Turn Your Computer & TV into a Digital Photo Frame with Google Photos, Chrome, and Chromecast

In this video, I'll show you how I make to if the main screens in my house into digital photo frames using Chrome and Chromecast!

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Hi, everyone! This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video, I'll show you how I make to if the main screens in my house into digital photo frames using Chrome and Chromecast! This is part of a series of videos on how I manage and access digital photos.

The way we appreciate photos now is SO different now than when my kids were born. When is the last time you sat down and looked through an album of printed pictures? By far my favorite way to enjoy pictures is through a randomly scrolling slideshow, playing as I'm doing other activities. Let me show you how to do this on both a PC and a TV.

If you have watched any of my series on organizing and accessing digital photos, you know that I use Google Photos to access and share pictures. All of my photos are replicated in the cloud through Google Photos. The good news is that Google Photos has a variety of apps on a variety of platforms that allow you to play a random slideshow of your pictures.

TV using Chromecast
We have a TV in our main living space -- maybe you do too. I like setting the screensaver on the TV to play a slideshow when it is not in use since it is nice and big. Or even better, I like to create an album of photos chosen for a specific group of people and have them randomly shown on the main TV in our living space. For example, I did this for a friend visiting from out of town -- I made a slideshow of all of the photos that I have of her family. I have tried to do this on a bunch of streaming products, but my favorite is through Google's Chromecast.

Chromecast is a $35 dongle (which is a ridiculous sounding word) that plugs into your HDMI port. It doesn't have a remote because it is designed to be controlled by either an app on your device or by your computer. I'll do this from the Google Home app on my iPad. So, basically, what I'm doing is changing the TV's screensaver to show photos from my Google Photo account.
Launch the Google Home app. Click on the Devices icon in the upper right hand corner.
Find your Chromecast device and click the "more" icon (which looks like 3 dots). And then Backdrop settings.
Now deselect all of the other options like featured photos, art photos, or photos from Earth and Space and make sure Google Photos is turned on.
Toggle on Selected Photos and then go through and choose which albums you want to display.
I also speed up the timing between photos by going into Custom Speed and choosing Fast (2x).
If you want to show a specific album, you can deselect all of the albums you selected originally and just select the one you want. I switched back once my friend's visit was over.

Computer using Chrome
I have a laptop in my kitchen which (like many homes) is the highest trafficed room in the house. Guess what? It also has a screen that I put to use displaying pictures when I'm not actively engaged with it. I am a PC user, so I've tested this out for PC, but it would probably work for Chrome for Mac as well.
You'll need to have the Chrome browser installed since this tool is an extension to that browser.
Within Chrome, go to the chrome web store by going to 3 dots, then More Tools, Extensions, then Get More Extensions. Now search for "Photo Screen Saver". I'll also include the link directly to this page in the comments below. Now click the button to Add to Chrome.
Make sure you connect the Google account where you are storing your Google Photos as you are going through the set up.
The settings should open automatically, but just so you know, to go to the settings of this extension, look for the logo in the top right corner of your Chrome browser. Clicking on this will take you to the settings.
Settings will allow you to set things like:
Wait time (which is how long before your screen saver launches when your computer is idle),
Transitional time (or time between photos)
Run Chrome in the background - which is recommended otherwise you'll have to make sure Chrome is launched for this to take effect
Go into Select Google Photo Albums and choose which albums you want to include in your screensaver.
You can preview the screen saver to make sure you've selected all of the right attributes.

Of course, you can also buy a digital photo frame. The kind where you preload photos can be under $70, but if you want an Internet-connected frame that will update your photos on the fly as you upload them to the cloud, you are looking at more like $130. My solution is to use the screens you already have: a TV and/or computer to enjoy your photos around your house. . .

[JoeAnshien]

Thanks so much, this was exactly what I was looking for. DAKboard also seems to work.

[sharedivinelove]

Lovely. agree to your advice and will do it ASAP.Thanks

[asraotuni]

Found it useful in casting my photos. Thank you

[rmhutchins]

I enjoyed your video. It was very helpful. Thank you!

[joanndefeo]

Awesome. Best video explaining step by step set up. Thank you so much.

[chrisirwin]

Thank you very, very much. While I've wanted to do the for awhile, I've always found the technology needed to do it to be a bit confusing (and I've never really done the proper research). I was thinking about getting a Samsung Frame tv (which does look really nice), but I stumbled upon a user's forum for that tv today that was absolutely full of commenters relating how apps and the artwork that floods in immediately reduces usable space to like 1% ... on day 1 of having it. Anyhow, I may just buy a tv with nice visual quality that I can hang and go the route that you detail here. So, thank you once more for actually simplifying this and hitting the nail on the head about how to get my beloved photos onto the big screen.

[descar]

Thanks for pointing out this feature and for a very helpful explanation. I note however that it does not appear to be possible to "stop casting" to the Chromecast when in Ambient Mode as is the case with audio on Google Home. This means that the app always appears on the Home app on my Android device. Do you know of anything can be done to stop this casting?

[cliffordcooper]

Great idea, I started doing this a few months ago. I was wondering do you have a solution for the darkness at the bottom of the screen when the backdrop starts? Thanks

[Acarey]

Exactly what I was looking for. Does the Chromecast dongle need power?

[caroldavey]

Can you add a transparent-matte film over top of the monitor/TV screen to add a matte-look to it, so that it looks like fine photographs, or paintings and not just a TV with photos on it?

[jimleclair]

The screen saver is no longer available in Extension store, any update? TIA

[subbusairam]

Can we do this on all photos without albums.

[ChrisSlack]

What if you want to do this on an old iPad with google photos?

[royalfolkspark]

Did you try it on a (stand alone) monitor ?
After you set the photos of your choice.

[dee.mellow]

Where do you get the Google Home app from? I don't have the actual Chromecast device but comes it built into my Nvidia Shiled TV

[trevorgear]

Does Google "Photo Screen Saver" extension still exist, as I cannot find it. Or do you know of an alternate.
Thanks in advance

[Frank]

Wow moms are smart. I've been looking a digital photo solution. Problem: have to select from thousands of photos in drive. 🐱

[davidatscp]

Thanks so much for your video. I've got Google Photos now appearing as my screensaver on my PC. However, my Taskbar is showing at the bottom of the screensaver photos. Has anyone got any ideas how to get rid of the Taskbar? Thanks again!

[celtocarib]

Skip to 2:15 for the explanation beginning.