Samsung is shaking things up on your living room wall — quite literally. The tech giant has quietly rolled out an update that swaps out Microsoft OneDrive integration for Google Photos on its 2021 QLED TVs, specifically in the Magic Screen feature. The change, announced via the SmartThings app, was pushed in June 2025 and affects models that supported the now-aging-but-still-pretty-nifty Magic Screen functionality.
Magic Screen, first introduced in 2018, was Samsung’s way of making TVs look artsy when not in use — displaying paintings, photos, or other pretty visuals instead of that big, boring black rectangle. For users who didn’t want to fuss with USB sticks, OneDrive integration was a godsend: upload your photos to the cloud, and voilà, your TV becomes a personal gallery.
But as of this writing, those OneDrive-powered displays are being handed over to Google Photos. Samsung hasn’t explained the decision, and we don’t expect them to — but the implications are clear: users who had their personal moments lovingly stored in Microsoft’s cloud are now being asked to hop over to Google’s ecosystem to keep the slideshow going.
For some, like myself, this change feels more “finally!” than “why though?” I’ve never owned a Samsung TV — I’m firmly on Team TCL with a Chromecast with Google TV dangling at the back. That setup has always let me beam photos from my Google Photos library straight to the screen. No extra steps, no third-party workarounds. So when Samsung says they’re adding Google Photos? I get it. They’re catching up.
But the problem isn’t the addition of Google Photos. It’s the removal of OneDrive. Why not just keep both? Let users decide what cloud service they want to use. It’s not like they take up shelf space. Sure, Samsung and Microsoft have been close collaborators — Galaxy phones come bundled with a bunch of Microsoft services. But now, it seems Google’s media platform is getting the nod, perhaps because more people use it for photo backup anyway.
One big caveat: this change only affects older 2021 QLED TVs that still have Magic Screen. Samsung stopped including this feature in newer TVs years ago, so if you’ve recently bought a Samsung TV and you’re wondering where your photo frame mode went… it never came with it.
So, what now? If you’re one of the users affected by this switch, you’ll need to move your treasured OneDrive albums over to Google Photos to keep your TV gallery alive. Not ideal, but at least you’re not entirely left in the dark.
Still, this feels like a missed opportunity for inclusivity. More options should mean more freedom — not picking sides. But hey, we don’t make the rules. We just report when they change.
