In this guide, we show you how to use an iPad or iPhone as a digital picture frame displaying a slideshow of happy memories on your nightstand or desk.
You can repurpose an old iPhone or iPad as a digital photo frame for your home or office with features that are built into iOS, including StandBy or by using third-party apps. Just put your device on a MagSafe stand or plug it into power and have it shuffle through your favorite pictures, Live Photos, and videos.
Photos slideshow with Guided Access
This method involves simple steps and no third-party App Store apps. You’ll need to create a dedicated album in Photos, then start a slideshow with Guided Access, an accessibility feature that will disable the controls so no one can exit the slideshow or lock the device.
Open the Photos app and create an album containing the pictures and videos for your slideshow. The simplest way to do that is to tap Select and move your finger across the interface to choose multiple photos at once. Hit the three-dotted button and choose Add to Album, then hit the plus button (+), name the album, and hit Create.
With the album created, navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Guided Access and turn on the Guided Access switch. Tap Passcode Settings and create a six-digit Guided Access passcode (unrelated to your device passcode or Screen Time passcode) or choose Face ID or Touch ID lock so others can’t turn off Guided Access. Next, set the display to stay turned on at all times during Guided Access by selecting “Never” under Display Auto Lock.
Return to the Photos app, select the Albums tab, open the album you created earlier, then hit the Movie tab at the bottom to start playing a slideshow using the media from this album. You can also hit Select > Select All and choose Play as Slideshow from the three-dotted menu. For a silent slideshow, toggle the speaker icon at the top.
With the slideshow running, triple-press the power button to enter Guided Access, which restricts the device to the Photos app and prevents exiting or using other apps.
Place your iPhone or iPad on a stand, mimicking a photo frame. Adjust the angle for optimal viewing position and plug the device into power. iPhone owners would be wise to use a MagSafe or Qi2 wireless charger for a cleaner look. The slideshow will cycle through all the media in your album with cool transitions. Once it ends, it will automatically start playing again.
- iPad stand (rotates 360°)
- iPhone stand (rotates 360°)
- iPhone MagSafe stand cum charger (also charges AirPods)
Looping a video file
You can also export your Photos slideshow as a video or create your own in video editors like Final Cut Pro or Premiere Pro. You’ll then save it to the Files app and open it from there in VLC or another media player and set it to play on repeat, as pictured right ahead. If your favorite video player lacks the option to keep the screen on, go to Display & Brightness > Auto Lock, and select Never.
StandBy on iPhone
StandBy is an iPhone-only feature that can, among other things, shuffle through your photos when the phone is charging in landscape orientation, on a stand or not. I recommend investing in a magnetic stand that instantly turns an iPhone into a compact digital photo frame.
Digital photo frame apps
The App Store is home to some great digital photo frame apps. Their main benefit is a sleep timer that turns off the display at the selected time, like 10 PM before nap time. Some of these apps have neat little features, like overlaying the current date and time, photo capture date, and weather forecast on the slideshow. I tried almost all good digital photo frame apps available on the App Store, and here are four that I deem best for the job.
Digital Photo Frame Slideshow
Digital Photo Frame Slideshow lets you run slideshows using all media in your Photos library or just specific sections, such as shared albums or albums you’ve created. You can also set it to display a single photo (set the slide time to something like 12 hours), like the traditional picture frame.
Open the app and give it permission to access your Photos library. You can also connect Google Photos by tapping the Edit button. Next, hit See All for a group of photos or just specific items and hit the play button. Customize your playback options, then hit Start Slideshow. Due to iOS restrictions, apps like Digital Photo Frame Slideshow cannot start a slideshow without user action.
A myriad of thoughtful options make it a cinch to customize the presentation with image captions, current date and time, and weather forecast, plus timer functionality to end the playback precisely when you want. Digital Photo Frame Slideshow will nudge you to subscribe ($10/year, $30/lifetime), but there’s a free 7-day trial.
The following apps will also turn your iPad or iPhone into a basic digital photo frame without charging you, but additional features will require a subscription.
Shuffle Photos
Open the Shuffle Photos app and give it permission to access your Photos library, then go to the All Photos section or one of your albums. Choose Settings to set the playback to repeat, so the slideshow starts over automatically. Then, click the Slideshow button at the bottom to begin the slideshow. Additional in-app settings are hidden behind the hamburger icon at the top of the first screen.
PixFolio
Launch the PixFolio app and give it permission to use your Photos library, then tap the play button on the first screen or one of the albums. PixFolio will start playing all those images as a slideshow. However, the free version hampers the experience with a watermark.
LiveFrame
Open LiveFrame, hit the folder icon, and select images using filters like last day, week, month, year, then hit the play button. Hit the settings icon at the top during playback to display the current date and time, weather, forecast, and more. You’ll need to upgrade to a paid version to use LiveFrame for more than a few minutes per day or plug other sources, like Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Google Photos, and Dropbox.
Bonus tip: Get an actual digital photo frame
Dedicated digital photo frames that display your memories start at around $40 on Amazon. When shopping for these things, focus on factors like display size, internal storage, backup battery, and features such as auto start and sleep timer. Be sure the accessory doesn’t upload any photos to the cloud; you don’t want copies of your family photos saved to some random company’s cloud storage. Besides, some of these companies ended up shutting down their cloud backends (as it’s costly to maintain), leaving their customers out in the cold.
Instead, opt for a digital photo frame that doesn’t require the cloud and has enough onboard storage to hold your slideshow assets. And check whether the accessory lets you easily import media from a USB thumb drive or SD card. Some of them even allow you to transfer content from a phone via a local Wi-Fi network.