The best digital photo frames of 2024 (If your grandkids live far away, you need one)

Screen size: 10.1 inches | Resolution: 1,280 x 800 | Storage: 16GB (expandable) | Touchscreen: Yes | Orientation options: Landscape/portrait | Motion sensor: No | Dedicated email address: No

Amazon is home to dozens of off-brand photo frames like this one, with prices typically ranging between $60 and $100. I've chosen this model as representative of those "generics," the digital picture frames that all look pretty much the same and offer similar specs. The YunQiDeer is one of the better deals for a frame of this size.

Here you've got decent resolution, auto-rotation and expandable storage. To add photos to the frame, you use an app called Frameo, which is available for Android and iOS and admirably easy to use even if you aren’t tech-savvy. Friends and family will need to install the app as well in order to send their own photos (or video clips, up to 15 seconds in length). The frame lacks a dedicated email address.

What's more, the app doesn't flag photos you've already sent, so you'll have to manually review what's already on the frame to avoid sending duplicates.

Although Amazon shows a list price of $100, the frame routinely fluctuates between $60 and $80. So unless you're in a hurry, wait for a sale.

Screen size: 15 inches | Resolution: 1,600 x 1,200 | Storage: Cloud (unlimited) | Touchscreen: No | Orientation options: Landscape/portrait | Motion sensor: Yes | Dedicated email address: Yes

Aura makes some of the most stylish photo frames you can get, so it's a bit surprising the company's new Walden model looks fairly plain: Just a basic black frame and white matte surrounding a roomy 15-inch screen. 

But that screen is glorious, one of the brightest and sharpest I've seen, and Aura is still a top choice if you're looking for a gift: You can upload photos in advance and even set it up for use with the recipient's Wi-Fi network — great for grandparents or anyone who's not super tech-savvy. This works a little differently depending on whether you purchase from Aura proper or a retail partner like Amazon; be sure to read Aura's gifting page to learn more.

Setup is easy, and the Walden accepts photos from your phone, iCloud and Google Photos — but not Facebook, Instagram or other services. The Aura app is one of few that flags photos you've already sent, handy for avoiding duplicates. Friends and family can use that app as well, or send photos directly to the frame via email. The built-in motion sensor not only detects when people are present, but also adjusts screen brightness depending on the room's ambient light.

This is the rare frame that doesn't have a touch screen. All settings are managed in the app, though there are touch bars embedded on the top and side edges; you swipe these to page through your photos. I thought this a bit inconvenient at first, but it actually makes sense: It keeps the screen free of fingerprints.

Because the Walden relies solely on cloud storage, it requires a full-time Wi-Fi connection. If there's an outage, or you try setting this up somewhere without a Wi-Fi network, you won't be able to see any photos.

That's my only real complaint — and it's a minor one — with the Aura Walden, an excellent choice for yourself or as a gift.

Screen size: 10.1 inches | Resolution: 1,200 x 800 | Storage: 32GB (non-expandable) | Touchscreen: Yes | Orientation options: Landscape/portrait | Motion sensor: No | Dedicated email address: Yes

Photo frame to go? That's the unique promise of the PhotoSpring Charge Pro, the only model here with a rechargeable battery. You can not only use it at home, but also take it to, say, a party and run a photo slideshow as part of the celebration. 

That's the standout feature in an otherwise basic frame, which looks a little dated and has software to match: The app is pretty rudimentary, offering few frame- or photo-management options; nearly everything is handled via the frame itself, which has an agreeably simple touchscreen interface. You can use a web portal to upload batches of photos, but it limits you to 500 at a time — a pretty major inconvenience if you have a large library to add.

What's more, although you can link to a Google Photos account, that's the extent of PhotoSpring's integrations: no Facebook, Instagram or the like. But I did notice that the Charge Pro is smart enough to detect and ignore duplicate photos, something I wish more frames did.

If you're looking for a photo frame that's intended to stay put, it's hard to recommend this one over others that have better software. However, if battery-powered operation is at the top of your list, the Charge Pro is your best — arguably only — choice.

Screen size: 10 inches | Resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 | Storage: 16GB (non-expandable) | Touchscreen: Yes | Orientation options: Landscape only | Motion sensor: No | Dedicated email address: No

Every frame here can accept new photos via app; some also have dedicated email addresses, which simplifies things a bit for friends and family. The Loop relies on an app as well, but instead of email, it has a phone number, meaning you can actually send photos via text message — arguably the simplest solution of all.

Less simple: Frame setup, which was more complicated than it should have been owing to some conflicting instructions between the setup guide and the app. Thankfully, things went smoothly after that, and, in fact, the Loop proved one of the more novice-friendly frames I've used. The app and onscreen settings menus are simple and straightforward, allowing you to set up different albums and tweak things like photo transition time and sleep mode.

However, there are some limitations to consider. The frame works only in landscape orientation and doesn't have a motion sensor. It can display two photos side by side but doesn't offer any transition choices beyond a basic fade. Finally, although you can configure the Loop for gifting, you have to go all the way through the setup process first; you can't preconfigure and preload the frame like you can with Aura's.

My main complaint is that the app doesn't flag photos you've already uploaded to the frame, meaning you might accidentally send the same ones, resulting in duplicates. (Unfortunately, this is true with a lot of frames.)

These gripes aside, I like the screen’s brightness and the Loop's overall simplicity. And it's the only frame that lets you text new photos. That option alone may make it the preferred choice for some buyers.

Screen size: 10.1 inches | Resolution: 1,280 x 800 | Storage: 8GB internal / unlimited (cloud) | Touchscreen: Yes | Orientation options: Landscape/portrait | Motion sensor: Yes | Dedicated email address: Yes

Nixplay has been in this biz as long as I can remember, so it's no surprise the company makes a damn fine frame. The current-gen 10-inch model looks lovely, with your choice of bezel and trim colors and even a stylish, patterned backside in case you display it somewhere you can actually see the back (like on an end table).

In my tests I found the Nixplay frame easy to set up, thanks to simple onscreen instructions that eventually lead you to the Nixplay app. The latter takes some learning, however, as it's heavily playlist-oriented and not super-intuitive overall. Even so, I think if you're looking to outfit not only yourself but one or more family members with a smart photo frame, this is a top choice. The app lets you set up "family circle" playlists for easy sharing between frames, plus you can pull photos from social networks like Facebook, Instagram and Google Photos.

I also like the frame's variety of display modes, which include fit-to-screen, pan-and-zoom and snapshot (which digitally frames each photo like a Polaroid and lays them down in a virtual, ever-growing pile). Most of these modes include nearly a dozen nifty transition options (push, wipe, cross-fade, etc.), including one that'll randomly cycle through them all.

Your frame purchase includes unlimited cloud service for your photos, though that means you need an active internet connection to see your full slideshow. Without one, the frame displays only your most recent additions, which are stored in local memory.

I did encounter a few image quality issues, starting with Nixplay's SmartFace Framing feature: It promises to automatically put faces near the center of the screen, but with some of my photos, it cut them off instead. Another oddity: SmartFace Framing can be enabled only via the frame's settings menu; it's not accessible in the app, even though most other display settings are. Meanwhile, the prominently featured Gift Prints option, which lets you order prints, photo books and the like, doesn't actually integrate with the Nixplay app. Instead, it leads you to a mobile browser, where ordering is a confusing process.

Of course, no frame is perfect, and I believe Nixplay's model makes a great choice for far-away families that want to easily exchange photos.