How to turn your old iPad into a digital picture frame

If you have an old iPad And You want to exterize some of the thousands of photos of your iCloud account, this guide is for you. Instead of buying a new digital imageYou can transform your iPad retirement into a dedicated photo display without too much effort. You will have to modify a few settings, download a photo frame application and decide how you want to support your new display – which can be as simple as using a support or as complicated as taking out the exercise and modern an analog frame. Here’s how (and why) to improve your old iPad in a digital image setting.

Ipad recycled against a digital image framework

A real digital image A few obvious advantages: the necessary software is already there, it is ready for display, with a frame and a tangled screen, and, as Unitasker, it does not display Gmail notifications on your photos. But the resolution of most intelligent executives amounts to 1,280 per 800 pixels. Even the standard iPad (9th generation) of 2021 has a resolution of 2,160 by 1,620. In addition, your old iPad is already yours. A decent digital framework will cost you about $ 100. And, as your iPad is certainly not a single use device – it can take a call againstTime or play an episode of Impassive face If the need arises.

How to transform your old iPad into a digital image framework

I thought I could use AppleThe integrated software to do something as simple as to create a slide images slideshow, but the experience was not quite what I was looking for. Play a slideshow in the Photos Application does it as a memory, with music, and there is no way to deactivate this music (although you can cut it). You can complete a memory, but you cannot randomize the images and the interval between the images is far too short (nothing less than ten minutes, you look like another screen that flashes you). So, to transform an iPad into a randomized digital image frame, always on and silent with a decent display length, you will be more lucky with a third party application.

I tried a few and my favorite is Frame photo synchronized by Reframe ($ 10, life access). It does not bring a ton of features – no transitions, no image effects, no time and date superposition options and it will only accept images from your photo application – but it does the best job for the photos to be beautiful on an iPad.

It allows you to define the visualization interval from 10 seconds to 24 hours and there is a programmable sleep function so as not to radiate photos in the vacuum of 3 am. If your iPad is oriented differently from a photo, it shows two images side by side (that is to say two images of portraits next to each other if your iPad is in landscape or two horizontal photos stacked if your tablet is vertical). A clean white border surrounds each split image; Full screen images become the edge to the edge. The images are slightly cropped to adapt, which means that they can lose some details around the borders, but I think that the effect is more attractive than the extended edges or the blurred black bars. The two -high solution is the way our first choice for a digital photo frame, the Carver Aura, manages the images with different appearance reports – but you cannot define this device in portrait mode.

Lively is another option and it is actually cheaper at $ 5 for life access. It has more features such as transitions and image filters, but there is no option to have two images at the same time as in Re-Frame. Instead, it can blur the edges, add bars or (hidefully) stretch the image. I also experienced a number of seeds with the application and I found the navigation a little more difficult than it should be. I also tried Digital photo frame slides But, at $ 30 per year, it is too expensive for my taste and it has no sleep function.

How to prepare your iPad for the Frame Photo mode

First step: Create an album

Most photo display applications will make albums you select in the photos. You probably already know how to make a new album, but there are some elements to consider when you create one for a digital photo frame application on an iPad. All the instructions are for iPados 18. If you work with an older version, the steps can be slightly different.

1. Open Photos And press the sidebar icon in the upper left corner.

2. Under the albums, Tap + New album at the bottom of this list.

3. Name the album something memorable, because you will probably have to look for it in the Photo Frame application. Faucet Create an albumThen the blue sign more.

4. If you only want (or especially) to add a specific orientation (landscape or portrait), press the high / bottom arrow icon at the bottom left of the pop-up menu.

5. Faucet Show optionsSO Appearance ratio. This will show the shape of each image so that you can not easily select those with the orientation you want. You can also use the Show options Menu to zoom in on miniatures to get a better view of each image.

6. Select the images you want and press Add top right.

Second step: adjust your iPad settings

The adjustment of a few parameters will ensure that your iPad continues to play all day, without interruption. The simple fact of playing the application with a digital photo frame should be enough to prevent your iPad from becoming dark, but your iPad can automatically lock itself when the application mode of the application comes into play, forcing you to unlock it in the morning to start the application again. You will also want to make sure that your slideshow is not interrupted with the notifications of other applications.

1. Extinguish automatic locking: Open the settings, press the screen and brightness, press the automatic locking, never select. You can get a warning that this parameter will have an impact on the battery life, but as your iPad will remain connected, it will not be a problem.

2. Turn off all notifications: You will have to deactivate notifications for each application of your iPad. Access Settings> Notifications> Notification style, activate notifications to allow each application. Note: The use of the development of not disturbing will allow DND on all your connected Apple devices, unless you deactivate Share the devices in the Settings> Focus. But deactivating notifications is always the best option.

Third step: do not let hike reach your belongings

As you will probably want to display your new photo frame somewhere that people can see, there is a risk that someone is trying to use your iPad. To avoid this, you can use an accessibility feature called guided access. Apple has designed it so that parents can give their child an iPad without also giving them access to additional applications. We reuse it for the safety of the photo frame to prevent anyone from navigating to your home screen or elsewhere. People can always press the screen to use the Photo Frame apples or you can completely deactivate touch.

1. Activate guided access: Open the settings, press accessibility and then guided access. Define a unlocking code, then define Show Auto-Lock on ever.

2. Activate guided access: While the frame photo application plays your slideshow, click in triple on the side button. A gray circle will appear, press X to close it.

3. Activate or deactivate touch: If you always want to allow others to use functions in the photo frame application, activate the touch option. If you don’t want any reply when the screen is hit, activate it. To access the Options menu, click the side button and enter your password. Press the options in the lower left corner.

4. Note: Guided access is activated and deactivated via the lateral button, so this option may not be possible if you decide to put your iPad in a frame. A rather extreme bypass solution is to reset your iPad and configure it with a brand new Apple ID connected to the family sharing which allows access to a Shared photo library.

Put your new exposed digital photo frame

It can be as simple as finding a stand you like and calling it one day. An Etsy seller called Event framework Make personalized frames for iPads. They are not cheap, for about $ 100 each, but it is one of the only companies that I found that in fact offer a dimensioning specific to the model and the generation. I also considered the Snap Float Folio of MoftAs I was impressed by some of the other inspired accessories from the brand. If you are cunning, you can take inspiration from this person Instructable And make your own frame from an image frame of physical media. Personally, I just received a USB-C cable at right angles and I stuck my iPad in a foldable stand that I already had. The photos are pretty pretty.

If you buy something via a link in this article, we can win a commission.