How to turn your Echo Show into a digital photo frame

As screens proliferate in our homes, it's nice to put them to good use outside of when you use them. Just like your computer has a screen saver, your Echo Show smart display can be set to display pretty images when not in active duty to serve up YouTube recipes or stream your favorite songs and TV shows . In fact, all of the smart displays in the Echo Show range double as more than capable digital photo frames.

The current Echo Show lineup includes the Echo Show 5, Echo Show 8, Echo Show 10 and the latest picture-perfect addition, the Echo Show 15. The easiest way to use one of these devices as a digital photo frame is to use Amazon's Photo Service, which has free, unlimited photo storage for Amazon Prime members. But there are also options to use Facebook's photo albums or download them from your phone's camera roll.

We'll walk you through how to set up your Echo Show to display your photos.

Image:Amazon

Set up your Echo Show using Amazon Photos, Facebook, or your phone

The first step to turning your Echo Show into a digital photo frame is to connect it to your favorite photo source. There are three ways to add your photos to an Echo Show:you can get them from Amazon Photos, Facebook's photo albums, or your smartphone's camera roll. All three use the Alexa app to stream photos to the Show (these are not stored on the device itself); if you wish, you can use all three simultaneously.

To use Amazon Photos:

• Download the Amazon Photos app from the App Store (iOS, Android or Desktop).
• In the app, go to Settings > Download Settings> Save Photos. This will automatically upload all photos from your camera roll to Amazon Photos.
• Alternatively, you can use the Alexa app to manage your photos (but you still need the Amazon Photos app installed).
• In the Alexa app, go to Settings> Pictures> Autosave
• Below Download Settings faucet Make sure and enable Autosave.

Once your photos are saved to Amazon Photos, you can view your albums on Echo Show.

To use Facebook photo albums:

• Open the Alexa app and go to Settings> Photos> Facebook and select Account Link
• Follow the steps to activate the Facebook Photos skill

To upload photos from your phone:

• Open the Alexa app and go to More> Settings> Photos
• Faucet Devices and select the Echo Show on which you want to display the photos
• Tap Upload photos
• You can only add 10 photos at a time; however, you can go through the 10 photo upload multiple times
• The downloaded album will be available on all your Echo Show devices

Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / I/O Means

Start using your Echo Show as a digital photo frame

Once your photos are available on your Echo Show, here's how to turn your smart display into a digital photo frame.

Using your Echo Show:

• Say "Alexa, set up my photo display" or swipe down from the top of the Echo Show screen and select Settings .
• Select Display clock and photos. (For Echo Show 5. select Home &Clock> Clock and photo display. )

Once done, you can choose one or more sources for your photos, which may include:

• Photo albums uploaded to Amazon Photos
• Today (photos of that day in past years)
• Daily Memories (an automatic selection of your daily photos)
• Facebook photo albums
• Pictures from your phone

Using the Amazon Photos app:

• In the Amazon Photos app, tap the Amazon Smile icon at the top left of the home page to access your profile.
• Select "Customize Amazon Devices" and you'll see a list of your compatible smart displays (including Echo Shows and Fire TV displays)
• Choose your device and select the albums you want to view

Selected Photo Albums or Photo Collections will now appear on the View screen. You can swipe left or right to scroll through them or just let them rotate automatically.

Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / I/O Means

More tips for displaying photos on your Echo Show

You can ask Alexa to show specific albums with your voice. using commands like:

• "Alexa, show photos from This Day." »
• "Alexa, open my hiking album photos. »
• "Alexa, tell me more about this photo. »
• "Alexa, show photos from last summer. »

You can also share a photo with your Alexa contacts by saying, "Alexa, share this photo with [Mom]."

If you only want to see your photos and not other rotating content an Echo Show may display, go to Home> Settings> Home Content on Echo Show and turn off any options you don't want displayed on your home screen.

Finally, if you're using an Echo Show 15, swipe down from the top of the screen and tap Photo Frame to view photos in full screen.