The 7 Best Digital Photo Frames for Déjà Vu, Again and Again

Relive every fancy brunch plate and picture of Machu Picchu through a digital photo frame, because you deserve to see those photos you took, time and again.

By Matt Jancer

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Everybody is a photographer these days. Your kid brother’s graduation from clown college? That weird duck in the park that picks up cigarette butts and smokes them? That cold brunch waffle on the table in front of you? All prime candidates for a snap.

But while you’re out collecting thousands of photographs every year, where do you put them? I often lament, after taking a particularly good picture, that may never see it again because I only infrequently scroll back through my phone to look at pictures.

Digital photo frames were made for this very situation. You’ve made tons of memories in the form of JPGs and HEICs, whether with your smartphone or perhaps your nifty new point-and-shoot. Now it’s time to buy something that’ll help you actually take that trip down memory lane with them. These are the most beloved and all-around best digital photo frames we’ve found.

Ease of use was a major deal for us, so we looked at customer reviews to see how intuitive each frame is. It’s a photo frame, not a breakdancing robot. No one should have to spend more than a few minutes and a few brain cells learning how to use it.

Image quality was a wide net to consider, and we looked at reports of color accuracy, saturation, resolution, and image sharpness. Lastly, we considered aesthetics. It’s highly subjective, but we liked frames that looked like home decor, not relics from Circuit City.

If there’s one digital photo frame that’d work best for everybody, it’s the Aura Mason. Most buyers found it intuitive and easy to use, and reported that the screen’s image quality is quite good.

You can change photos by swiping a touch bar situated on top of frame’s nine-inch display, which possesses 1600 by 1200 pixel setup. Some customers say the app, which is used to add photos and videos, works well while others report it’s been finicky for them.

The Aura Carver is another great option and close to the Mason. The 16:10 aspect ratio works better for images taken with a standalone digital camera, but the Mason’s 4:3 aspect ratio displays smartphone pictures better.

The Mason is designed to work in either landscape or portrait mode, while the Carver is designed for landscape. For that reason, we gave the edge to the Mason. It seems that most people are taking snaps with the phones in their pockets.

But Carver is a solid option, too, especially for those photo buffs wanting to display the shots they took on their beefier camera rigs. All Aura frames offer unlimited storage with no fees, and you can upload photos using the app, email or a web browser.

The new Frame 2 only available right now in a 10-inch frame. There’s no 15-inch option, as with the first Frame, but the new 10-inch Frame 2 ups the resolution from 1280 by 800 pixels to 1920 by 1200, making image quality sharper and clearer.

We also liked the swappable, magnetic frames. Now if you change up your room decor, you can swap over a frame without the threat of the Frame 2 looking like an out-of-place eyesore. Eight options give the Frame 2 more choice than most other digital photo frames.

There’s not much customer feedback on the Frame 2 yet, since it’s quite new. One, though, says “The glass and matte finish give the frame a true picture frame look, making it feel more like a traditional photo display than a tech device,” which is exactly what we like to hear.

The star of this handsome digital photo frame is its 15-inch display, which is about as big you want if you’re not going for some kind of Andy Warhol, “I’m at home but home is an art studio, mehh” vibe.

It may have all that real estate, but it shares its 600 by 1200 pixel resolution with the nine-inch-display Mason. Its 133 pixels per inch pales next to the Mason’s 224, but hey, the photos are big! You make that trade-off of sharper image quality, but customers seem happy with the clarity.

Like the Mason, it’s designed to be displayed in either landscape or portrait orientation. With its thin frame, I happen to think it’s the most capable of all these digital photo frames at passing for a regular picture frame at a quick glance.

All Aura frames offer unlimited storage with no fees, and you can upload photos using the app, email or a web browser.

I’ve been living with this smart home hub for years, and while I didn’t buy it just to display my personal photos, it’s done the job of reminding me that, yeah, I was there and I did that, as I see old smartphone photos flick by during the day.

If all you want to do is show photos, then there are devices in this guide better suited for that. But if you’d like to make photo display only one aspect of a whole smart home setup, where you’re arming the home security system and turning on smart bulbs and TVs, the Nest Hub is ideal.

The touchscreen display is quick to respond to inputs and, because you touch the screen directly, more intuitive to use than a touch bar. It’s a simple swipe to breeze through photos. It’s so easy to pick up, visitors just instinctively know how to work it.

Just remember that it’s set up for landscape orientation only, and its seven-inch screen is on the small side. There’s a Nest Hub Max with a 10-inch screen, but when I had one I found it a porky beast that took up a lot of real estate and screamed “tech device” even more loudly.

What makes the Loop stand apart from other digital photo frames is that rather than being forced into an app (or email or a web browser), you load up images by text message. For people who aren’t the best at navigating apps, this makes the Loop a cinch to use (and dare I say, a great gift for Grandma and Grandpa?).

Not that there isn’t an app. There is, and customers mostly say it’s easy to understand and use. But we all know that one (old) person who struggles with technology, even when it’s made simple, and even they tend to know how to text pictures.

The 10-inch screen has 1080p resolution, too, so you don’t have to trade away image quality for that ease of use. Customers report photographs look sharp and clear.

Like the Skylight Frame 2, the Nixplay comes with a touchscreen that you simply swipe right on the glass to peruse through photos, although customers seem to be more split on its intuitiveness than the Frame 2.

Many say its easy to set up, though. Nixplay advertises it as having “quick, easy setup for young and old; just follow the step-by-step on-screen guide.” Some customers report that they gave these as gifts to elderly family, who had no problems setting them up.

The 1280 by 800 pixel, 10.1-inch display isn’t the highest resolution among the photo frames here, but it’s no slouch, either, and customers report the image clarify and quality is plenty acceptable to them.

There’s really no reason to buy and make room for a massive, 15-inch-display smart calendar unless you actually need a calendar. It syncs with popular calendar apps, such as Apple Calendar and Google Calendar, and its large touchscreen display is easy for kids to use.

You can even set up chore routines, plan meals, and create to-do lists to keep your household running more smoothly, or at least more equitably.

The Skylight Frame 2 is cheaper and is more oriented toward being a photo display, first and foremost. But if the idea of the workhorse Calendar intrigues you, know that you can set it up to be a photo display album, too.

Customers aren’t wild about the idea of paying $40 per year for the functionality of a photo screen saver, though, and the device is pricey. They do like the picture quality afforded by its 1920 by 1080 resolution, though.

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By Natalli Amato

By Natalli Amato

By Natalli Amato

By Matt Jancer

By Natalli Amato

By Matt Jancer

By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from VICE Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content.

By Natalli Amato

By Matt Jancer

By Natalli Amato

By Matt Jancer