Google is changing the way apps access Google Photos libraries, which is causing problems for some digital photo frame owners. While the change is intended to make your photo library more private, it also breaks digital photo frames like Aura and Cozyla, which automatically update slideshows on their devices.
Aura creates cloud-based photo frames that display digital images added by you or anyone you’ve given access to the photo frame. While the company offers several ways to get your photos onto your device, one cool feature is that you can create a Google Photos album of, say, your kids’ photos, and then turn on auto-sync to automatically add any new photos from the album to your frame. That way, you can share the album with Grandma’s Aura frame, and she’ll get a constant stream of new photos of her grandchildren.
However, according to Janice Curry, Aura’s senior director of communications, Aura will turn off the auto-sync feature with Google Photos on March 17, 2025. While Grandma’s album will still be on the frame, it will no longer automatically update with new photos you add to it. Instead, you’ll have to manually add photos through the Google Photos app.
Aura is forced to do this because Google is changing its Google Photos API, which the company announced last September and which will take effect on March 31. Curry says Aura is getting ahead of the changes to help customers adapt.
The change limits apps’ access to your photo library and no longer allows for integrated access to your entire library or management of shared albums. Instead, apps can only access photos or albums through the new Google Photos Picker API, which requires users to manually “select” each photo.
“We had a deeper integration with Google Photos that allowed direct access from the Aura app and the ability to automatically sync your Google Photos album,” Curry told The Verge. “That’s going away because our app can no longer interact with your cloud library.”
According to this Reddit post, Cozyla also informed its users that the auto-sync feature with Google Photos is going away. The Verge reached out to Cozyla but did not hear back from them at the time of publication.
If auto-sync was your favorite feature, Curry says Aura’s iCloud integration works similarly. “For example, you can select a ‘Favorites’ album, and then every time you like a photo, it will appear on the screen,” she says. There’s also the option to enable auto-add with your own albums in the camera roll on iOS or with your own albums in folders on Android, she says. However, removing the feature from a device that you paid for it, it’s always a pain.
Google spokesperson Colin Smith told The Verge, “We’re always looking for ways to improve our APIs to improve user privacy, and we have APIs specifically designed for digital photo frames, as well as a program to help our partners update their products.”
Last month, Google announced that Google Photos slideshows would soon be available as wallpapers 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’s working to expand the feature to smart TVs, tablets, refrigerators, and digital photo frames.
Smith couldn’t provide more details on which devices the feature would be available or how to enable it. Aura’s Curry said that, as far as they’re aware, the new feature won’t replace the auto-sync feature, which is being removed.
