Amazon is pulling the plug on another service, this time ending the PhotoPlus subscription feature on its Echo Show 8 Photos Edition.
The Echo Show 8 Photos Edition doubled as a digital photo frame, allowing users to display their photos indefinitely as long as they were subscribed to the PhotoPlus service. Unfortunately, Amazon is canceling those subscriptions, eliminating the only real reason to buy the Echo Show 8 Photos Edition instead of the standard Echo Show 8.
The company announced the change in an email to its subscribers:
Dear PhotoPlus customers,
We wanted to let you know that we will end support for the PhotoPlus subscription starting September 23, 2024. PhotPlus makes photos the primary home screen content you see on your Echo Show 8 and includes 2GB of storage with Amazon Photos.
We will automatically cancel your PhotosPlus subscription on September 12, 2024 – you don’t need to do anything. You can continue to enjoy the benefits of PhotosPlus until September 12, 2024.
After your subscription period ends, photos will no longer be the primary home screen content on your Echo Show 8. However, you can still use the 25GB of Amazon Photos storage.
To manage the content that appears on your Echo Show 8 home screen, go to Settings > Home Content.
As the email states, a person’s photos will no longer be the primary content displayed on the home screen, and instead ads will appear after three hours.
Amazon makes no secret of the fact that it is trying to monetize its various devices and services to cut costs. PhotoPlus clearly did not have enough subscribers to justify the cost, and the company was clearly unwilling to spend more to grow its user base.
