Digital Picture Frame

November 13, 2020 6:25 PM

My parents want a digital picture frame for Christmas, and we'd like to get them one that all their children can send pictures to from our phones, so my parents don't have to do anything to get new pictures of their grandkids in rotation! Do you have one? Do you recommend it? Is there one that stands out from the rest? Features I should look for or avoid?
posted by Eyebrows McGee to Technology (14 answers total)

Best answer: We have the Nixplay - it does this, and we do recommend it.
posted by yclipse at 7:42 PM on November 13, 2020 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: (Oh, I haven't actually seen any in my searching that aren't generally compatible, but -- half of us are android, half are iOS, so if there ARE any weird frames that only work with iPhoto or something, that won't work for us.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:48 PM on November 13, 2020

Google Nest Hub. Its cheaper than most standalone digital picture frames (on sale for $70 right now) and pulls from Google Photos favorites, which works with iOS and Android. Plus its a google assistant and can play Netflix and Youtube.

I bought the Hub for its Google Home properties not even realizing its also a digital photo frame, which Ive always thought were way too expensive for what they were. It was a happy surprise, and now I’m buying hubs for all of my family (well, except those who are firmly in the Amazon ecosystem).
posted by cgg at 8:42 PM on November 13, 2020 [2 favorites]

I gifted my parents an Aura Frame last year. It has been a huge hit with them, both in terms of getting new photos sent to them and adding photos themselves. I have found the iOS app very easy to use; I think there are android apps, and also a google photos integration and web app as well.

I picked the aura frame because my mom is rather picky about decor, and they looked like regular picture frames. I also liked the ability to set it up to their WiFi in advance (from afar! Without opening it!), so it was loaded with photos when they opened it. There are other options, but this is a polished product.
posted by bluloo at 10:24 PM on November 13, 2020 [5 favorites]

We have given three Pixstars as gifts and they were all hits. You can email a photo to the frame so platform doesn't matter.
posted by notjustthefish at 10:46 PM on November 13, 2020 [1 favorite]

I have two Google Nest Hubs. One in the kitchen and one on my nighstand. Can create a new Google account the whole family can upload pictures to and set that as the default on the hub before you send it to your parents. Then, anyone can upload pictures to the library and the folder you display. As cgg noted above, it is also a Google Assistant. My non-techie gf uses it all the time to ask for the weather, to get recipes and to cast to from her phone while she is in the kitchen. It can make phone calls too. Mine does not do video calls, but they have models (more expensive) that do that too.

My kids have also made pictures for Father's Day and sort of hijacked it with messages or notes and pictures to me. Your entire family could do that for holidays and special occasions. Just change the folder that is displayed.
posted by AugustWest at 10:50 PM on November 13, 2020

Seconding pixstar. I have a relative who has one and constantly recommends it.
posted by donut_princess at 11:08 PM on November 13, 2020

Best answer: A few years ago I got my utterly nontechnical mom a NixPlay. I did have it shipped to me first so I could do the setup, but I found it easy and intuitive . Shipped it to her 3,000 miles away and it worked great for a few years. Able to easily upload pics from my iPhone, others could send pics vis email, etc.
posted by armoir from antproof case at 12:29 AM on November 14, 2020

Best answer: Seconding the Nixplay frames. My parents have one, my in-laws have one, and we have one. We upload pictures to Nixplay (I mostly use the web interface, but they have iOS and android apps) and they appear on the frames. They are incredibly easy to use and, after an initial setup, I can make any changes to the frames I want remotely.

I looked for years for a frame that would do this (literally probably 15 years) and it sounds like there are finally several options, but the Nixplay was the first one I found that checked all my boxes.
posted by Betelgeuse at 5:25 AM on November 14, 2020

I've seen the Skylight frame recommended (I don't own one myself).
posted by The AhForgetIt Tendency at 7:53 AM on November 14, 2020

Best answer: We got different models of the Nixplay 8” frames (the Edge and the Seed) for my parents and in-laws in 2015. They’ve been great - good quality, easy to use app. You can upload all the photos to one playlist, or you could set up different playlists for each grandkid, or each year, or whatever makes sense for your family.
posted by Kriesa at 12:50 PM on November 14, 2020

Thank you for this question. I'd pretty much written off digital frames but the recommendations here are great for my older parents stuck inside due to COVID. I'm going to look into these for a family gift.
posted by patternocker at 1:22 PM on November 14, 2020 [1 favorite]

I'm "thirding" the various versions of google nest hubs. It's vary simple to set up a shared album, whether android or ios or pc, and add photos. Multiple devices on multiple accounts can display the album. We've got the same album appearing in four states on almost a dozen devices...
posted by Barnsie at 7:55 PM on November 14, 2020

Response by poster: Thanks everyone! We ended up ordering nixplays for both grandmas!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:18 PM on November 15, 2020 [1 favorite]