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Q. I have an Echo Show that I love using. I was at a friend’s party and saw that her Echo Show had her own family photos as the background. At first, I thought the photos came with the Show or were a new Alexa skill, but then I saw photos of my friend with her family and realized that her Show was a digital photo frame.
I didn’t have a chance to ask my friend how she turned her Echo Show into a digital photo frame, but I want to do that too. I’m hoping The Wonder of Tech can do an article explaining how to do this so I and other readers can enjoy seeing our photos on our Echo Shows.
Can you help?
A. Excellent question! Yes, the Echo Show and Echo Spot can become digital picture frames, showing your digital photos as the background. Instead of choosing between the photos that come with the Echo Show and Spot, you can use your own photos as the background image, also known as wallpaper.
=> Don’t miss the update A New, Easy Way to Use Your Echo Show as a Digital Photo Frame
Which Photos Can Be Used as Background Images on the Echo Show and Spot
Amazon’s Echo Show and Spot let you choose one or multiple photos as a background image. You can use a favorite photo as the wallpaper so you see it every time you look at the screen.
You can also have all of your digital photos shown by the Show or Spot in a slide show so you’re surprised by which photos are shown.
Or, you can choose to select photos from different categories, such as sunset, beach, mountains, locations, or recent photos. Echo will suggest categories based on what you have pictures of in your digital photo library. For example, if you have a lot of sunset photos, you can have your Echo Show or Spot display a slide show of only sunset photos.
You can also use photos from other family members, if you’ve set up a Family Photo Vault.
=> Learn More at Amazon Family Vault for Photos – Another New Benefit for Prime Members
You can also create an album of Echo Photos that you use as the wallpaper for your Show or Spot. A slide show will display the photos from that album as your wallpaper. With an album you can choose exactly which photos are displayed and which aren’t.
How to Get Your Photos to Display on to Your Echo Show and Spot
There are two ways to use photos as a background on your Echo Show or Spot. You can either set this up using the Alexa app on your phone or by going to Settings on your Show or Spot.
Using the Alexa App to Set a Photo as the Background for Your Echo Show or Spot
By using the Alexa app you can set a single photo to appear as the background of your Echo Show or Spot. To set a photo as the background for an Echo Show or Spot, open the Alexa app and choose Settings from the side menu. Tap the name of the Echo you want to show your photos.
Scroll down to Home & Clock Background, then tap CHOOSE A PHOTO.
The photos in your phone’s library will show. You can choose a single photo that will be shown as a background for your Echo Show or Spot by tapping on the photo you want to use.
How to Set Photos as a Background Using Settings on Your Echo Show or Spot
To set a photo as a background photo, or a series of photos as a slide show on your Echo Show, you must use Prime Photos. Prime Photos is a free photo service that lets you store and back up unlimited photos if you’re an Amazon Prime member.
You can download the Prime Photos app free:
Also see => Free Unlimited Photo Storage for Amazon Prime Members!
Allow the Prime Photos app to upload your photos from your phone. After the upload is complete, you can set individual photos or a group of photos as your background on the Echo Show and Spot.
How to Set Up Using Your Photos as a Background on Echo Show
To set up Echo Show with your photos, swipe down from the top of the screen, then tap the Settings gear icon to open Settings.
Tap Home Screen => Background => Prime Photos => Change. Then choose the album you’d like to set as your background photo. Echo will make suggestions of albums, subjects, recent photos, locations, etc.
If you choose more than one photo, a slide show will appear as your background. Photos change every 10 minutes.
How to Set Photos as a Background Using Settings on Your Echo Spot
To set up using your photos as a background for your Echo Spot, swipe down from the top of the screen, then tap the Settings gear icon to open Settings.
Tap Home & Clock => Theme => Personal Photo. Then swipe through the different analog and digital clock faces until you find the one you want. Then tap the check ✔ to set the clock face. Choose Prime Photos, then choose which photos you want to use.
Swipe down from the top of the screen again and tap the home icon to see the new clock face on your Spot with your photos.
Ask Alexa to Play a Slideshow of Your Photos
You can ask Alexa to play a slideshow of your photos. As with using Settings on Echo, you need to have your photos in the Prime Photos app for Alexa to be able to respond to your request.
Say, “Alexa, show my photos” to have Echo display all of your photos. You can also ask Alexa to show your photos in an album or by subject. “Alexa, show my Florida Vacation album.”
You can ask Alexa to pause, resume, or go to the next or previous photo.
This video from Amazon shows how you can ask Alexa to show your photos:
Ask Alexa to Set Your Background Photos
You can also ask Alexa to set your background photos. As with using Settings on Echo, you need to have your photos in the Prime Photos app for Alexa to be able to respond to your request.
First, ask Alexa to show your photos. Then, when a photo appears you want as a background photo, say, “Alexa, set this photo as my background.”
Or, you can ask Alexa to show an album, then say, “Alexa, set this album as my background.”
Your Thoughts
Do you like the idea of using the Echo Show or Spot as a digital photo frame? What photos would you use as a background? Would you use a single photo or a slide show as your background?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
Thanks for sharing. I think that I am going to use Echo show someday. Hopefully I would have a great experience.
Hi Paolo, Yes, there are many uses for Echo Show and becoming a digital picture frame is a fun one!
I hope you do have a great experience with your Echo Show, Paolo.
Hello
Carolyn,
You have come with interesting topic this time. I am really happy to know about Amazon’s Echo show and spot as well as how to do. The step by step tricks from your side is easy to know. Really, I like the idea of using the Echo show or spot as a digital photo frame.
I will test both Echo show and spot. You have well explained the whole post.
Thanks for sharing.
Best wishes,
Praveen verma
Hi Praveen, Yes, making good use of the screen of the Echo Show or Spot is fun! I put sunset photos on mine and really enjoy seeing them.
Sometimes when you check your clock, you can get stressed at the time. But seeing a sunset behind the clock can be calming!