Google has been accused of “breaking” digital photo frames

Google has made a change that has been accused of “breaking” some digital photo frames.

The tech giant is changing the way apps can access Google Photos libraries, which has been causing issues for people who use various brands of digital photo frames. The change is meant to be positive, and is designed to make your photo library more private, however, it’s also blocking certain devices, such as those made by Aura and Cozyla, from automatically syncing and updating slideshows.

Currently, Aura makes cloud-connected photo frames that display digital images you – or anyone else you’ve granted access to – uploads, automatically updating the slideshow.

Aura offers several ways to upload the images, however, the easiest way is to create a Google Photos album, with photos of loved ones for example, and then turn on auto sync to automatically add any new photos in the album to the frame.

The best digital photo frames are a popular gift for elderly relatives, as they have a direct line to the latest photos of children and grandchildren, allowing family members to get a constant stream of family memories, straight to their homes.

However, according to Jenisse Curry, Aura's senior director of communications, Aura will disable its Google Photos auto sync feature. Aura users will now have to manually upload any new photographs to the Google Photos app.

Google is making this change to Google Photos API, a move announced last September. Curry says Aura is getting ahead of the change to help customers transition into manual mode.

The change limits how apps can access your photo library, and no longer allows integrated access to your entire library, or shared albums. Apps will only be able to access photos or albums through the new Google Photos Picker API, which requires users to manually pick each photo they want on the slideshow.

“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, which accused the change of “breaking” some photo frames. “That will go away because our app can no longer communicate with your cloud library.”

Curry also mentioned that 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.

You can also choose to turn on auto-add with native albums in your camera roll on iOS, or native albums in folders on Android, according to Curry.

Still interested in purchasing one? Take a look at our guides to the best digital photo frames. Feel like going back to basics? Here are our guides to the best film cameras, and the best film for 35mm cameras.