Is Mango Display worth it? Here’s My Honest Review

Mango Display was on top of my list when I decided to review a couple of digital displays for buying one for personal use.

I had heard a lot about it so started off with giving it a try. It allows you to turn any device into a digital display that you can hang on your wall.

While I wanted to use it in my house as a calendar and photo album, but it can also be used as an employee notice board or a digital restaurant menu. This means that it can be used for both personal and commercial uses.

If you’re wondering if Mango Display is any good, stick with me on this post. I will share my experience with Mango Display today.

I will also tell you what I found useful and also its drawbacks. By the end I’m sure, you’ll be able to make up your mind whether to buy it or not.

Mango Display: An Overview

Mango Display is a software you can install on most digital devices to turn them into digital displays. For example, you can turn your Android tablet into a digital calendar, complete with to-do notes, weather updates, motivational quotes, and more.

You can then hang this tablet in your kitchen, providing a convenient way for the family to stay up to date on their tasks and obligations. It’s a great organizational tool, and since it is software based, it doesn’t require you to buy a specific device.

That is unlike many of its competitors, which only run their proprietary software on their own hardware, which means you have to pay extra for a specialized digital device.

Another option is using Mango Display to turn your tablet into a digital photo frame. It doesn’t require an SD card like older digital photo frames.

Rather, it connects to the internet, syncing your pictures from cloud-based storage services such as Google Photos and iCloud. It displays images you or other people have uploaded to the account it is connected to.

1. Mango Display for Business Use

Mango Display is also great for business owners who want a digital display. If you’re on a budget, it can save you money, because you can use any tablet or smart TV.

You can use it as a calendar or notice board for employees or as a digital bulletin for your church or school. Alternatively, you can use it in your restaurant to display your menu.

It allows you to display PDFs, videos, presentations, Google Docs, and a lot more. It even integrates with your company’s Google or Outlook calendar, allowing your team to stay up to date about upcoming sales and service appointments.

I also found it suitable for teachers who want to display class schedules and the current curriculum as well.

2. Which Devices Are Supported?

I found Mango Display has apps for several devices, including Amazon Fire, Android, and Samsung smart TVs. You can download the Mango Display apps from the respective app stores on those platforms.

In addition, it works on any device that supports a web browser. That means that it can work on Macs or any smart TV with a built-in browser, even if the Mango Display app is not available from the app store on that platform.

Reviewing Mango Display: The Good and the Bad

Let’s go over Mango Display’s different features and aspects. I’ll discuss what I liked and what I didn’t, so follow along!

1. Setting It Up

As I mentioned, there are two ways to use Mango Display on your target device: you can install the app (if available) or use it in a web browser.

Regardless of how you use Mango Display on the target device, though, setting it up requires you to log in to the drag-and-drop design interface in a web browser, and I recommend doing this on your desktop.

Once you have logged into the design interface, you will be able to add new displays or edit any displays you have already added.

You can then drag and drop different elements to the display you are creating.

Now, I’ll be honest with you. While I like the drag and drop idea, I find the design interface a little sluggish and not so easy to use.

It’s not a great interface. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t get the job done, but the user experience isn’t pleasant.

It is also a bit unintuitive, and it took me a few minutes to figure out how to use it. Here are some tips you might find helpful:

• To add a new element, click the green + sign at the bottom right of the screen.
• Click on “Widget Layers” to decide which elements appear on top of the others.
• You can add a timer by clicking on “Page Timer.”
• To see a preview of what the display will look like, click on the green “View Display” button at the top.

Also Read: Best Free Calendar Apps

I decided to create a little example to show you. I only included free widgets, because if you’re using Mango Display for free and try to add a premium widget, it will say “Subscription Required for This Widget” on the display screen.

As you can see, only a few widgets are available for free, so I’ve decided to add a clock, quotes, a weather widget, a news widget, and a background image.

Unfortunately, on the free plan, you can only select images from the built-in library, not from your own Google Photos account.

For quotes, I chose inspirational quotes, while for the news widget, I chose ABC News as my news source.

Here is how it looked in my drag and drop design interface:

And here is how it looked on the actual display:

As you can see, the two don’t look alike. Also, the actual display is a bit weird; I felt that the design of the news widget just didn’t look right.

My Final Thoughts on the Drag and Drop Interface and Display

The design interface was overall not so difficult to use, despite being ugly and a bit laggy at times. It was also frequently “loading” for a few seconds when I tried to adjust or delete a widget.

I also wish it was a live design interface. In other words, I don’t want to have to check the results in another window; I want to see the preview right from the drag and drop interface, either in the interface itself or in a preview window in the same tab.

That would make it a lot easier to edit it and design a more beautiful display. Right now, though, I have to check my other tab to see what effects the changes I made had.

On the bright side, though, the display updates in real time, so if you can split your laptop screen and show two browser tabs at once, you can see changes in real time.

The actual display was decent enough, but I can’t say it was as beautiful as I expected, and it also didn’t seem to adapt to the screen well.

Check Out: Best Productivity Apps

2. Compatibility

Overall, I have no complaints regarding compatibility. You can use it on most devices, and that’s where Mango Display’s strong point is.

However, I do recommend using it on a device where the Mango Display app is available. You can use it in your web browser by typing a URL into your browser bar, but you would have to keep your browser open to that URL at all times.

Quick tip: You can usually set your browser startup page to be a specific URL. So, simply paste your Mango Display URL into the relevant field in your browser’s settings so that whenever you open the browser, it opens to that page.

3. Pricing

While Mango Display is free to use, the free plan is quite limited. The free plan is a strong point, because many competitors don’t offer it.

Even some competitors who sell their own custom hardware require you to pay a monthly subscription.

Unfortunately, the most sought-out features are not available on the free plan. Most likely, you want Mango Display so you can display either a digital calendar with tasks and events or a digital photo album.

None of those are available for free. While you can display a background image for free, they are all stock photos; you can’t sync your family pictures from Google Photos or iCloud.

You can still display a clock and the weather, as well as quotes and news updates, but not everyone needs those.

Explore: Best Planner Apps

The good news, though, is that Mango Display’s Plus plan is only $2.99/month or $29.99/year. It gives you access to synced calendars through Google or Microsoft Outlook and synced photos.

You can also add notes. However, on the Plus plan, you can’t add to-do lists or sync your tasks from Todoist, Google Tasks, and Microsoft To Do.

Being able to add to-do lists is another popular feature, but it is only available on a higher-tier plan.

You will need to upgrade to the Pro plan for to-do lists. Also, if you want to sync calendars other than Outlook or Google, such as Apple iCloud Calendar, you will need to upgrade to the Pro plan as well.

The Pro plan also allows you to add countdown to events, meal plans, and family chores. It costs $5.99/month or $59.99/year.

If you want to use Mango Display for your business or school, though, you’d probably need the Business plan, which costs $19.99/month or $199/year. It allows you to embed Google Docs and Microsoft Office documents, PDFs, videos, and custom code.

As always, since pricing is subject to change, check the pricing page for updated information.

Also Read: GoodNotes vs OneNote

What Are People Saying About Mango Display?

I also checked out various app stores including Android, Amazon, and Apple. Take a look at what people are saying about it.

1. Android App Store

On the Google Play Store, Mango Display has a rating of just 2.9 out of 5 stars.

Note: All ratings are current as of this publication but are subject to change at any time.

Most of the negative reviews seem to be concerned with how buggy the app is. The app tends to be laggy and experiences many of the following problems, according to users who downloaded it on Android devices:

• It takes time to update.
• It keeps crashing.
• It can be hard to design a nice layout, as small changes could easily mess it up, preventing you from getting the look you want.
• The preview isn’t always accurate when compared to the actual display in the app.

Other people complained about the price, saying it’s too expensive for what it does and that the free plan is basically useless, since you can’t even add a calendar. I can’t blame them – the calendar feature is what I would want to use it for.

Of course, they need to make money, and offering a limited free plan gives people the incentive to upgrade.

However, while they pride themselves in not showing ads, I think some people would have preferred to have an ad-supported version for free if it included a calendar and family photos.

Check Out: Best Obsidian Alternatives

2. Amazon App Store

On the Amazon App Store, Mango has a similar rating of 3 out of 5 stars – we are already seeing a trend.

Reviewers generally complained about the following issues:

• The calendar doesn’t format well, and it doesn’t fit the size of the screen.
• It isn’t user-friendly but rather slow and confusing.
• It keeps crashing and stops working for no reason, or it goes to a white screen.
• The calendar can take too long to sync and update with the newest information.
• The free options are extremely limited.

3. Apple App Store

On the Apple App Store, Mango Display fared slightly better. However, there are only two reviews at this time, so its rating of 4 stars (out of 5) is not very reliable.

One reviewer said that they wished they could rate it higher than 3 stars, but the fact that you must use the web app to change the display prevented them from doing so.

Also Read: Craft vs Notion

That is, in fact, a great point. As I mentioned, you will need to use your web browser to access the drag and drop interface, and this only really works well on desktop devices.

Unfortunately, the app itself only shows the display, and it doesn’t have built-in editing features.

Conclusion

Mango Display is a great idea, in theory. I like how it is free with no ads and compatible with such a wide range of devices, and I also like how affordable the paid plans are, but it still has a long way to go.

Right now, it’s a bit sluggish and laggy, and the free plan isn’t very useful if you need a calendar or to-do lists. They could also do a better job with the coding, as I’ve found that the display doesn’t always format well to the screen.

However, since it’s free, and you can test it in your browser without any downloads, there’s no harm in trying it out to see if you like it.