NAS and SMB photo frame on Android

Updated August 9, 2026 · 9 min read

If you store photos on a home NAS — Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS, or a plain Windows share — you can display them directly on an Android digital photo frame over your local network using SMB. No cloud upload required, no subscription, and your photos never leave your home network.

Why NAS is the best source for a home photo frame

• Privacy: Photos are served from your own hardware. Nothing goes to a third-party server.
• No storage limits: A NAS can hold hundreds of thousands of photos. The frame scans and rotates through them without any per-device cap.
• Single source of truth: Your organised folder structure on the NAS is exactly what the frame sees — no duplicate library to maintain.
• Offline resilience: If your internet goes down, the frame keeps running because the NAS is local.

Compatible NAS devices and setups

Any device that supports SMB file sharing works. Common setups that have been tested and work well:

• Synology DiskStation (DSM) — enable the SMB service in Control Panel → File Services
• QNAP NAS — enable Samba (SMB) in Control Panel → Network & File Services
• TrueNAS / FreeNAS — add an SMB share via the Sharing menu
• Windows PC — right-click a folder, Properties → Sharing → Share
• Linux with Samba — configure smb.conf and share the photo directory

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 a NAS setup:

1. Choose Network share (SMB/NAS) as your source type.
2. Enter the NAS address (IP or hostname), share name, and credentials. Fravora supports both DOMAIN\user and user@domain credential formats.
3. Tap Test Connection to verify the credentials and path before saving.
4. Use the Folder Picker to browse your share and select the folders you want in the slideshow. System folders like @Recycle, @eaDir, and .Trash are automatically hidden.
5. Name your album and assign the NAS folder targets to it.
6. The frame starts scanning and displaying your NAS photos — setup is done.

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

Handling network outages

NAS connections occasionally drop — router reboots, NAS sleep cycles, or brief network hiccups. Fravora handles this without interrupting playback:

• Local cache: All SMB images are cached on the device. The slideshow continues from cache during outages.
• Non-blocking warning: A small warning icon appears in the notification strip if a share is unreachable, but playback continues on available photos.
• NAS reconnect interval: Configure how often the app retries a failed share (1, 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes, or never). Once reconnected, the scan resumes automatically.
• SMB retry count: Set how many connection attempts the app makes per operation (3 to 7 retries). Useful for shares that take a moment to wake from standby.
• Full blocking overlay: Only appears if every source fails and zero cached photos are available — includes a Retry button and direct link to Sources settings.

Folder organisation and scanning

You can select multiple folders from the same share and combine them in a single album. Scanning is recursive by default on PRO — the app walks into subfolders automatically. On the free tier, scanning is folder-level only (subfolders are a PRO feature). New photos added to the NAS folders are picked up automatically on the next scan.

Configure how often the app scans for new content under Settings → Sources → Scan Interval (PRO). The free tier uses a fixed default interval.

Mixing NAS with other sources

You are not limited to NAS only. A single album can combine NAS folder targets with local device folders, Google Photos picks, OneDrive folders, and Immich albums. All sources play together in the rotation. If the NAS goes down temporarily, photos from other sources continue displaying.