Create your own digital picture frame access point when WiFi is unavailable (2025 Bookworm Edition)

If you change your WiFi connection, accessing your digital picture frame can become challenging unless your Raspberry Pi is connected via an Ethernet cable.

A fallback access point provides a convenient solution, allowing you to access the frame and make the necessary adjustments without needing a wired connection.

What I describe in this article is a crucial safety measure—one you should not overlook when building your digital picture frame. Failing to implement it could lead to frustration later.

This step is especially important if you plan to gift your homemade frame to family or friends.

The day will come when, for whatever reason, your WiFi SSID or password has changed, and you cannot connect to your picture frame anymore.

This issue could arise if, for example, you forget your WiFi password and have to reset it for new devices to connect. Or perhaps you’re moving to a new home with a different SSID.

The solution outlined here ensures your picture frame can establish a local access point automatically whenever no known WiFi network is within range.

The logic behind this setup

Before diving into the details, here’s a quick 30-second overview of the solution:

When your Raspberry Pi boots up, it checks whether it can connect to a known WiFi network.

If no connection is detected, the Pi will automatically create a local access point and broadcast an SSID. You can then access your picture frame through its WiFi network.

While there are alternative methods, such as connecting via Bluetooth, I’ve found these solutions unreliable. Sure, you could use an Ethernet cable to connect the frame directly to a router, but chances are, you won’t have a cable handy when you need it most.

There are countless WiFi setup guides online, but the script by Graeme from RaspberryConnect.com stands out as the most reliable and user-friendly option.

Graeme has detailed instructions and options on his project page, but I will focus on our digital picture frame use case in this article and give you all the essential bits you need when you build one.

Setting up the local access point

As always, before installing something new, ensure your system is up to date.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

We will use Graeme’s installer script, which is super useful because it runs on autopilot and saves you a lot of instructions.

Copy and paste this command:

curl "https://www.raspberryconnect.com/images/scripts/AccessPopup.tar.gz" -o AccessPopup.tar.gz && tar -xvf ./AccessPopup.tar.gz && cd AccessPopup && sudo ./installconfig.sh

At the end of this installation procedure, you will see these lines:

Raspberryconnect.com
AccessPopup installation and setup
Version 0.8-7: 06 Oct 2024  Installs AccessPopup ver 0.8-8 06 October 2024
Connects to your home network when you are home or a nearby know wifi network.
If no known wifi network is found then an Access Point is automatically activated
until a known network is back in range

Currently using WiFi profile: preconfigured
Current WiFi IP address is: 192.168.178.54
System Hostname is: Pi3

 1 = Install AccessPopup Script
 2 = Change the Access Points SSID or Password
 3 = Change the Access Points IP Address
 4 = Live Switch between: Network WiFi <> Access Point
 5 = Setup a New WiFi Network or change the password to an existing Wifi Network
 6 = Change Hostname
 7 = Uninstall accesspopup
 8 = Run accesspopup now. It will decide between a suitable WiFi network or AP.
 9 = Exit

The Wifi status will be checked every 2 minutes. Switching will happen when a
valid wifi network comes in and out of range.
use option 4 or the command: sudo accesspopup -a
to activate a permanant access point, until the next reboot
or when just sudo accesspopup is used.

Select an Option:

Select “1” to install the script.

Once you have seen this

Installing Script
UNIT FILE STATE PRESET

0 unit files listed.
UNIT FILE STATE PRESET

0 unit files listed.
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/timers.target.wants/AccessPopup.timer → /etc/systemd/system/AccessPopup.timer.
RaspberryConnect.com - AccessPopup: Automated Access Point.
The active profile is preconfigured

The Wifi profile in use is: preconfigured
Is this a local access point? n

Press any key to continue

you will be redirected to the original menu.

Now, let’s make some customizations.

Select “2” and you will see this:

The current ssid and password for the AP are:
SSID:'AccessPopup'
Password:'1234567890'
Enter the new SSID
Press enter to keep the existing SSID

Set the SSID to something like “PictureFrame” and choose your own secure password. The default IP address is “192.168.50.5,” but you can modify this in Option 3 if needed.

Save this information somewhere where you can find it. Ideally, attach a sticker with the information to the back of your picture frame so you know where to find it when needed.

Testing the Setup

To test the Access Point mode, we will run the setup routine again.

sudo /home/pi/AccessPopup/installconfig.sh

Select option 5, and you will see all your available WiFi networks.

Add or Edit a Wifi Network
Add a new WiFi network or change the password for an existing one that is in range
1  EasyBox-045794
2  KIDS
3  Hello
4  Hello
5  WLAN-107B85
6  MagentaWLAN-RM7P
7  KIDS
8  WLAN-186821
9  KIDS Guest
10  KIDS
11  FRITZ!Box 7490
12 To Cancel

Duplicates are different antennas for the network.
Select either. The correct one will be used when connecting

Enter selection:

Select yours and change the WiFi password to something like “9876543210” to simulate a no-WiFi connection.

The Terminal connection will be interrupted.

Wait two minutes, check for all available WiFi networks on your computer, and select “RPIHotspot” (or whatever your Access Point is called). Be patient. It may be a moment until the access point shows up.

Connect using the default password “1234567890” or whichever you have given.

Then login with

 ssh pi@192.168.50.5

You are now directly connected to the Raspberry Pi’s Access Point.

If this works, let’s go back and re-enter the correct WiFi password and do a few last customizations.

Run

sudo /home/pi/AccessPopup/installconfig.sh

select Option 5, and enter your correct WiFi password. Connect via SSH to your Raspberry Pi in a new Terminal window to your old IP address.

It should work just fine.

Conclusion

A big Thank You to Graeme, who has put together a fantastic script to create this Access Point feature, which saves us a lot of work.

This can be a lifesaver when you have WiFi troubles and can’t connect to your digital picture frame. Well, now you can, no matter what.

You should install it right away once you have finished setting up your digital picture frame software suite.

Please don’t complain to me later that I didn’t tell you before.

Thank you for your support and motivation.