How to breathe new life into an abandoned Portal device with pic.ie
Facebook Portal was a range of smart display devices made by Meta (formerly Facebook). They were designed as video-calling screens for the home, with built-in cameras, Alexa integration, and a photo slideshow feature powered by your Facebook photos.
In late 2023, Meta officially discontinued the Portal product line and stopped selling new units. Worse, subsequent software updates began removing features from existing devices - stripping away apps, services, and integrations one by one. The Portal's own photo slideshow feature has also stopped working for many users as Meta has wound down the supporting infrastructure.
If you have a Portal gathering dust, you are not alone. The good news is that Meta's updates have not removed the built-in web browser - and that is all pic.ie needs.
pic.ie is a web application - it runs entirely inside a browser. No app installation is required and there is nothing to download. As long as the Portal's browser can reach the internet, the slideshow will work.
Open the browser on your Portal and navigate to pic.ie/add. A pairing code will appear on screen.
On your phone or computer, log in to your pic.ie dashboard and click Add a Device. Enter the 6-character code shown on the Portal's screen. The Portal will be linked to your account.
Once paired, the Portal's browser will automatically start cycling through your photos. You can leave it running and it will refresh its photo queue every few minutes without any further interaction.
One common reason people bought a Portal was to display their Facebook photos. Facebook photos cannot be connected directly to pic.ie, but you can download them from Facebook and upload them to a supported cloud service such as OneDrive, Dropbox, or a Google Photos shared album.
See our full guide on Getting your photos from Facebook →