PiFra Free

Are looking for an electronic picture frame that knows the time of day and can receive new pictures by email? Do you have an old smartphone or tablet you don't know what to do with? Then PiFra is the solution for you. Because many of these devices have built-in Wi-Fi cards, you can set them up for Grandma and Grandpa and automatically provide them with up-to-date pictures. I looked for an app with these features for a long time and couldn't find one, so I wrote one with all the functionality I needed:

• Shows all the images in a folder including all subfolders, no limit on numbers.
• Individual on and off times for each day of the week. Who wants a sunny day at the beach shining in their face when they're trying to get to sleep.
• Automatic image population by email.

This last point is a very interesting feature because other solutions require a go between, for instance an image server where you organize the pictures via a browser or where emails are stored. PiFra doesn't use either.

You simply set up an email account for PiFra. All emails sent to this account that have images attached and 'pifra' in the subject line are received and the images displayed by PiFra. This means that the whole family can send Grandma and Grandpa their latest pictures to be shown automatically. They will be delighted to see new pictures appear in their electronic picture frame and may even call up to get the details.

Thanks to email technology, anyone can take a picture with their smartphone and email it to PiFra.

PiFra has been tested on Motorola Defy, Galaxy Tab (first generation), Galaxy Note and HTC One.