Google is changing the way apps can access Google Photos libraries, which is creating problems for owners of some digital photo frames. While the change is designed to make your photo library more private, it’s also breaking how digital photo frames — such as those made by Aura and Cozyla — automatically update slideshows on their devices.
Aura makes cloud-connected photo frames that display digital images you or anyone you’ve granted access to the frame adds. While the company offers several ways to get photos onto the device, one neat feature is that you can create a Google Photos album with, say, pictures of your kids and then turn on auto-sync to automatically add any new photos in the album to your frame. So, you could share the album with Grandma’s Aura frame, and she’d get a constant stream of new pictures of her grandkids.
However, according to Jenisse Curry, senior director of communications at Aura, on March 17th, 2025, Aura will disable its Google Photos auto-sync feature. While Grandma will still have that album on her frame, it will no longer auto-update with any new photos you add to it. Instead, you’ll have to manually add photos to it via the Google Photos app.
Having functionality removed from a device you paid for is never nice.
Aura has to do this because Google is changing its Google Photos API, a move the company announced last September that goes into effect on March 31st. Curry says Aura is getting ahead of the change to help customers transition.
The change limits how apps can access your photo library and no longer allows integrated access to your entire library or the management of shared albums. Instead, apps can only access photos or albums through the new Google Photos Picker API, which requires users to manually “pick” each photo.
“We had a deeper integration with Google Photos that enabled direct access from within the Aura app and the ability to auto-sync a Google Photos album,” Curry said in an interview with The Verge. “That will go away because our app can no longer communicate with your cloud library.”
According to this Reddit thread, Cozyla has also informed its users that its Google Photos auto-sync feature is ending. The Verge reached out to Cozyla but had not heard back from them by the time of publication.
If auto-sync was your favorite feature, Curry says Aura’s iCloud integration works in a similar way. “You can select your Favorites album, for example, and then every time you heart a photo, it will show on your frame,” she says. There’s also the option to turn on auto-add with native albums in your camera roll on iOS or native albums in folders on Android, she says. Still, having functionality removed from a device you paid for is never nice.
Google spokesperson Colin Smith told The Verge, “We’re always looking for ways to update our APIs to improve user privacy, and we have APIs specifically designed for digital photo frames and a program to help our partners update their products.”
Last month, Google announced that Google Photos slideshows would soon be available as ambient displays or screensavers on more third-party devices. The feature is currently available on Google Nest displays and Google TVs. In a blog post, Google said it was working to expand the feature to smart TVs, tablets, fridges, and digital photo frames.
Smith wasn’t able to provide more information regarding which devices this feature will be available on and how it can be enabled. Curry of Aura said that, as far as they were aware, this new function would not replace the auto-sync feature that’s being removed.
Updated March 5th: Added a statement from Google.
