If you’re looking for an easy way to organize all your tasks, the Skylight Cal Max is a great option. Along with serving as a digital calendar and picture frame, it lets you coordinate family chores and meal planning in one convenient location. Skylight offers a premium membership plan called Skylight Plus, which unlocks many of the best features of the Cal Max and its other product, the Skylight Frame. But do you need a Skylight Plus membership to use the Skylight Cal Max or Frame? Or can you use it for free without signing up for a subscription?

Here’s a rundown of what Skylight Plus unlocks, along with a look at whether owning the Skylight Cal Max is worth owning without a membership.

Skylight Plus costs $39 per year, and it unlocks some of the best features of your Cal Max and Skylight Frame. Here’s a full rundown of everything offered by Skylight Plus.

• Online access to view, download, or share via your desktop or smartphone app.
• The ability to send greeting cards and doodles to the Cal max.
• The option to create and view photo albums.
• Remote control for Frame settings.
• Cloud backup for your data.
• Slideshow mirroring to view your galleries on any support device.
• Sync more than one calendar.

If you own multiple Skylight devices, you’ll be glad to know that a single Skylight subscription works with all of them. Other members with access to these devices can also make use of your Skylight Plus membership, unlocking all the features for everyone connected to your gadgets.

While you can still use your Skylight Cal Max or Frame without a Plus membership, you’ll be quite limited in what’s available. The big issue is that you can only sync one calendar to your Cal Max, which means family members won’t be able to each upload their own personal schedule. You can, however, continue to do the following on Cal Max for free:

• Sync one online calendar.
• Create Dinner Plans.
• Create a Chore Chart.
• Create Custom Lists.

If you’ll be using the Cal Max solo or with a small family, you might be able to get by without a Skylight Plus membership. But because so many convenience features are unlocked with the plan, most users will find the $39-per-year subscription to be a necessity.

If you’re using the Skylight Frame, you’ll only be able to send photos. That means you’re missing out on creating albums or accessing your device remotely — which are big selling points of the gadget.

In short, most users will find a Skylight Plus subscription to be a necessity. You can certainly still use your Frame or Cal Max without Skylight Plus, but expect to be limited in what you can do.