Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Aura warned users that changes to Google’s API meant they were losing support for automatically syncing photos from the cloud.
- Shortly after, the company announced that it was working with Google to find a way to restore some type of similar functionality.
- Now, a year later, Aura shares how the Google Photos Ambient API is re-enabling automatic sync.
Digital photo frames ought Be one of the simplest smart home products in our lives. They don’t need to be as advanced as a multipurpose display like a Nest Centerand all we ask is that you connect to our photo library and silently display our photos. But last year we learned that problems were brewing with many of these devices, such as changes to the Google Photos API threatened to discontinue support for syncing images with frames like those created by Aura. After sharing that it was working on a solution With Google, Aura is finally ready to tell us exactly how this solution works.
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in a statement shared with The edgeAura explains:
With our updated Google Photos integration, you can add photos directly from the Google Photos app or sync an entire Google Photos album to keep your Aura frames automatically updated. Photos are sent directly to your Aura frames from Google Photos, with no manual uploads required.
The trick behind all this is apparently the Google Photos Ambient API. After Google changed how the Photos API worked for privacy reasons, frames like Aura’s couldn’t simply connect directly to your cloud Photos library, forcing users to manually choose what they wanted to see in their frame. But now Ambient API offers a new way forward, designed specifically for digital frames and smart TVs.
You’ll need to do some minor housework to get this new version of photo sync working, connecting your Google account to the Aura app. Once you do, you can add photos directly to Google Photos and sync them with your frames. And if you ever want to have a little more control over what you’re viewing, you can always explicitly choose one image or another to display via a new in-app photo picker.
We weren’t expecting to wait long. this It’s been a long time coming to hear about the Aura fix, but we’re still happy to finally hear how this valuable feature is making a comeback.
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