TL;DR
- Google announced changes to its Photos API last September.
- Some of those changes going into effect at the end of March could break compatibility with products like digital picture frames.
- While Google continues to support frames, privacy concerns have forced the company to rethink its approach to API access.
How many of you bought a digital picture frame for a gift about twenty years ago? For a few brief years in the late noughties, a little LCD screen hooked up to a single-board computer was the go-to gift for parents who kept complaining about all the JPGs you were emailing them that they had no idea what to do with. These days, most of us have moved on to either enjoying photo slide shows on our full-sized televisions, or replacing single-purpose digital frames with more versatile smart home appliances like a Nest Hub or Pixel Tablet. If you’ve still got one of those dedicated frames, though, your experience with it may be about to hit a rough patch, as Google changes the way its Photos API works.
Late last summer, Google announced an overhaul to its Photos API, changing the way that apps and connected devices need to interact with the company’s servers if they want to continue accessing Photos content. Problem is, as The Verge points out, that threatens to break how some of these frames were designed to work. The change takes place at the end of the month, scheduled for March 31.
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Frame manufacturers like the company Aura have reportedly been contacting users already about what to expect. In Aura’s case, that means losing auto-sync functionality, where the picture frame would pull new photos you uploaded to Google’s cloud as you added them. While you’ll still be able to view pics on the company’s frames, you’ll have to manually select which you want displayed — not the end of the world, but a whole lot less convenient.
At least, that’s what we’re losing, but Google has also been developing new ways for devices like this to access your Photos library in a secure and controlled manner. You may remember that just last month the company shared word that Photos was expanding to new devices — like even your smart fridge — and that includes additional dedicated digital picture frames.
While we don’t yet have full details on what that functionality will necessarily look like, the important takeaway here is that Google isn’t outright abandoning this device class, but making some adjustments on the backend that threaten to disrupt functionality — temporarily or not — for existing photo frames. You should check directly with your manufacturer to find out what that means for you, and what your options look like going forward.
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