How To Make Photos Full Screen on Echo Show – An Easy Guide


How To Make Photos Full Screen on Echo Show

The Amazon Echo Show combines the utility of an Amazon Echo with a touchscreen user interface.

It can serve as a voice-activated digital picture frame, helping you customize your Echo.

However, the Echo show defaults to showing your pictures in half screen view, so how do you make an Amazon Echo Show display pictures on full screen?

Here’s how to make photos full screen on Echo Show:

  1. Open the device settings.
  2. Select “Display” settings.
  3. Select “Photo Slideshow.”
  4. Select “Crop.”

So, let’s go through these steps together. I’ll help you make your photos full screen on your Echo Show and teach you how to upload pictures to your Echo Show from several different sources.

I’ll also teach you how to dim the display so that you can customize your Echo Show to your liking. 

How To Make Photos Full Screen on Echo Show

Depending on the aspect ratio of the photo you are trying to display, there may be black bars along the sides of the picture.

Amazon Echo Shows use a 16:9 aspect ratio.

For best results, photos should be in this ratio as well.

So, once you have some pictures to display uploaded on your Show, you can set them to full-screen mode. To do so:

1. Open the Device Settings. 

The first step in getting an Amazon Echo Show display pictures on full screen is to open the device settings.

There are two ways to do this:

  • Swipe down on the screen and select “Settings.” The “Settings” icon looks like a gear.
  • Say, “Hey Alexa, open settings.”

2. Select “Display” Settings. 

Next, you’ll want to access your Echo Show’s display settings, where you can customize your display. 

To access this menu, look in the “Settings” app. “Display” settings are the fourth option under “Bluetooth,” “Network,” and “Homescreen.”

3. Select “Photo Slideshow.” 

Now that you’ve opened the display settings, you can make the display do anything you want it to.

To enable full-screen photo display settings, open up the “Photo Slideshow” tab on your display settings. 

The “Photo Slideshow” settings page allows users to customize the “Photo Slideshow” app settings.

4. Select “Crop.” 

On the “Photo Slideshow” settings page, select “Crop.” There are three options for cropping:

  • No Cropping – Displays pictures in their original dimensions and aspect ratio.
  • Smart Cropping – The device does its best to fit the picture to the screen.
  • Crop All – Forces all pictures to fit the screen

If the photo you are trying to display does not have the same aspect ratio as the screen, it will not cleanly fill it.

It will have black bars along the top/bottom or sides, or your Echo will only display a part of the picture to fill the screen.

How Do I Upload Photos to Echo Show 8?

You can upload photos to Echo Show 8 from three sources: a smartphone or other wifi-enabled device, Amazon Photos, and Facebook accounts. You can display these pictures via voice commands and through the touchscreen interface.

So, let’s look at how you can upload pictures from each of these three places. 

Amazon Photos

Amazon has its photo hosting service similar to Imgur, Facebook, and the dearly departed GooglePlus.

Amazon Photo offers unlimited photo storage, inexpensive prints, and crosslinking to your Amazon-brand electronic gadgets (assuming you have any other than your Echo Dot).

First, you need to open an account with Amazon Photos. Here is how:

  1. Open the Amazon Photos website and log in using the same account linked to your Echo Show. 
  2. Select “Albums,” and then click “Create Album.”
  3. Drag and drop pictures you wish to add to the album. The photos can come from your computer or an album on a different image hosting service. 

Once you’ve added the pictures you want to display on your Echo Show to your Amazon Photos album, it’s time to link your device to your album:

  1. Swipe down on your Echo Show’s screen and select the “Settings” app. Alternatively, say, “Hey Alexa, open settings.”
  2. Select “Home and Clock.”
  3. Select “Clock and Wallpaper.”
  4. Select “Personal Photos.”
  5. Select “Background.”
  6. Select the “Amazon Photos” option. 
  7. Select the album(s) from which you want photos displayed on your Echo Show.
  8. When you are satisfied with your selection, select “Save.” 

With that, your pictures will appear as your device’s wallpaper.

Facebook

Let’s be honest – most people don’t have an Amazon Photos account.

Before I wrote this article, I didn’t know it existed.

And before you read this article, you probably didn’t know about it either. 

However, everyone has a Facebook account where we upload our most valued pictures.

Here is how to link your Facebook account to your Echo Show:

  1. Open the Amazon “Alexa” app on your smartphone. 
  2. Direct your attention to the bottom bar, and select the “More” option. 
  3. Select the “Settings” app.
  4. Scroll down to “Photos” and tap on it.
  5. Under the heading labeled “Facebook,” tap on “Link Account.
  6. Follow the onscreen prompts to grant your Alexa and Amazon accounts access to your Facebook photos (and all the other supposedly private information you have in your Facebook account).

Now that your Alexa account has access to your Facebook account, you must configure your Echo Show to display pictures from Facebook. Here is how:

  1. On your Amazon Echo Show, swipe down on the screen. Then select the “Settings” app.
  2. Select “Home and Clock,” then select “Clock and Wallpaper,” then select “Personal Photos,” and finally select “Background.”
  3. Select ” Facebook ” in the options displayed on the “Background” page, then select “Facebook.”
  4. Select the album(s) you want to link to your Echo Show. 
  5. Select the ” Save ” option once you are satisfied with your selection, select the “Save” option. 

Photos from your Facebook account will now be your Amazon Echo Show wallpaper.

Other WiFi-Enabled Device

If you don’t want to upload your photos to the internet to display them on your Echo Show, you can use another device to upload your pictures manually. 

Here’s how to upload photos from another WiFi-enabled device:

  1. On your smartphone or another wifi-enabled device, open the “Alexa” app.
  2. Select the “Devices” button. 
  3. On the “Devices” page, select “Alexa and Echo” in the top-left corner. 
  4. On the “Alexa and Echo” page, select the “Echo Show” option.
  5. On the “Echo Show” page, select the “Choose Photos” option under the heading “Photo Display.” 
  6. On the “Choose photos to display on *Your Name*’s Echo Show” page, select the fourth option down labeled “Manually select my photos,” next to the “+” sign on a gray circle symbol. 
  7. On the following page, select the “Continue” option at the bottom right of the page.
  8. Next, select “Okay” when the “Add Photos” box pops up. 
  9. Next, you can select up to 10 photos from your smartphone or other wifi-enabled device’s camera roll.

Can You Dim the Echo Show Screen?

You can dim the Echo Show screen via the “Brightness” slider.

You can access the “Brightness” slider by sliding your finger down the screen. “Brightness” can also be adjusted from the “Display” page in the “Settings” app.

There are two ways to adjust the brightness of your Amazon Echo Show’s screen:

  • Slide your finger down the screen. The “Brightness” slider is on the device status page. Slide the circle on the slider to the left to dim the screen.
  • Open the device “Settings” and select “Display” settings. You can also access the slider on the “Display” settings page. Slide the circle on the slider to the left to dim the screen.

Key Take-Aways

The Amazon Echo Show combines the utility of an Alexa-enabled smart speaker with the fun of a digital picture frame.

By following the steps above, you can display and customize pictures from several sources, allowing you to fully customize your Echo and show any images you want whenever you want. 

Are You Still Struggling With Your device?

If you’re still struggling trying to get going your smart device, contact me at nelson.barbosa@myautomatedpalace.com and we can discuss how can we fix it!

Nelson Barbosa

I'm an engineer in love with smart home tech. On my website, I share useful tips and tricks to help my readers get the most of their devices and make their lives simpler by adding just a drop of technology in everyday routines!

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