5 Best Digital Photo Frames (2023): High Res and Natural Screens, Plus Privacy Tips

You might not think that photos count as sensitive information, compared to a bank account statement or your Social Security number. But it can be devastating to find photos of loved ones used for nefarious or unsavory purposes.

This is why we prefer frames from reputable companies like Aura and Nixplay over cheaper ones with less clearly defined privacy and security practices. Nixplay offers reasonable security measures, like encrypting your photos during transmission, and Aura offers the option to delete metadata, like the location where a photo was captured. However, both say they may disclose personal information if court-ordered or subpoenaed, and neither provides safety guarantees against hacking.

If you're concerned about security, you can avoid connecting to third-party services, but your most secure option is to just download several photos on a tablet and disable all internet connectivity.

There's no beating Aura when it comes to digital frames. This 2022 version of the Carver drops the price to $149—from there, styles go all the way up to $400, but they're often discounted. All of them have high-quality displays, even this one at 1280 x 800 (compared to the other 1920 x 1200 frames), and unlimited photo storage. Plus they're dead simple to set up, use, and share with family and friends.

Maybe the best part is that Aura frames don't look like shiny computer screens. Guests have said they didn't realize it was a digital screen until the photo changed, which is exactly what I want. The app is also very straightforward, and there's a scan feature to help better display physical photos or your kid's drawings. Set it to slideshow or use the touch panel on the top of the frame to cycle through your album. The Carver and Buddy can only be used in landscape orientation, but you can rotate the brand's other frames to portrait. You can use Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa to control some features, but you still need Aura's app.

Nixplay frames are comparable to Aura, and if you can get one on sale for cheaper, you'll be happy with it. I prefer this touch-screen version over the older frames that still use a remote. The touch capabilities are a little laggy compared to the high-speed screens we're used to, but it's nice to not be tethered to yet another remote and it's not a screen you're touching often anyway. There are a few other options to choose from.

Nixplay frames have additional perks, like a small clock you can add to the display, though that does make it look less like a real photo frame and more like a smart display. Google Assistant can only control power to the frames, but Alexa has more capabilities. As with the Aura, you still need to use the Nixplay app. As a bonus, Nixplay plants a tree for every frame bought in partnership with Trees for the Future.

The 15-inch Skylight Frame looks sleek and expensive sitting on my shelf—it should, it costs $300 (the 10-inch frame is $160). Upon closer inspection, you'll see that image quality suffers a bit, especially for the pictures I took on my iPhone. They lose a little bit of detail, but photos taken with a professional camera looked better. Skylight adjusts images to fill the entire screen, but you can zoom out with two fingers like you would on a phone or tablet.

When you create your account, you can set up a custom email address to send photos to or handle everything in the app, as you would on the other frames we like. The box comes with a wall mount (though you'd still have a wire hanging from it, which is not ideal) and a stand, which you can install for either landscape or portrait orientation. If you have a Fire device, like a Fire TV, you can display your images there too. There's an optional subscription, but it doesn't seem worth the money.