Aura Aspen – a digital photo frame that turns sideways for your vertical photos
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My phone has thousands of photos. My parents have seen about eleven of them. They don’t do Instagram, and the family group chat buries everything under “who’s bringing dessert?”
The Aura Aspen is a 12-inch digital photo frame that the whole family can send photos to from their phones. Its trick: you can stand it upright or on its side, and it rotates the slideshow to match.
Finally a frame that understands that every photo since 2010 is vertical.
What is the Aura Aspen?
Aura launched the Aspen in April 2025 as its “most versatile” HD frame. It has a 12-inch anti-glare screen at 1600 by 1200 pixels, in a 4:3 shape that Aura says fits photos from smartphone cameras. A slim border and a mat around the screen make it look like a regular picture frame from across the room.
Put it down in portrait and it shows portrait photos. Turn it on its side and it switches to landscape. Instead of buttons there’s a touch bar on the frame to swipe through photos and change settings, so you don’t leave fingerprints on the screen.
How does it work?
You set it up on Wi-Fi with the free Aura app, which Aura says takes about a minute. Then you invite people. Anyone you add can send photos and short videos from their phone, Google Photos, iCloud, a computer or by email. Storage is unlimited and there’s no subscription.
For gifting, the best feature is preloading. You can add photos, videos and a personal message before you wrap it, so it shows your photos the moment grandma plugs it in. Aura also added captions (a date, a place, a note) and a People Search feature that finds photos of a specific person. Aura says that processing happens on your device.
An ambient light sensor dims the screen to match the room and turns the frame off when the lights go out. Videos play with sound through a small built-in speaker.
The good and the not-so-good
The good:
- It does portrait and landscape. That sounds basic, but many frames are landscape only, including Aura’s own bestselling Carver.
- TechRadar’s review called the color on the screen excellent and said it never looks artificial.
- No subscription for the unlimited photo storage.
- The rest of the family adds photos, so it keeps updating without anyone touching it.
The not-so-good:
- No local storage. TechRadar points out that if the Wi-Fi goes down, the frame has nothing to show.
- Tom’s Guide notes it can’t hang on a wall. It’s a tabletop frame.
- You can’t crop a photo one way for portrait and another for landscape, according to TechRadar.
- At about 229 bucks it costs more than many other frames this size.
Who is the Aura Aspen for?
Parents and grandparents who want to see the kids without learning a new app. They plug it in, you do the rest from your phone. It’s also a good shared gift: one frame, and the brothers and sisters all fill it.
If they need it on the wall, Aura’s bigger Walden does wall mounting. If they’re more into music than photos, Samsung’s Music Frame hides a speaker behind a picture. More gift ideas for the hard-to-buy-for in our gifts for minimalists.
Where can I buy the Aura Aspen?
Amazon US sells the Aspen in Black Mat, White Mat and Cool White. The Black Mat version was 229 bucks at the time of writing (October 2026).
Preload it with the good photos before you wrap it. Leave out the one where you’re 14 with frosted tips.