How to Make a Slideshow Video From Photos on iPhone
There are two ways to make a slideshow from photos on an iPhone. The Photos app plays one on your phone, which is enough for showing a few pictures to yourself or on a TV with AirPlay. For a video file you can send, upload or play on a TV, use a slideshow maker such as SlideshowGo, our own. You upload your photos in your phone’s browser, put them in order and download the MP4. Nothing needs to be installed.
When You Need a Slideshow Maker
A slideshow maker is worth using when:
- Someone else has to play the video. Funeral homes, for example, almost always play MP4 files, which is why our guide to a funeral slideshow tells you to ask them first.
- The people watching don’t all have Apple devices. An MP4 plays on Android phones and most TVs.
- You want to set the exact order yourself by dragging each photo into place.
- You want to use a music file you own the rights to.
- You want to post it on YouTube or Facebook, which take a video file.
Whichever maker you use, make a short test video first and check two things: that the video has no watermark, and that you can download it without paying. Our guide to choosing a slideshow video maker covers what else to look for.
When the Photos App Is Enough
For a few pictures on your own phone, the built-in slideshow is quicker. Select the photos, tap the More button (the three dots) and tap Start Slideshow. To show it on a TV, Apple’s guide to making a slideshow on iPhone lists AirPlay, which needs an AirPlay device.
The guide lists Messages and Mail as ways to send the slideshow. It doesn’t list saving it as a video file, so check the Share menu on your phone to see what your version of iOS offers. Photos also builds Memories, which are short movies made from your library. Tap More while one plays, then Share Movie, to send it by AirDrop, Messages or Mail.
How Many Photos and How Long
At 3 seconds a photo plus a half-second transition, the running time works out like this:
| Photos | Running time |
|---|---|
| 20 | 1 min 10 s |
| 40 | 2 min 20 s |
| 60 | 3 min 30 s |
| 85 | just under 5 min |
Twenty photos are easy to sort on a phone screen. With 100 photos or more, a laptop or desktop computer is easier, since you can see several dozen photos at once and rearrange them. Our post on why a larger screen helps explains.
Choosing the Music
Any music in your slideshow must be properly licensed, and most popular songs are protected by copyright. Pixabay Music is a good place to look. Download the music file to your phone first if your slideshow maker needs you to upload it. Our guide to choosing music for a photo slideshow shows how many songs you need for 40 to 200 photos.
Playing It on a TV
Many TVs can play an MP4 from a USB stick plugged into the TV’s USB port. Photos taken upright on a phone usually have black bars on the sides on a TV. That’s normal. Our guide to presenting your slideshow video covers more ways to show it.
Making the Video With SlideshowGo
SlideshowGo is our own slideshow maker, and it runs in your phone’s browser. These are the steps:
- Pick your photos first. Putting them in one album in Photos keeps them together while you choose.
- Open SlideshowGo and upload them. It accepts the HEIC photos your iPhone takes, so they upload as they are. Each photo can be up to 20 MB. Video clips can’t be added.
- Put them in order. Hold your finger on a photo for a moment, then drag it to its new spot. The slider changes the size of the thumbnails, and smaller thumbnails fit more photos on the screen, which helps when you move a photo a long way.
- Tap the green Video icon, follow the prompts and tap CREATE VIDEO.
- Wait for it to finish. That is usually a few minutes. Very large slideshows can take 30 minutes or more, and you get an email when the video is ready.
Music is part of a premium slideshow. The built-in library is mostly instrumental, and you can also upload an MP3, M4A, OGG or OPUS file of up to 20 MB, as long as you own the rights to it.
When the video is ready, download the MP4. SlideshowGo puts no watermark on it, and you can download it even from a free slideshow. It’s a regular video file, so you can upload it to YouTube, Google Photos or iCloud, or copy it to a USB stick for the TV. The Share On Dropbox button sends it straight to Dropbox, and a free Dropbox account works.
