How to show photos on Galaxy S9 Home screen?

Many Galaxy S9 or S9+ owners want to show photos on Galaxy S9 Home screen so that they can easily see the slideshow of their loved photos without opening the Gallery or other photo apps.

Samsung made it easy to pin photos to the always-on display as explained in this guide. But showing photos on Galaxy S9 Home screen does not work out of the box.

Although there are many solutions for you to show photos on Galaxy S9 Home screen, using Samsung’s picture frame widget probably is the easiest way to show photos on Galaxy S9 and S9+ home screen.

This Galaxy S9 guide shows you how to show photos on Galaxy S9 home screen using the picture frame widget provided by Samsung.  You can also tweak the slideshow by including or excluding photos, adjusting slideshow timing, the layout of photos, and how the photos fill the spots.

The picture frame widget was available in Galaxy phones with Android Marshmallow 6.0 or earlier. Samsung removed it in Android Nougat firmware and offered it as an optional feature in Galaxy Apps.

So, this guide applies to most Samsung Galaxy phones. For Galaxy S9 and S9+, you need to install the widget from Galaxy Apps.

You may follow the steps to install the widget and show photos on Galaxy S9 Home screen. Ths steps als0 are applicable for Galaxy S8, S8+, S7, S7 Edge, Note 9,  Note 8 and Note 5. If you have an older Samsung phone, very likely, you can skip step 1 (as the widget was part of the old Gallery app).

Step 1: Install Picture Frame from Samsung Galaxy Apps

Galaxy Apps is preinstalled in Galaxy S9 and S9+. You cannot remove it.

Samsung now puts many optional features on Galaxy Apps.

In Galaxy  S9 or S9+,  tap Galaxy Apps icon in the home screen or apps screen.

In Galaxy Apps, switch to Exclusives tap as shown below.

In the Exclusives tab, you can scroll down to find the Galaxy Essentials category.

Tap view all as shown above.

Now, you can find apps included in Galaxy Essentials as shown below.

In some regions, by default,  there is a Galaxy Essentials widget on Galaxy S9 Home screen. You can tap it to arrive on the same page.

Among the apps, you can find the Picture frame as shown below. It used to be part of the Gallery app.

Tap Picture frame as shown below to see the details. Or tap the install icon on the right side to install it directly

In the details page of the picture frame widget, as shown in the screenshot above, you can check how it looks before tapping the install button.

You then wait a while for the installation to finish.

Because what you installed is a widget,  not a standalone app, you cannot find the icon in the apps screen or home screen. It actually is associated with the Gallery app.

Now, you are ready to use the widget to show photos on Galaxy S9 Home screen.

Step 2:  Add the picture frame widgets to Galaxy S9 home screen

In Galaxy S9 Home screen, you can enter Galaxy S9 home screen edit mode using one of the two touchscreen gestures:

1. Tap and hold (long tap).
2. Pinch.

As shown in the screenshot below, in the edit mode, tap Widgets to add widgets to the home screen.

In the widgets page, you can swipe right or left to navigate to different panels to locate the Picture frame widget.

As shown above, once you find the widget, tap and hold (long tap) it add it to the home screen.

When you add the widget to Galaxy S9 Home screen, it will ask you grant permission so that the widget can access your photos.

As shown below, you will be asked:

Allow Picture frame to access photos, media and files on your device?

You need to tap allow to proceed.

After granting the permission, you can choose how to add photos:

• From pictures. You can select individual photos to be shown on the Galaxy S9 Home screen.
• From album. All photos in the album will be shown.
• Random. All photos will be selected.

You can always change the settings later for this widget. Each copy of this widget has its own settings.

Usually, you want to select a few photos to show on the home screen. So, tap From pictures as shown above.

Step 3: Choose photos to be shown on Galaxy S9 Home screen

Unless you choose “random” in the previous step, Gallery app will now open for you to select individual photos or individual album.

As shown below, you can select a few photos.

After finishing the selection, tap Done as shown below.

Please note, you should not choose photos from an external drive (e.g., USB flash drive). If you want to include files in the USB flash drive or USB portable storage, you may copy them to the phone storage or micro SD card.

Step 4: Resize the picture frame widget

By default, the size of the Picture frame widget is 2×2 as shown above. It is too small.

You may want to make it bigger. You can tap and hold the widget until you see the 4 handles as shown above.

To resize the widget, drag any of the handles as shown below.

Galaxy S9 and S9+ allow you to create multiple home screen panels (pages). So, you may want to show photos on an empty home screen panel to get the maximum space for your photos.

Step 5: Customize layout, slideshow timer, frame fill and photos

You can also customize the slideshow for the photos.

As shown above, tap the gear (settings) icon on the right top of the widget to open the settings for this widget.

You need a bit of patience because the icon is too small. You may end up tapping the photo and see that photo in the Gallery app. If this happens, you need to try again.

As shown below, you can customize how the photos are shown on the Galaxy S9 home screen:

1. Photos included in the slideshow. You can change this setting at any time. of course, you can add a new copy of the picture frame widget on other home screen panels to show different photos.
2. The layout. You can choose to show one or two or three photos simultaneously.
3. Slideshow interval. The available options are 3, 5 or 7 seconds.
4. Image position. If the photo does not have an identical aspect ratio as the slot assigned, you can choose how to position the photo.

Basically, you can customize most aspects of the slideshow for your photos on the home screen panel.

Can I use multiple picture frame widgets on the same or different Galaxy S9 home screen panels?

Yes, of course, you can use multiple picture frame widgets on Galaxy S9 home screen to show photos.

Each copy of the picture frame widget is independent.  You can have different settings for each of them.

Will the picture frame widget affect my wallpaper?

No, picture frame widget is just a widget, which displays contents (photos in this case) over the wallpaper.

So, in the widget area, the photos will hide your wallpaper. But in other home screen panels or other areas (e.g., favourite tray), your wallpaper will be shown normally.

Can I add other files to Galaxy S9 Home screen?

Yes, you can add any files to Galaxy S9 Home screen with My Files app. The picture frame widget is for photos only.

To pin a file (any files) to Galaxy S9 Home screen (i.e. adding file shortcut to Galaxy S9 Home screen), please follow this guide.

Can you use picture frame widget to show photos on Galaxy S9 Home screen? Do you know how to customize the slideshow of photos on the home screen?

If you have any questions or encounter any problem to show photos on Galaxy S9 home screen on Galaxy S9 or S9+,  please let us know them in the comment box below.

The community will help you find the answer.

For the user guide for new features of Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, please check Galaxy S9 new features guides page.

For using Galaxy S9 and S9+, please check Galaxy S9 how-to guides page.

For using Galaxy S9 camera, please check Galaxy S9 camera guides page.

For accessories for Galaxy S9 and S9+, please check Galaxy S9 accessories guides page.

For the official Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ user guides (in PDF format), please check Galaxy S9 user guides page.

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