Would like to give this as a gift to my parents so that everyone in the family can send photos. How will they know that there is a new photo to view? Does the frame alert them or pause the new photo? Thanks!
Could you explain video? I have some videos that are longer than 30 sec and it tells me to change the settings. I have the amount moved up to 1 min and it still only pays 30 sec. Can anyone help me with this?
The failing of most of the digital picture frames on the market is when the company shuts down their servers you are left with a frame that you cannot add photos to anymore. Stick to companies that you think will be around in 5 years IMO.
Yes. Absolutely a risk. Also don't rely on any service to keep your photos safe. But Aura is still one of the market leaders in this space so not a bad choice... for now.
Thanks for the review. Can you keep one photo up for as long as you’d like? Or does it just scroll automatically or manually? My father may want to stare at a picture for a length of time.
You can adjust it anywhere from 15 seconds to 24 hours before it moves to a new photo. That should be long enough for most people to stare. If you want longer, you can manually pause it another 24 hours or just switch photos when you want.
Have you tried turning off autoplay videos? A sure way is to convert the live photos to still before sending. Open Photos app and then select the live photo you want to extract a still shot from, tap the Share icon in the left corner and tap Duplicate. Then choose "Duplicate as Still Photos", the still image will be saved in your library.
How do I reset frame to Factory Settings? Was able to initially set it up invited people and received pics. Logged out of the App from the phone and NOW unable to log back in. Where is the reset button? Thank you in advance!
There is a reset hole in the back. If the frame is still yours, and you still plan on using it though, probably best to reset your login password rather than resetting your frame. help.auraframes.com/hc/en-us/articles/9137332780567-Resetting-your-Aura-Frame#:~:text=Press%20a%20small%20paperclip%20into,Reset%22%20message%20on%20the%20display.
There is not within the software. But you can just use the scheduler to turn off when you're certain nobody is going to be there to see it on. It is a simple scheduler though.
When I go to the photos section it doesn’t show all the photos I selected.. and the slideshow only plays those photos for some reason. do you know why?
Most modern smartphone users will not reach the limit. The photos are stored in Aura’s cloud services, which is likely to be on AWS (Amazon). So effectively limitless for the vast majority of users.
No. Not quite that way. It doesn’t connect to iCloud at all. You have to upload to Aura or send to Aura first using the App. Within the app it connects to Google Photos.
How can I transfer pictures from the frameo to my phone. Family will sent pictures to the frameo and sometimes I would like to transfer them to my phone.
What about adding from a dslr? Also is there a way to create folders and display just one folder at a time? Otherwise you have view thousand of photos before you get to what you want. Best to get one that can read sd or thumb drive. Like Pix star.
It’d still have to go through the app first. So DSLR to photo processing to cloud, to app is how mine would be done. Organization is best done through albums on the phone, then uploaded. It’s not the best, but it’s better than most.
I hate that you have to be connected to wifi at all times 😢. I want to have it in my office since I got one for Christmas but my work wifi is blocked with a portal log-in page which I can’t log-in through the Aura app even though my phone is connected to the WiFi
@@MikeMu my iPhone can’t connect to wifi and have the hotspot at the same time for the app it requires a wifi connection to change the wifi but when I have the hotspot turned on, the app won’t let me switch connection since it wants me to have wifi turned on and connected. I don’t know if what I said makes sense but it’s not letting me connect to hotspot
@Trusty335is Got it. I'd personally use two phones to accomplish this then (because I have a few). Or a travel router like the one I use from GLinet to rebroadcast the signal after logging in through the router to create my own internet hotspot using the work one (you may have to ask IT if you are allowed to do this). If none of this sounds like its worth the effort, perhaps you should look into one that is capable of offline use such as the one I recently did a video on.
Hi Mike thanks for your review considering one of these frames. However one very important thing for me which is not entirely clear. The app is very important to me. I need complete control of what is displayed eg can you create albums for Fram display then chose to auto display specific albums or album. I want to create my own album, define the sequence and have it displayed in the sequence I want. Is this possible?
It’s one big album and you have control what you show. There are only three options. One is to select to include in the slideshow, the other is to select to exclude from slideshow, and the final option is to delete from the frame. Unfortunately, that is all. You cannot categorize them into different albums for different occasions. As far as sequence, it would be in chronological order based on the photo’s metadata (which you can edit with software) or randomly.
No, that is one area where other digital frames do better. Aura does not currently support that, but does support certain video files up to 30 seconds in length.
They've made smart decisions so far sticking to what they already do best without adding a bunch of features. So far, so good. But still... people keep asking me about videos... Maybe one day they can make an add-on service that makes sense.
You can't in this version of the software/hardware. I don't know if the current frame will ever be updated to do that, but I doubt it. You will have to use a different frame / ecosystem.
Thanks! My mom got one for Christmas and we set it up using my phone with the app. (my mother doesn't understand how to use phone apps). Now, the device doesn't connect to the internet (which is the same internet it was initially set up with). Does the original set up device have to be in the same room as the frame? It says "just connect to the internet". The frame sees the internet, but it does not connect to it. Any ideas?
Hi Andrew, Aura has a good written article about the proper way to do this: help.auraframes.com/hc/en-us/articles/218347498 You need to follow the physical setup option if the recipient is not able to setup Wi-Fi themselves or use the app or the web interface.
@@MikeMu Thanks! That's what I did. I prepared the and set up the frame with my mother's wifi. Now, the frames sees the wifi but doesn't connect. I went through all the trouble shooting for this and still nothing. At this point, I'm not sure what to do.
Here's an odd question I suppose, can more than one be linked to show the same thing? I guess what I'm asking is if you send multiple family members frames in different areas, would you be able to share to all, and all see the same photos?
It adjusts automatically to the conditions with a built-in light sensor. Also it will turn the screen off at night when it senses no light around (you can manually over-ride this). I find auto works very well.
Thank you for your great review.Will this frame just show all the pictures uploaded to it or can you select specific albums?.During December I like to display just old and new Christmas memories.
All pictures uploaded. If you want to just show old and new Xmas memories you would have to remove the others from the frame and add them manually - best accomplished by setting up albums in your phone or for these purposes. If it’s just a season, it might be easiest just to get another Aura frame for just this.
Direct support only for google photos when using ‘cloud’ services. But you can just email photos to it. Or upload from your phone / download from Dropbox and send it.
If you invite someone to share frame, will your photos show up on their frame if they accept your invitation? My photo frame shows up on my mom's aura app as my frame and she can see photos on her app but they aren't on her frame. What did we not do?
@@MikeMu We did that. I guess my question is do you have to choose each picture and add or does the entire frame of photos upload to invited frame? Thanks for your response.
What happens if the internet at the house the Frame is at stops working? does it stop displaying photos since it relies on iCloud? or is there some sort of memory that keeps the pictures?
Shows what was loaded already for me. It has a built in buffer memory. I only know this because of internet outage. Not sure if power and internet goes out, then power resumes though.
There is no local non-volatile memory. If you lose internet access (or the Aura servers are down), it will continue to display the photos that have already been downloaded. If you lose power AND internet, the frame will be useless until both are restored. This is why returned mine - 64GB microSD cards are available for $15. There’s no excuse for not having any local storage at this price point.
Norm you have to ask your nephew to convert the frame to a gift with your information. Or… have him add you as a member. Difference is one is you control the frame, the member is he controls the frame but you can add pictures.
@@normy1471 Yes, but this is more easily done if you have access to your nephew's Aura app. Check out this article and the linked one in the same article. Worst case scenario, contact Aura and they can give you the best solution (their customer service is excellent).
Yes from the touch interface. I demonstrate it in the video. You can email photos to the frame. So as long as someone can email, that would work. But the other advanced functions you can’t. Frankly it does things automatically pretty well that once you set up there isn’t much that needs adjusting.
I think so. I have several old ipads. Not one of them have I found to be a good picture frame only, but honestly I haven't looked into it recently. This is purpose built. Maybe if you can get a good app and service. But then it also doesn't shut off the screen when there's nobody around, nor adjust the light output (at the same price point - newer ones do). In my experience, if you get an ipad, it's often used for other things, not just a picture frame. If you just want to show off some pictures and video, iPad with an iCloud subscription makes sense on-the-go.
@@MikeMu I’m looking for something I can set up in my 80 year old grandmother’s house. The two things that concerned me was the capable brightness or the Aura and also the possible future termination of the service. By the way, your review of this product is by far the best I have found, and made a subscriber out of me. Thank you for answering my question.
Can you only load pictures from a phone? There is no way to upload scans from a computer? I'm sorry, you weren't very clear about this. I'm not excited about giving Google all my scanned family photos so they can do face ID and read all the metadata to sell data points to gawd knows who. Is there a way to load existing photos without Google?.
A number of you have asked about emailing photos to the picture frame. I'm sorry it took so long to make this video, but its really easy to email photos to your frame. Here's how: ua-cam.com/users/shortsYyU-G9RhCxw
well that sucks....the part I really needed for my nearly 80 year old parents to watch (the Iphone screen share) isn't there...also the "3 second" transfer time you got, can take up to 3 days according to Aura
Hi bud. I have a question. Can I just load a bunch of pictures on it and send it to my mom? She doesn't have internet. I was hoping she can just turn it on and it works. Can we skip the whole internet thing or do you have to have internet to make it show the pictures? Thanks for your help
Would like to give this as a gift to my parents so that everyone in the family can send photos. How will they know that there is a new photo to view? Does the frame alert them or pause the new photo? Thanks!
I subscribed, this was the perfect video I needed to see before making a purchase. Great job, thanks a lot!
Excellent presentation. Sold!
Hahahah. Aura should pay me. (No affiliation whatsoever to Aura picture frames). Enjoy!
Great honest and transparent presentation. Thank you 😊
:)
Thank You for the detail of the app features that you described. This will be perfect for what I wanted.
Thanks for the review. Does it automatically display both portrait and landscape photos well, without having to configure each photo individually?
Yes. What happens is you will see two portrait photos side by side. I go over this in the video somewhere…
Really cool review! Thank you!
Great review!
Could you explain video? I have some videos that are longer than 30 sec and it tells me to change the settings. I have the amount moved up to 1 min and it still only pays 30 sec. Can anyone help me with this?
The failing of most of the digital picture frames on the market is when the company shuts down their servers you are left with a frame that you cannot add photos to anymore. Stick to companies that you think will be around in 5 years IMO.
Yes. Absolutely a risk. Also don't rely on any service to keep your photos safe. But Aura is still one of the market leaders in this space so not a bad choice... for now.
Thank you for your review, nicely done.
How long before they monetise the app???
@@smalrast if they do, they will tank as a company. Customers don’t want more subscription fees!!
Thanks for the review. Can you keep one photo up for as long as you’d like? Or does it just scroll automatically or manually? My father may want to stare at a picture for a length of time.
You can adjust it anywhere from 15 seconds to 24 hours before it moves to a new photo. That should be long enough for most people to stare. If you want longer, you can manually pause it another 24 hours or just switch photos when you want.
Is there an app to load photos from your desktop, rather than the phone only?
Only if you run a Mac. But you can just email photos as well.
The reflective glass screen is a bit disturbing. Do they also make it with a non-reflective surface?
Most photos on my iphone are taken in live mode how do I or can I stop the live part on the photo frame?
Have you tried turning off autoplay videos? A sure way is to convert the live photos to still before sending. Open Photos app and then select the live photo you want to extract a still shot from, tap the Share icon in the left corner and tap Duplicate. Then choose "Duplicate as Still Photos", the still image will be saved in your library.
How do I reset frame to Factory Settings? Was able to initially set it up invited people and received pics. Logged out of the App from the phone and NOW unable to log back in. Where is the reset button? Thank you in advance!
There is a reset hole in the back. If the frame is still yours, and you still plan on using it though, probably best to reset your login password rather than resetting your frame. help.auraframes.com/hc/en-us/articles/9137332780567-Resetting-your-Aura-Frame#:~:text=Press%20a%20small%20paperclip%20into,Reset%22%20message%20on%20the%20display.
Anyone know if there is a way to adjust the sensitivity of the light sensor? It turn off when there is still enough light in the room.
There is not within the software. But you can just use the scheduler to turn off when you're certain nobody is going to be there to see it on. It is a simple scheduler though.
@ i know this and use it. without it the frame would be off most of the time.
When I go to the photos section it doesn’t show all the photos I selected.. and the slideshow only plays those photos for some reason. do you know why?
This thing is amazing, thanks for the review :o
Thank you for a great review! Do you know how much storage is available on the Aura app?
Most modern smartphone users will not reach the limit. The photos are stored in Aura’s cloud services, which is likely to be on AWS (Amazon). So effectively limitless for the vast majority of users.
Does it have to be connected to an outlet all the time? Or do you just charge it for couple hours and it’s good to go wirelessly?
No built in battery, so an outlet is necessary to function.
7:20 "This isn't a touch screen" Proceeds to try control through touching the screen 😂
@@imjustsaiyan91 It gets everyone at some point. Luckily it doesn’t show fingerprints quite as much as some screens.
Nice review. so if I am correct, it will connect to iCloud and play my photos?
without having to upload them somewhere else?
Thanks
No. Not quite that way. It doesn’t connect to iCloud at all. You have to upload to Aura or send to Aura first using the App. Within the app it connects to Google Photos.
Great review but it would have helped if we could see what you were doing on the phone app. I have this frame and love it but still learning
How can I transfer pictures from the frameo to my phone. Family will sent pictures to the frameo and sometimes I would like to transfer them to my phone.
Email is an option. ua-cam.com/users/shortsYyU-G9RhCxw?si=PonuBJULSL1-D_Sw
Great info. Thank you!
What about adding from a dslr? Also is there a way to create folders and display just one folder at a time? Otherwise you have view thousand of photos before you get to what you want. Best to get one that can read sd or thumb drive. Like Pix star.
It’d still have to go through the app first. So DSLR to photo processing to cloud, to app is how mine would be done. Organization is best done through albums on the phone, then uploaded. It’s not the best, but it’s better than most.
I hate that you have to be connected to wifi at all times 😢. I want to have it in my office since I got one for Christmas but my work wifi is blocked with a portal log-in page which I can’t log-in through the Aura app even though my phone is connected to the WiFi
Simple way around that is to temporarily connect to your own hotspot. (ie phone hotspot).
@@MikeMu my iPhone can’t connect to wifi and have the hotspot at the same time for the app it requires a wifi connection to change the wifi but when I have the hotspot turned on, the app won’t let me switch connection since it wants me to have wifi turned on and connected. I don’t know if what I said makes sense but it’s not letting me connect to hotspot
@Trusty335is Got it. I'd personally use two phones to accomplish this then (because I have a few). Or a travel router like the one I use from GLinet to rebroadcast the signal after logging in through the router to create my own internet hotspot using the work one (you may have to ask IT if you are allowed to do this). If none of this sounds like its worth the effort, perhaps you should look into one that is capable of offline use such as the one I recently did a video on.
Hi Mike thanks for your review considering one of these frames. However one very important thing for me which is not entirely clear. The app is very important to me. I need complete control of what is displayed eg can you create albums for Fram display then chose to auto display specific albums or album. I want to create my own album, define the sequence and have it displayed in the sequence I want. Is this possible?
It’s one big album and you have control what you show. There are only three options. One is to select to include in the slideshow, the other is to select to exclude from slideshow, and the final option is to delete from the frame. Unfortunately, that is all. You cannot categorize them into different albums for different occasions. As far as sequence, it would be in chronological order based on the photo’s metadata (which you can edit with software) or randomly.
Can it place music while displaying slide show
No, that is one area where other digital frames do better. Aura does not currently support that, but does support certain video files up to 30 seconds in length.
Good to know about the scheduling.
Three years later, Aura is still going strong.
They've made smart decisions so far sticking to what they already do best without adding a bunch of features. So far, so good. But still... people keep asking me about videos... Maybe one day they can make an add-on service that makes sense.
How do u add background Music
You can't in this version of the software/hardware. I don't know if the current frame will ever be updated to do that, but I doubt it. You will have to use a different frame / ecosystem.
Thanks! My mom got one for Christmas and we set it up using my phone with the app. (my mother doesn't understand how to use phone apps). Now, the device doesn't connect to the internet (which is the same internet it was initially set up with). Does the original set up device have to be in the same room as the frame? It says "just connect to the internet". The frame sees the internet, but it does not connect to it. Any ideas?
Hi Andrew, Aura has a good written article about the proper way to do this: help.auraframes.com/hc/en-us/articles/218347498
You need to follow the physical setup option if the recipient is not able to setup Wi-Fi themselves or use the app or the web interface.
@@MikeMu Thanks! That's what I did. I prepared the and set up the frame with my mother's wifi. Now, the frames sees the wifi but doesn't connect. I went through all the trouble shooting for this and still nothing. At this point, I'm not sure what to do.
Contact Aura. Their customer service is good. What may be more rare is if your mom’s network is blocking it. Does she by chance use Eero?
Here's an odd question I suppose, can more than one be linked to show the same thing? I guess what I'm asking is if you send multiple family members frames in different areas, would you be able to share to all, and all see the same photos?
Yes. You can check off the frames you want to send photos to. Or you can email to all the frames the same photos.
@@MikeMu Thanks for the response, seems like a good thing!
How do you have single pictures displayed in full screen? Mine come out with the blurred background
It’s probably the aspect ratio of the picture showed. You can choose blurred or black background as well.
You did not explain how to conected from ATo Z like blue tooth ect this is where I’m having trouble
How u add music
To aura, you cannot.
can this frame connect to a photo album iCloud account?
No. From your phone or from google photos or email.
Can you use videos in like boomerang style motion to make for harry potter esc moving pictures? That sounds like it would be sick.
Oh that’s a creative use. It plays only once though by itself.
Can I add my icloud pics to this frame?
Yes, with an iPhone.
will this only work with I phones ??
Android is also supported. There is a web interface which I have not tried yet as well.
Can you change brightness on the screen if yes how
It adjusts automatically to the conditions with a built-in light sensor. Also it will turn the screen off at night when it senses no light around (you can manually over-ride this). I find auto works very well.
How do you add picture tofram from phone
You install the app, or have the person give you the private email address to send the pictures to for the frame.
Is there a fee to pay for online services?
Not yet...
@@MikeMu So there's plans to begin charging? I'd like to know before purchasing. Thank you!
@@bh9262 No. Not that I am aware of. There has been no charge for any of the cloud services since they've started.
Thank you for your great review.Will this frame just show all the pictures uploaded to it or can you select specific albums?.During December I like to display just old and new Christmas memories.
All pictures uploaded. If you want to just show old and new Xmas memories you would have to remove the others from the frame and add them manually - best accomplished by setting up albums in your phone or for these purposes. If it’s just a season, it might be easiest just to get another Aura frame for just this.
@@MikeMu Thank you for that information,I have to do that at the moment with my SD card frame so once a year it shouldn't be a problem.
very helpful, thank you!
So you can't email photos to get it sent there?
You can. You can find the email address under frame settings.
I have a lot of photos on Dropbox and shutterfly, will it work with showing photos from them?
Direct support only for google photos when using ‘cloud’ services. But you can just email photos to it. Or upload from your phone / download from Dropbox and send it.
If you invite someone to share frame, will your photos show up on their frame if they accept your invitation? My photo frame shows up on my mom's aura app as my frame and she can see photos on her app but they aren't on her frame. What did we not do?
She needs to invite you to her frame as well (so that you can also control and manage her frame and pictures).
@@MikeMu We did that. I guess my question is do you have to choose each picture and add or does the entire frame of photos upload to invited frame? Thanks for your response.
@@pennyhuffman2570 You have to choose each for each frame.
@@MikeMu Thank you! I thought it would automatically show on her frame, but I do know how to add individually. THANK YOU for your video and help!
What happens if the internet at the house the Frame is at stops working? does it stop displaying photos since it relies on iCloud? or is there some sort of memory that keeps the pictures?
Shows what was loaded already for me. It has a built in buffer memory. I only know this because of internet outage. Not sure if power and internet goes out, then power resumes though.
There is no local non-volatile memory. If you lose internet access (or the Aura servers are down), it will continue to display the photos that have already been downloaded. If you lose power AND internet, the frame will be useless until both are restored. This is why returned mine - 64GB microSD cards are available for $15. There’s no excuse for not having any local storage at this price point.
My nephew set the frame up and left. He lives in USA and I live in Canada , my app won't connect top frame.
Norm you have to ask your nephew to convert the frame to a gift with your information. Or… have him add you as a member. Difference is one is you control the frame, the member is he controls the frame but you can add pictures.
@@MikeMu I can add pictures using google photos, can I do a reboot of the frame to start over ?
@@normy1471 Yes, but this is more easily done if you have access to your nephew's Aura app. Check out this article and the linked one in the same article. Worst case scenario, contact Aura and they can give you the best solution (their customer service is excellent).
If you receive this as a gift and loaded with pictures, Can you operate the photo frame without a smart phone?
Yes from the touch interface. I demonstrate it in the video.
You can email photos to the frame. So as long as someone can email, that would work.
But the other advanced functions you can’t. Frankly it does things automatically pretty well that once you set up there isn’t much that needs adjusting.
Anything with good quality in this size that I can just use a sd card and not needing cloud/WiFi?
I have not tried one as good yet. But I do plan to find one, it just hasn't been high on my priority. If you find one, please let me know.
@@MikeMu will do. Thank you
Do you still like it?
Yup.
Im afraid someone will steal this from my office lol. Wonder if there are remote lockout options
Is this a better option than just using an IPAD for a picture frame? It is almost the same price
I think so. I have several old ipads. Not one of them have I found to be a good picture frame only, but honestly I haven't looked into it recently. This is purpose built. Maybe if you can get a good app and service. But then it also doesn't shut off the screen when there's nobody around, nor adjust the light output (at the same price point - newer ones do).
In my experience, if you get an ipad, it's often used for other things, not just a picture frame. If you just want to show off some pictures and video, iPad with an iCloud subscription makes sense on-the-go.
@@MikeMu I’m looking for something I can set up in my 80 year old grandmother’s house. The two things that concerned me was the capable brightness or the Aura and also the possible future termination of the service. By the way, your review of this product is by far the best I have found, and made a subscriber out of me. Thank you for answering my question.
@@vu3088This would be perfect for grandma. Thanks for the comment and sub.
How much?
$179 go.mikemu.com/auraframe
Can you only load pictures from a phone? There is no way to upload scans from a computer?
I'm sorry, you weren't very clear about this. I'm not excited about giving Google all my scanned family photos so they can do face ID and read all the metadata to sell data points to gawd knows who.
Is there a way to load existing photos without Google?.
You can now email photos to the frame.
Super helpful
Dang, I wish I still had my iPod HiFi.
A number of you have asked about emailing photos to the picture frame. I'm sorry it took so long to make this video, but its really easy to email photos to your frame. Here's how: ua-cam.com/users/shortsYyU-G9RhCxw
Sound pretty 👍
well that sucks....the part I really needed for my nearly 80 year old parents to watch (the Iphone screen share) isn't there...also the "3 second" transfer time you got, can take up to 3 days according to Aura
Skylight frame is way better :)
Haven't tried it. But I did look at the features, and I think Aura is better for me.
That's a bold statement. Based on my research, Aura is much better.
What's the biggest difference between this one and the Mason & Mason Luxe?
Hi bud. I have a question. Can I just load a bunch of pictures on it and send it to my mom? She doesn't have internet. I was hoping she can just turn it on and it works. Can we skip the whole internet thing or do you have to have internet to make it show the pictures? Thanks for your help
You have to have internet.
@@MikeMu ty