topic Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album in TV

Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

Tularis — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 21:19:45 GMT

I've just bought a s95d TV and wanted to add my own pictures to its ambient mode. However, I'm stumped.

I've tried following the user guide, and installed smart things on my phone. Checked permissions, but there is still no option to add my own photos at all. I'm pretty annoyed, since this was one of the reasons I bought this TV: to blend in when turned off. If this is not supported, I would've chosen the frame instead.

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

jmasten — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 17:58:40 GMT

Same here. I’ve tried everything I can find to find a way. Even other apps and they all want to charge a monthly fee. Are you using an iPhone? I am beginning to think that is the issue. Can’t even share photos with Samsung Gallery, that links to One Drive. It’s won’t let me link on a PC. It says you have to do that on a phone, but the app isn’t available on iPhone. Also, can’t seem to get to Google Photos on the tv either. This is ridiculous.

We picked this tv over The Frame due to the better tv experience and the sales guy said Ambient mode will do the same thing. Definitely does not.

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

Miguel Urquidio — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 19:11:17 GMT

Did you find a solution? Just got an S95D instead of The Frame for that exact same reason but can’t seem to be able to upload my own photos. Super frustrating!

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

jmasten — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 00:53:06 GMT

I have not gotten anything Samsung to work at all. I was able to upload my own art to our Firestick though and change the screen saver to cycle thru the images. I even put a digital mat and frame on them and they look nice. I wish you could make the slow image cycle a lot slower though so it looks less like a screensaver, but at least it works, unlike any of the Samsung software (that look nothing like the screen shots I find online).

I also called Samsung and their system disconnected me after a 33 min wait that said I was the 2nd one in line. Then I used their chat assistant. It is horrible too. I have been told I would receive and email within 24-48 3 times now and still have received nothing. You have to start over from scratch each time.

Positively (only as a tv) it has a nice picture and works well in a very light filled room and the matte screen is like The Frame and has very little glare. I do feel like the blacks are too black personally and when you try and lighten them they don't really change much

But if you want it to be like The Frame, ambient mode is not the same on this TV and not the same as Art Mode so don't believe the dude at BestBUy who told you it is, like we did. We googling at the store and saw the screen shots so thought I could do this and upload my own but the software don't match on this TV. It seems like they removed functionality and even removed preloaded choices. It is super basic.

The art on Firestick looks nice on it (basically like The Frame), but I can't program it to come on and stay on since the Firestick times out after the screensaver is on a while. So if they would just show me how I can add my own images to the Ambient Mode I think it would look good. Let me know if you figure it out!

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

wipo55 — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 16:20:35 GMT

Same TV, same issue here: in ambient mode I only see the standard three categories. No ‘my album’ available nor the possibility to create additional other albums. Strange..

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

JSSR — Sat, 14 Dec 2024 09:10:33 GMT

Same issue here. Got this TV (s95d) over the frame because I thought I could use my own images as a matte background.

I also got a frame 50inch 2024 at the same time for another room, it works and I'm able to upload photos via smartthings app.

Feels like this is an oled specific issue at the moment. Let's hit the forums and help desks to get it changed!

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

Tularis — Sun, 15 Dec 2024 11:31:16 GMT

Sadly no, I have tried various things but haven't been able to resolve the issue in any way. The only thing I can still do is call Samsung directly and have them assist remotely on my TV. That requires that I call during opening hours though, which I have not been able to in the last 2 weeks. That's my last hope though.

I'm starting to think that Samsung removed this feature deliberately to prevent burn-in, which is understandable However it would annoy me greatly, if this is the case, that it has not been mentioned or documented anywhere.

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

Tularis — Sun, 15 Dec 2024 11:32:48 GMT

I think you're right, hopefully we'll get an answer from Samsung somehow, including a way to resolve the issue.

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

JSSR — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:03:50 GMT

To avoid burn in they could force a regular change in photos. No real reason that it shouldn't be enabled.

Again one of the main reasons a lot of us have this TV instead of the frame. I got my call escalated to the engineering team a few days ago, they are going to apparently get back to me. If I get an update I'll let you know.

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

Tularis — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 11:05:28 GMT

Have you had any luck with the engineering team? The problem hasn't been resolved for me unfortunately.

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

Jamax — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 23:55:08 GMT

Same here, no option in the app, zero

help from online chat, ambient mode useless

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

Westcan — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 16:07:36 GMT

Bought the TV last week with the same advice from Bestbuy supporting the advertised feature of displaying your own photos noting it was. “Better than the Frame” for this. I cant even find a way to provide smart things permission to access my photos. If this feature has been removed Samsung should provide notice. There are enough of the same posts with people waiting for answers that some blanket notice should be provided or a general fix initiated.

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

JSSR — Sat, 25 Jan 2025 04:51:15 GMT

Not really. They said that 'no, there isn't a specific decision to not allow own photos on oleds, and the tv is working correctly, this is a smart things issue'. They closed my case and directed me to smartthings help which hasn't responded since I logged a new case with the last month.

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

Members_MD32njC — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 19:21:04 GMT

Same problem! Ambient mode without "my album" or the posibility to buy art. Also tried WindowSight app to show art.. works but Samsung keeps showing the screensaver also can't disable that.

So they made it impossible to show art on the TV anything else then the basic Ambient designs. All ugly.

So happy I paid € 2800 for an TV without propper settings / software.

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

SteveBez — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 19:36:38 GMT

Same here. We have been LG owners forever with no issues. We looked at a Frame model but preferred the specs of an OLED model. Checked out how to display our own artwork/photos and it looked great so purchased it just before Christmas. In setting it up we discovered that we couldn’t access our photos on my iPad or iPhone so thought that Samsung required that it needed to be a Samsung device. I purchased a used A20 and lo and behold, same result.. What further angered me is that I couldn’t upload my photos from the A20 phone directly to their Cloud service so I could access it via the Gallery app. It seems to require using a Microsoft OneDrive account which I refuse to pay for as I use another Cloud storage service. I ended up using a thumb drive plugged into a USB port. After playing around a bit I realized that I needed two copies of the photo and play them as a slideshow to prevent the screensaver (which I can’t disable) from starting after a few minutes. It then sorta worked but the TV turned off after 15 minutes even though Auto Off was disabled. Took me forever to discover that the TV was turning off because the attached Apple TV was set to sleep after 15 minutes of inactivity. So now it works fine if you can ignore the little blip when it loads the next copy of the same artwork.

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

SteveBez — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 19:53:43 GMT

Copy of my reply to a specific user further up with a few changes. Hope that this may help others:

We have been LG owners forever with no issues in this regard but decided to try Samsung. We looked at a Frame model but preferred the specs of an OLED model and since it was $1K off on sale we dug in. I had checked out how to display our own artwork/photos and it looked great so purchased it just before Christmas.

In setting it up we discovered that we couldn’t access our photos in Ambient Mode as we had been led to believe on either my iPad or iPhone so thought that Samsung required that it needed to be a Samsung device. I purchased a used A20 in late January after the busy Christmas holidays and lo and behold, same result. I contacted Samsung and after a lot of being escalated several times was told that they disabled the feature on OLED models because of burn-in concerns. This could have been addressed in software by using a bit-shift algorithm to jitter the photo around the screen - old technology that has existed since the days of CRTs fer Pete’s sake.

Anyhow, this is a feature that we wanted to use on occasion when we were entertaining so we went for a workaround. I copied two copies of the artwork to a thumb drive and plugged into the USB port on the TV and play them as a slideshow to prevent the screensaver (which I can’t disable) from starting after a few minutes. It then sorta worked but the TV turned off after 15 minutes even though Auto Off was disabled. Took me forever to discover that the TV was turning off because the attached Apple TV was set to sleep after 15 minutes of inactivity.

So now it works fine if you can ignore the little blip when it loads the next copy of the same artwork.

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

dobson56 — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 22:29:43 GMT

Your pictures must be uploaded from Smart Things on the mobile app

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

SteveBez — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 23:09:25 GMT

I’m primarily an Apple guy for mobile devices and couldn’t figure how to upload photos from the Smart Things App so I bought a Samsung A20 and tried uploading from it. Still couldn’t see how to upload pics from SmartThings. Gotta say that Samsung is really a POS. I truly regret my decision to but a Samsung TV and it will be my last…

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

dobson56 — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 22:22:39 GMT

Hey, On your Samsung TV go to the Ambient tab and scroll down to My Photo Album. Scroll to the right and you will see "My Gallery" as well as . Your photos should be there. Your photos go to whatever album you stored them on in the Smart Things app. You can store them in any one of these galleries. And if Smart Things opens up to a remote control, simply swipe down and check the bottom tabs where you will find the 'Ambient' tab. Hope this helps you

Re: Ambient mode doesn't allow adding my own album

S95F — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 19:11:34 GMT

I just bought an S95F and have all the same issues. Only see 3 gallery options in the SmartThings App: Special Edition, Cinemagraph and Relaxtion. The "My Gallery" option is not there. Highly annoying. Having read through the above, I'm going to give the USB drive option a try.