Using Your Frame
Everything you can do day-to-day, from the button on the frame and from the app.
The button
Section titled “The button”There’s just one. It does everything. Watch the lights — they tell you exactly what stage you’re in. Don’t count seconds.
| What you’ll see | What it means | Release here to… |
|---|---|---|
| Green flash (after a quick press) | Wallie is awake | Skip to the next photo |
| Solid red (while holding) | Shutdown zone | Power off |
| All lights flashing (keep holding) | Factory-reset warning | Cancel — nothing happens |
| All lights go dark (keep holding still) | Factory reset triggered | Release — Wallie wipes itself and restarts |
A quick press is also how you “wake” Wallie if it’s been sleeping for a while — useful if you want it to check for new photos right now.
Want to factory-reset? Keep holding through every light stage above until the flashing suddenly goes dark — that’s your cue to release. The whole thing takes around ten seconds. See Factory reset for what to expect afterwards.
From the app
Section titled “From the app”Pick what’s on the wall
Section titled “Pick what’s on the wall”By default, Wallie plays through your album on its schedule. From the app you can also:
- Frame a specific photo — tap Frame on any photo to lock it on the wall. Useful for special occasions or showing off a favorite.
- Resume Album — stop framing and go back to playing your album.
- Next Photo — rotate immediately to the next image in the album.
- Refresh — pull the latest changes from your library.
Schedule
Section titled “Schedule”By default Wallie changes the photo every few hours during the day. From the frame’s detail screen in the app you can:
- Wake hours — set the times of day Wallie is active (default 7am–11pm). Wallie sleeps deeply outside these hours to save battery.
- Update interval — how often the photo changes during wake hours.
- Slot albums — show a different album at different times of day. Morning could be your kids’ photos, evening could be travel shots.
- Weekend split — keep one schedule for weekdays, a different one for weekends.
- Power Saver vs Responsive Mode — toggle between long battery life and live updates.
Responsive Mode is the default — the frame stays active so photos appear within minutes of you sending them. Lasts about 2–3 months per charge. Power Saver trades that responsiveness for battery: the frame sleeps between scheduled updates and changes from the app appear at the next wake, but you’ll get about a year per charge.
Households
Section titled “Households”Invite the people you live with to share one frame:
- In the app, go to Profile → Household.
- Send an invite. They install the app and accept.
- Everyone in the household can now add photos and frame favorites.
Each person sees who added what.
Multiple frames in your home
Section titled “Multiple frames in your home”Have more than one Wallie? You can run them however you like:
- Same photos, different rooms — point all your frames at one album for matching displays.
- Different albums per room — kitchen shows family favorites, office shows kids’ artwork, bedroom shows your travel photos.
- Name each frame by where it lives (“Kitchen Wallie,” “Living Room”) to keep them straight in the app.
- Match wake hours to each room — your bedroom frame can sleep when you do.
If you set up another Wallie at someone else’s house — say, your parents’ — link it to a shared household album. Every photo you add appears on their frame too. They never have to do anything.
What looks great on Wallie
Section titled “What looks great on Wallie”Wallie isn’t a screen — it’s closer to a fine-art print. Photos with rich contrast, texture, and real subjects come alive on it. Empty white spaces are the only thing that doesn’t translate well.
→ See Image Tips for a short guide to picking photos that sing on the wall.
The frame takes about 30 seconds to fully render a new photo. You’ll see brief flashing during the refresh — that’s the e-ink panel cycling colors. It’s working as intended.
Offline use
Section titled “Offline use”If your Wi-Fi goes down (or you never connected one), Wallie keeps showing your saved photos and rotating through them on schedule. When Wi-Fi returns, it auto-syncs anything new.
Direct Transfer — sending photos without Wi-Fi
Section titled “Direct Transfer — sending photos without Wi-Fi”If your Wallie was set up with Skip Wi-Fi setup, this is how you send photos to it:
- Wake the frame with a quick press of the power button.
- In the app, open the frame and start a transfer. Your phone briefly joins the frame’s private Wi-Fi network (
Wallie-XXXXXX). - Photos move directly from your phone to the frame.
- When the transfer finishes, your phone reconnects to your normal Wi-Fi automatically.
Switching between Wi-Fi and offline modes
Section titled “Switching between Wi-Fi and offline modes”The mode you set during initial pairing is the mode the frame stays in. To change modes — for example, you set Wallie up with Wi-Fi and now want it fully offline, or vice versa — you’ll need to:
- Factory reset the frame (how to).
- Pair it again as if it were new (Getting Started).
- Pick the other mode during setup.
Your photos and account come back as soon as you re-pair, so the only cost is a few minutes.
Updating Wallie
Section titled “Updating Wallie”Firmware updates happen automatically during scheduled wakes when Wi-Fi is available. You’ll see the lights alternating green and blue while it downloads. The frame restarts itself when it’s done — usually overnight. No action needed from you.
→ Troubleshooting if something seems off.