Aura has unveiled its latest product, the $499 Ink frame, featuring a 13-inch color e-paper screen that stands out from the company’s usual LCD offerings. This display technology, much like what’s used in the Kindle Colorsoft e-reader, employs a six-color ink process to mimic millions of shades. A key benefit of the e-ink approach is that it finally allows the frame to operate without a power cord.
This makes it perfect for displaying in areas of your home where a visible cord would be unsightly, such as on a living room wall, along a staircase, or anywhere else you want a clean look.
Founded by some of Twitter’s early team members, Aura had long wanted to incorporate e-ink, but the technology wasn’t ready to showcase vibrant smartphone photos. As e-ink has improved, Aura decided to move forward with the idea.
The Ink frame incorporates Spectra 6, a technology that produces six base colors—white, black, red, yellow, green, and blue—with enhanced color richness and contrast, making it more suitable for photo display.
Image Credits:Aura
Aura has also equipped the frame with a front light, inspired by the Kindle Paperwhite, to further boost contrast, according to Eric Jensen, Aura’s co-founder and CTO.
“The light is quite gentle compared to an LCD—about one-sixth as bright,” Jensen explained to TechCrunch. “Most people don’t even realize it’s there until they’re in a dark room and it shuts off,” he added.
Beyond Spectra 6, Aura developed its own custom dithering algorithm based on error diffusion.
“We had to revisit old-school dithering techniques from newspaper printing, where you blend dots to create the impression of other colors,” Jensen explained.
A closeup of Aura’s E-ink rendering system
Image Credits:Aura
While the e-ink enables wireless use, the frame still requires periodic charging, meaning you’ll occasionally need to remove it to recharge. However, Aura states that the battery can last up to three months, so this shouldn’t be a frequent hassle.
To conserve energy, the Ink frame uses motion detection and sensors to switch off the light when no one is nearby. Users can also set their own on/off schedules through the companion mobile app if they wish.
Similar to other Aura frames, the Ink features a refined design with a graphite-like bezel, a mat with a paper-like texture, and a glass front, giving it the appearance of a classic photo frame rather than a typical tech gadget. (Which is fitting, considering the price.)
Image Credits:Aura
The frame measures 13.3 inches with a 1600 x 1200 resolution and a 4:3 aspect ratio. The package includes mounting hardware, a stand, and a charging cable. Aura notes that the frame can be oriented either vertically or horizontally, and with the frame included, its dimensions are 14.1″ x 11.4″ x 0.6″.
It also comes with a USB-C port, a status indicator, and physical buttons for browsing through your images. If you prefer not to change photos manually, the frame can automatically update to the newest image in your preset rotation each night.
During testing, the frame’s colors appeared more subdued compared to other Aura models, but this actually helped it blend in with traditional printed photos on the wall. Depending on the picture, visitors might not even realize from afar that it’s an e-ink display. (Battery life is still being evaluated.)
One aspect that might surprise users is the process of loading new photos, which causes the screen to flash several times with a yellowish hue—a potentially unsettling effect. However, Jensen says the frame typically updates images overnight, so users don’t have to witness this transition.
“The transition can be a bit abrupt. That’s just part of the trade-off with this technology,” he acknowledged. “You can set it to update up to 12 times daily if you want, but that will impact battery life. The more often it changes, the more power it consumes.”
Aura expects that users may become more selective about which photos they display, perhaps choosing just one image to show at a time and swapping it out when they want something new.
Back in 2022, Aura secured $26 million in funding after selling 1 million frames and reaching 3 million app users. (Families often use the app together to add pictures to a frame given to grandparents, for example.) Now, the company has sold “double-digit millions” of frames, is profitable, and its app has facilitated a billion photo shares so far.
Although Jensen and CEO Abdur Chowdhury come from Twitter’s early days, Aura’s main focus now is on fostering private social networks among friends and family who use its app and devices to share images.
“We believe this area of sharing—not just photos, but meaningful connections with loved ones—is really overlooked. It’s also not well supported by ad-based models,” Jensen said. “Combining hardware with this kind of network is a strong business fit,” he continued.
Aura still sees itself as a startup, as it continues to innovate and consider new features for its app that could go beyond just managing frames.
“We’ve experimented with software that isn’t limited to frames,” Jensen mentioned. Still, the company is cautious about focusing solely on a private photo network, as it may not be as viable a business on its own.
“We offer a hardware product with a clear value: no subscription fees and unlimited photo storage. This pairs well with a private photo network. We’ve seen many companies try to build a business around private photo sharing alone and struggle to find a sustainable model,” Jensen said.
The Ink frame is available for purchase starting today on Aura’s website.
