Immich digital photo frame on Android

Updated August 9, 2026 · 8 min read

Immich is a self-hosted photo and video management server — essentially a private Google Photos that runs on hardware you own. If you already have Immich running, you can use it as the photo source for an Android digital photo frame without sending your photos to any external service. The frame pulls directly from your Immich server, caches photos locally, and runs the slideshow entirely on your network.

Why Immich is ideal for a self-hosted photo frame

• Complete privacy: Photos live on your hardware. Nothing leaves your network unless you choose to expose your server externally.
• Album-based control: Immich organises photos into albums. You pick specific albums for the frame — family trips, a curated favourites album, a specific year — rather than dumping your entire library onto the display.
• No per-device limits: Unlike Google Photos with its storage quotas, your Immich library is limited only by your own storage hardware.
• Works on your local network: The frame connects to your Immich server over Wi-Fi. No internet connection is required if the server is on your home network.

What you need before connecting

• A running Immich server accessible by URL from the Android device (local IP, hostname, or domain)
• An Immich API key — generate one in Immich under Account Settings → API Keys
• At least one Immich album containing the photos you want on the frame
• An Android tablet or display device running Fravora

Setup: what the onboarding covers

When you first launch Fravora, the onboarding guides you through connecting your first source. Here is what it covers for an Immich connection:

1. Choose Immich as your source type.
2. Enter your Immich server URL. For a local server this is typically http://192.168.x.x:2283 or http://immich.local:2283. For an externally accessible server, use your domain with HTTPS.
3. Paste your Immich API key into the API Key field.
4. Tap Test Connection. Fravora contacts your server, verifies the key, and confirms access before saving.
5. The album picker opens. Select the Immich album or albums you want displayed on the frame.
6. Name your slideshow album and assign the Immich source to it. The frame begins downloading and displaying your photos — setup is done.

To add more Immich connections or other source types later, go to Settings → Sources.

How to generate an Immich API key

1. Open your Immich web interface and log in.
2. Click your avatar in the top-right corner and go to Account Settings.
3. Scroll to the API Keys section and click New API Key.
4. Give it a name (e.g. "Photo Frame") and copy the generated key. You will only see the key once — paste it into Fravora immediately.

Caching and offline behaviour

Fravora caches downloaded Immich photos on the device using the standard image cache (configurable from 128 MB to 2 GB). Once a photo is cached, it displays without contacting the server. This means short network outages — a router reboot, a NAS going to sleep, a brief Wi-Fi drop — do not interrupt the slideshow. The frame picks up new photos from Immich on the next scheduled scan.

Mixing Immich with other sources

Immich does not have to be your only photo source. A single Fravora album can combine Immich album targets with local device folders, NAS/SMB shares, Google Photos picks, OneDrive folders, and Dropbox folders. All sources rotate together in the slideshow. A common setup for self-hosters is Immich for recently imported photos plus a NAS SMB share for the older organised archive — both playing from the same frame.

Recommended album strategy

Rather than pointing the frame at your entire Immich library, create a dedicated Frame album in Immich and curate it. Add photos you want displayed, remove ones you do not. This keeps the slideshow intentional — not a raw dump of every camera import — and makes it easy to update what the frame shows without touching the frame app itself. You can add more albums from Immich as additional sources within the same Fravora album if you want broader coverage.