or rotate them automatically.
Manage your photos in Amazon Photos
You can use the Alexa app to manage your photos in Amazon Photos (but you will still need the Amazon Photos app installed to use this method):
In the Alexa mobile app, go to Settings > Photos > Auto-Save.
Under Upload Settings, tap Manage and toggle on Auto-Save.
Once your photos are saved to Amazon Photos, you can view your albums on the Echo Show.
Display your photos from Facebook
To display photos from your Facebook photo albums, follow these steps:
Open the Alexa app and go to Settings > Photos > Facebook and select Link Account.
Follow the steps to enable the Facebook Photos skill.
Display photos from your phone
If you want to send photos on your phone to your Echo Show, simply open the Alexa app and go to More > Settings > Photos. Then, follow these steps:
Tap Devices and select the Echo Show you want to display photos on.
Tap Upload Photos.
You can only add 10 photos at a time, but you can do so multiple times.
The uploaded album will be available on all your Echo Show devices.
Step 3: Command Echo Show to display your photos
Amazon's Photo Frame feature makes it easy to start a slideshow. All you have to say to your Echo Show device is: "Alexa, start Photo Frame." You'll then get a three-hour slideshow featuring your Amazon Photos, Facebook photos, or uploads from your phone. To return to the home screen say, "Go home." You can also swipe down and select Home.
You can ask Alexa to show specific albums using commands like:
"Alexa, show photos from This Day."
"Alexa, launch photos of my hiking album."
"Alexa, tell me more about this photo."
"Alexa, show photos from last summer."
Tip: If you only want to see your photos and not the other rotating content an Echo Show can display, go to Home > Settings > Home Content on the Echo Show and toggle off all the options you don’t want to display on your home screen. Lastly, if you are using an Echo Show 15, swipe down from the top of the screen and tap Photo Frame to bring up full-screen photos.
What is Photo Frame mode and which Echo devices support it?
As of August 2022, you now use voice-command your Echo Show to show your pictures for three whole hours - thanks to Amazon's digital photo frame mode. Just say, "Alexa, start Photo Frame."
Amazon's Photo Frame feature for Echo Show can display your photos in both landscape orientation and portrait orientation, so there is no need to edit or manipulate them to get them to display properly on your Echo Show. Previously only available on the Echo Show 15, it is now on all Echo smart displays. You can use Photo Frame to showcase all your personal photos in a customized slideshow. But you need to connect your Amazon Photos or Facebook account to your Echo Show, then set up Photo Display within your Echo Show, and say specific commands to initiate Photo Frame mode. We detail what you need to know above.
