Find out how to use your Apple TV and the connected television as a digital picture frame that shuffles through family pictures, company logo, or beautiful artwork. We’ll explain how to do this using built-in options or free third-party apps.
tvOS, including the latest tvOS 26, doesn’t offer a direct way to turn your television into a photo frame. But there are some ways to achieve this with relative ease. We’ll explain all those options below.
Display a single photo permanently on the Apple TV screen
Use this to show a picture, such as your company logo or favorite family photo, permanently on the television screen. But remember that leaving a still image on the OLED screen for a long time may cause burn-in. So, consider using a few different pictures that rotate instead of a single one (the next method).
1) Set up iCloud Photos on your Apple TV by going to tvOS Settings > Users and Accounts > default user account > Photos > iCloud Photos.
Note: If you don’t use iCloud Photos because of limited iCloud space or other personal reasons, visit iCloud.com/photos/ in a web browser, create an album, and add the single photo there. This way, you don’t have to use iCloud Photos on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, but still get the picture on your Apple TV. You can also learn about showing Mac’s photos on your Apple TV via Home Sharing.
2) Go to Apple TV Settings > General > Sleep After and select Never to prevent Apple TV from automatically going to sleep.
3) Launch the Photos app, navigate to Albums, and open a picture to display it on the full screen. Now, set your Apple TV Siri Remote aside so this picture is the only thing shown on the television screen.
Play a slideshow of multiple photos
This method lets you shuffle through several photos on your television screen.
1) Make sure iCloud Photos is set up on your Apple TV and Sleep After is set to Never. Both are explained under the previous heading above.
2) Go to the tvOS Photos app and open an album.
3) Click Play Slideshow.
4) Customize your slideshow settings, and importantly, make sure Repeat Photos is on. Then, select Start Slideshow.
Note: When slideshows are playing, press the play/pause (▶︎‖) button on the Siri Remote to halt the animated slideshow and have your Apple TV display just that picture.
Display one or more images as your Apple TV screen saver
Yet another way to display one or more pictures continuously on your Apple TV is to use them as the screen saver.
1) Open tvOS Settings and select Screen Saver.
2) Go to Current Selection and set it to Memories & Slideshows. On older versions of tvOS, select My Photos instead.
3) Select Memories & Slideshows under the Screen Saver Preferences heading.
4) Go to Albums.
5) Select the iCloud Photos albums containing the pictures you want to show on the television as a screen saver.
6) Customize other Screen Saver settings as you like.
7) Finally, press the back button (<) multiple times on your Apple TV Remote until the screen saver appears on the screen.
Note:
- You can also open an album in the Photos app and use the “Set as Screen Saver” button there.
- Whether you set an album with a single photo or one with several as the screen saver, you may notice that the picture(s) have some kind of animation or movement. You can choose the desired transition type from Settings > Screen Saver > Memories & Slideshows > Style.
Use Conference Room Display mode
The Conference Room Display feature lets you display a background image, the Wi-Fi name, the Apple TV name, and a custom message so people in your office or home can AirPlay from their devices to this Apple TV.
While this doesn’t display the picture in full screen because there is always a big AirPlay card on the screen, you can still try it and see if it works for you. You’ll find it in Apple TV Settings > AirPlay and Apple Home > Conference Room Display. Don’t forget to select your own photo.
Note: Turn off the Conference Room Display feature if you want to use the Screen Saver method explained earlier.
Free third-party apps to turn Apple TV into a digital photo frame
Here are three useful options. Search for their name on the Apple TV App Store.
iDigiFrameTV app
Open the app, allow it to access your iCloud Photos, and then set it to display an album with one picture or multiple albums on the screen. This is similar to what we have explained in the first stock Photos app method above.
TV ArtFrame
If you want to display famous artwork (but not your own photos), then this is a great free app. It offers several beautiful options that are certainly worth a look.
TV Art Gallery
This is yet another app with a fine selection of collections from the National Gallery of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, NASA, and more. Just remember that you may have to force quit the app regularly, as pressing the back button may not always take you to the previous page in the app; instead, it takes you out of the app.
You’ll also find some paid apps on the Apple TV App Store that allow you to display photos on your television screen. Just search for “digital photo frame,” “art frame,” or a similar term in the App Store. In case a paid app doesn’t work the way it’s advertised, you can request a refund from Apple.
On a related note: How to turn your iPad or iPhone into a digital photo frame