Google Photos will still auto-sync with Aura photo frames after all | The Verge

Mar 25, 2025

Aura initially said that auto-sync would stop working this month, but the company says it’s working with Google to maintain the feature.

Aura initially said that auto-sync would stop working this month, but the company says it’s working with Google to maintain the feature.

by Todd Haselton

We reported earlier this month that, due to changes Google is making to how apps access Google Photo libraries, digital photo frames from companies like Aura and Cozyla would no longer be able to auto-sync with those albums. But Aura has now confirmed to The Verge that its frames will continue to work with Google Photos.

“We are working with Google to maintain auto-add for Google Photos on Aura,” company spokesperson Jenisse Curry said. “While we previously announced that this feature will be removed, it will now continue.”

Curry added that syncing will continue as usual for now and that owners of its frames won’t need to take any additional action, but that the company will “share additional information when ready.”

Aura’s cloud-connected frames allow you and others to view shared photos. As with Google’s Nest displays, for example, you could gift an Aura photo frame to a grandparent and then automatically sync Google Photo albums of your kids so that your parents can always see fresh pictures of their grandchildren.

Sync was initially set to end on March 17th. While Aura would continue to show photos that had already been sent to the frame, auto-sync would turn off and users would have to send new pictures from the Google Photos app manually.

The Google Photos API change was announced in September and will prevent apps from accessing your entire photo library. It’s still set to go into effect on March 31st, which suggests that Aura will have instructions on how to continue auto-sync around that time.

“We’re always looking for ways to update our APIs to improve user privacy, and we have APIs specifically designed for digital photo frames and a program to help our partners update their products,” Google spokesperson Colin Smith told The Verge earlier this month.

A Cozyla spokesperson wasn’t immediately available to comment on whether the company will also continue to support auto-sync.

A weekly newsletter by David Pierce designed to tell you everything you need to download, watch, read, listen to, and explore that fits in The Verge’s universe.