FamGlow is designed to run 24/7 on a tablet mounted on your wall. Follow these steps to get the best experience from day one.
FamGlow is designed to run on a tablet you set aside specifically for this display — not your personal device. Your family wall is visible to everyone in your home, so keeping it on its own account keeps your personal data completely separate.
Register the tablet under a new account — not your personal one. Since FamGlow is a shared display visible to everyone in your home, using a dedicated account means your personal messages, emails, app notifications, and purchase history never appear on the wall.
Think of it like setting up a TV: it's a shared screen, not a personal device.
Create a new Google account (e.g., <family_name>.famglow@gmail.com) and sign into the tablet with it.
Sign out of your personal Apple ID and create a new one, or use Screen Time / Guided Access to lock the tablet to FamGlow only.
Register the device under a separate Amazon account — not your primary shopping account.
These settings keep your display running 24/7 without interruption.
In your tablet's system settings, confirm the timezone matches your location. FamGlow also reads your timezone during setup — make sure both match, or notifications and calendar events will show at the wrong time.
FamGlow requires a constant internet connection for calendars, weather, news, and sports. Connect to your home Wi-Fi with auto-reconnect on, and make sure the tablet is within reliable range of your router.
Turn volume up to hear FamGlow's notification chimes. If mounting on the wall, test from across the room — many tablets have quiet speakers when facing away from you.
Once you sign in, FamGlow takes a few minutes to personalize. Here's what each section does — and why it matters.
The first thing FamGlow asks for. Your family name appears on the display — it's the first thing you'll see every morning and the last thing you'll see at night. Make it yours.
Enter your city and state, or tap Detect Location to let FamGlow find you automatically. Your location powers the live weather on your display and filters local news to stories that are actually relevant to where you live — not just national headlines.
Head to Settings → Connect Google Calendar and sign in. FamGlow pulls your events onto the display in real time. It has read-only access — it will never create, edit, or delete anything on your calendar. Your schedule, unchanged.
Read-only · One connection per familyAdd each member of your family under Family Members. For kids, you can optionally enter their school name, school district, and a link to the school or district calendar — whether it's a PDF or a .ics subscription link.
FamGlow's AI reads the calendar and automatically identifies important events — holidays, early dismissals, picture days, exam weeks — and assigns them to the right child. Every kid's schedule, visible at a glance, on one screen.
Under Settings → Display, you can fine-tune how FamGlow looks and behaves on your wall:
FamGlow doubles as a digital photo display. Upload up to 20 family photos and they'll rotate on your wall between other cards. FamGlow does its best to detect faces and keep them centered in the frame — so the people in the photo stay in focus, not cropped out.
Up to 20 photos · Face-aware croppingPick a handful of news categories that matter to your family — local, national, business, technology, sports. FamGlow surfaces headlines at a glance so you can catch up while you pour your morning coffee, without reaching for your phone.
Add the teams you follow. FamGlow shows upcoming games on your display and notifies you in-app when it's game time — no separate app needed. Sports team support is growing; if you can't find your team, let us know and we'll add it.
Live scores · Game-day alertsOpen FamGlow in your tablet's browser and sign in with Google.
Open FamGlow →Questions? Email us at support@famglow.com