Frameo alternative for Android tablets:
use the tablet you already have

Disclosure up front: we make PicDock, the tablet photo frame app this page recommends, so we are not neutral. To keep it fair, every Frameo statement below links to Frameo's own website, help center or Google Play listing, all checked on October 6, 2026, and every PicDock statement comes from our public fact sheet. Where Frameo is the better choice, we say so.

Short answer: Frameo's app only sends photos to official Frameo frames, so it cannot turn your own tablet into a frame. If you already own an Android tablet, a frame app that runs on the tablet — PicDock is one — gives you a family photo frame without buying new hardware, and relatives can add photos through a shared album or folder. If the person receiving the frame has no tablet, or your family wants to send photos straight from their phones with a dedicated app, buy a Frameo frame.

What Frameo is (and what it isn't)

• It is a phone app that sends photos to Wi-Fi photo frames. Frameo's site sums it up as "Send from app to frame" (frameo.com), and its Play listing as "Send photos and videos from your phone to your loved ones' frames in seconds" (Frameo on Google Play). People connect to a frame with a code from the frame and the Frameo app on their phone (Frameo help: How to connect phone to a frame).
• The app needs an official Frameo frame. The Google Play listing says: "The Frameo app only works with official Frameo WiFi photo frames" (Frameo on Google Play).
• Frameo writes the frame software; other companies build and sell the frames. Frameo's help center says it licenses its software "to the manufacturers who build the physical devices" (Frameo help: Minimum Security Update Periods) and that "We do not make nor sell frames" (Frameo help: How to return or replace a frame).

So the answer to "can I install Frameo on my old tablet and use it as the frame?" is no: on Frameo's own pages the frame side is software licensed to frame makers, and we found no version offered for ordinary tablets. A tablet can run the Frameo phone app to send photos, but it cannot be the frame that receives them.

What Frameo costs

From frameo.com/subscriptions and frameo.com/plus (US prices; the Play listing notes prices may vary by country):

Paid plans list a 14-day free trial (frameo.com/subscriptions). Frameo+ is an upgrade for your own account in the Frameo app, and seeing or managing someone else's frame needs the owner's permission (Frameo help: Frameo+). The frame itself is bought separately from a retailer; we have not checked frame prices, so we don't quote any.

The alternative: the Android tablet you already have

If a tablet is already sitting in a drawer, it has a screen, Wi-Fi and a charger — everything a photo frame needs except the software. PicDock is that software: it turns an Android phone or tablet (Android 7.0 or later) into a photo and video frame with a clock and live weather over the slideshow. What it does, from the fact sheet:

• Photo sources: device storage, Google Photos (through the official picker; picked photos are saved on the device), Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud Shared Albums and NAS / SMB shares — and several of these mixed into one slideshow.
• New photos arrive on their own: cloud and NAS sources are refreshed automatically at intervals, so photos added to the chosen folder or shared album appear on the frame without touching the tablet.
• Behaves like a frame: starts automatically when the charger is connected or on boot, keeps the screen on, dims at night, and can follow a sleep schedule that turns the screen off.
• More than photos: clock styles, current weather (hourly and 5-day forecast in Premium), an alarm, background music, and an on-device "only photos with people" filter.

How family sends photos without Frameo

Frameo's app sends straight to the frame. With a tablet frame, the family adds photos to a shared place instead, and the tablet picks them up:

• iPhone family: share an iCloud Shared Album and point PicDock at it (guide).
• Dropbox or OneDrive: share one folder with relatives; whatever they drop in shows up on the frame (Dropbox guide · OneDrive guide).
• A home NAS: point the tablet at an SMB share on a Synology, QNAP or Windows PC (NAS guide).

This is more setup than scanning a code with the Frameo app, and relatives need access to the shared album or folder. In exchange, the photos stay in a place your family already uses, and there is no separate frame to buy.

Frameo frame vs. a tablet with PicDock

Frameo sources: Google Play listing, frameo.com/subscriptions, checked October 6, 2026. PicDock source: fact sheet.

When buying a Frameo frame is the better choice

• The grandparents have no tablet. If there is no spare tablet to reuse, a frame designed to sit on a shelf is simpler than buying a tablet and a stand and setting up an app.
• The family wants to send from their phones with one dedicated app. Frameo is built around that: each relative installs the Frameo app, connects with the frame's code, and sends. No shared folders, no cloud accounts to agree on.
• Nobody nearby can set up a tablet. A Frameo frame can be set up before it is gifted, then just needs the new home's Wi-Fi (Frameo help: Can I set up the frame before gifting it?).
• You want to curate a parent's frame from afar. Frameo+ adds remote management of a frame's photos, with the owner's permission. PicDock has nothing like that.
• You want the family calendar on the frame. Frameo's frames sync a calendar (one on the free plan, unlimited with Premium). PicDock shows a clock and weather, not a calendar.

What PicDock doesn't do

• No Google Drive. Google Drive is not a supported source.
• Cloud videos don't play. Videos play from device storage (and, as an opt-in beta, from a NAS share). Videos in Google Photos, Dropbox, OneDrive or iCloud are not played.
• No phone-to-frame sending app. Relatives add photos to a shared album or folder; they don't send to the tablet directly. Web upload — sending photos from a browser on the same network — is a Premium feature.
• Google Photos doesn't grow by itself. Picked photos are saved on the device; to add newer ones, you pick again.
• It doesn't make a tablet into hardware it isn't. You still need a stand and to keep the tablet plugged in.

What PicDock costs

PicDock on Google Play is free to download. Every photo source except web upload is free; optional Premium is sold as lifetime, yearly or monthly. The lifetime option is US$19.99, yearly and monthly prices are shown in the app and vary by country, and new installs get a 7-day trial of all features. Premium adds all 30+ transitions, forecasts, more clock designs, web upload, the pet filter and person grouping, and removes ads (ads never appear on the slideshow itself). The Amazon Appstore edition for Fire tablets is a paid app (US$4.99) with no ads and no in-app purchases.

FAQ

Can I turn my Android tablet into a Frameo frame?

Not with Frameo itself. The Frameo app "only works with official Frameo WiFi photo frames" (Play listing), and Frameo licenses its frame software to frame manufacturers (help center). To use your own tablet as the frame, use an app that runs on the tablet, such as PicDock.

How much does Frameo+ cost and what does it include?

$1.99 per month or $16.99 per year (price varies by country). It raises sending limits from 10 photos or 15-second videos to 100 photos or 2-minute videos, and adds remote management of a frame's photos, cloud backup of up to 5 frames and Google Cast. Frameo Premium ($7.99/month or $69.99/year) adds calendar features. Source: frameo.com/subscriptions, checked October 6, 2026.

How can family add photos to a tablet frame without Frameo?

Through a shared iCloud album, a shared Dropbox or OneDrive folder, or a NAS share. PicDock refreshes cloud and NAS sources periodically, so photos relatives add there appear on the tablet without anyone touching it. It is more setup than Frameo's phone-to-frame app.

Is PicDock free?

Free to download on Google Play. Every photo source except web upload is free; optional Premium is sold as lifetime, yearly or monthly, with a 7-day trial of all features. The Amazon Appstore edition is a paid app.

In short

Frameo is a good product for a specific job: relatives sending photos from their phones to a dedicated frame. If that is your job, or the person receiving it has no tablet, buy a Frameo frame. If you already own an Android tablet and your family's photos already live in an iCloud shared album, Dropbox, OneDrive or a NAS, you can have a family photo frame today with what you have.

Related: A photo frame gift for parents from an old tablet · Step by step: turn an old tablet into a frame · Fotoo alternatives · Android tablet photo frame app comparison