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Google Photos on Samsung The Frame
August 20, 2026
The Frame is the closest thing Samsung makes to a picture frame: matte screen, wooden bezel, art on the wall when nobody is watching TV. It can show your own photos too — but the way in is manual, one image at a time. If your pictures already live in Google Photos, there is a shorter route.
How The Frame handles your own photos
Art Mode is built around the Art Store, and your own pictures sit alongside that collection. There are two ways to get them onto the TV: the SmartThings app on your phone, or a USB drive plugged into the One Connect box. SmartThings accepts JPEG and PNG files up to 20 MB each and keeps them in your Samsung account. Both routes are manual — you pick individual images and send them across. Neither one talks to Google Photos, so a picture you took this morning stays off the wall until you upload it yourself.
The shorter route: your Google Photos selection as a slideshow
Easy Photo Player is an app you install from the Samsung Apps store on the TV. You sign in with your Google account on your phone or laptop, choose which photos the app is allowed to see, and the TV plays them as a slideshow. Change the selection later and the TV follows the next time it plays — nothing is re-uploaded and no USB stick is involved. The app never copies your library to our servers; it shows the photos you picked, straight from your account.
Setting it up on The Frame
On the TV, press Home and open Apps, then search for Easy Photo Player and install it. Open the app and it shows a six-character code. On your phone or laptop, go to easyphotoplayer.com/link, sign in with Google, and type in the code. Choose the photos or albums you want on the wall, then press Start Slideshow on the TV. Setup takes a few minutes and you only do it once per TV.
Art Mode or the app — which one for what
They solve different problems, and most Frame owners end up using both. Art Mode is the one that runs when the TV is otherwise idle, so it is what you want for a fixed set of pictures that hang on the wall all day. The app runs while the TV is on, and it is the better choice when you want the whole family library in rotation, or when you want to change what is showing without touching the TV at all. A practical split: a handful of favourites in Art Mode, everything else in the app.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Easy Photo Player run inside Art Mode?
No. Art Mode is Samsung's own feature and only plays what you have uploaded to it. Easy Photo Player is a normal TV app, so it plays while the TV is on and you have the app open. If what you want is a picture on the wall while the TV is idle, that is Art Mode's job — the app is for browsing and playing your Google Photos library on the big screen.
Do I need SmartThings or a USB stick?
No. Everything happens through your Google account. You install the app on the TV, link it once with a code from your phone, and pick the photos there. Nothing is copied to a USB drive and no upload happens from your phone.
Which Frame models does it work on?
The app runs on Samsung TVs with Tizen 4.0 or newer, which covers The Frame from the 2018 model year onwards. If your TV finds Easy Photo Player in the Samsung Apps store, it will run on it.