Your vacation photos are sitting in an album, and you want to show them off on the couch or on the big TV without swiping through them one by one. The Photos app on iOS 14 has a built-in slideshow feature that turns any album — or just a handful of selected photos — into an automatic full-screen presentation with smooth transitions, themes, music, and adjustable speed. Here is exactly how to start one on iPhone and iPad.
Start a slideshow from an album
- Open the Photos app and head to the Albums tab. Pick the album you want to show — or open your Library and tap Select to hand-pick specific photos first.
- Start the slideshow. When viewing an album, tap the “…” (More) button at the top and choose Slideshow. If you are looking at a single photo instead, tap the Share button and pick Slideshow from the share sheet.
- Sit back and watch. Photos begins playing your pictures back-to-back full-screen with a default theme and background music.
Change the theme, music, and speed
The default look is only a starting point. While the slideshow is playing, tap the screen to reveal the controls, then tap Options. There you can:
- Switch themes — choose from styles like Dissolve, Ken Burns, and Origami, each with its own transition effect.
- Pick music — select a track from your music library, or turn music off entirely for a silent show.
- Adjust the speed — drag the slider so each photo lingers longer or moves along quickly.
If you like these automatic presentations, you may also enjoy Memories — the curated shows iOS builds from your library on its own. You can create a Memory from any photo set or build one from specific photos whenever you want one.
Play the slideshow on your TV
- Connect with AirPlay. Open Control Center, tap Screen Mirroring, and choose your Apple TV or an AirPlay 2-compatible smart TV.
- Start the slideshow on your iPhone or iPad as described above — it plays on the TV in full screen while you control it from your device.
Tech outlets like 9to5Mac regularly highlight these kinds of handy built-in tricks, but you do not need any third-party app for this one — everything happens inside Photos.
If it still doesn’t work
If Slideshow does not appear in the share sheet or the “…” menu, make sure the album actually contains photos stored on the device — empty albums or shared albums with no downloaded photos will not offer the option. If the button is there but nothing plays, force-quit the Photos app and try again. On iPad, the Share and “…” buttons sit in the top toolbar rather than at the bottom, so look there first.
Frequently asked questions
Can I save a slideshow as a video file?
Not directly — the Photos app does not export slideshows as video files. If you need a shareable clip, record your screen while the slideshow plays, or convert a Live Photo into a short video instead; our guide to turning Live Photos into video without extra apps walks you through it.
What’s the difference between a slideshow and a Memory?
A slideshow is manual: you pick the photos and start it whenever you want, then it is gone when it ends. A Memory is curated automatically by iOS and sticks around in the For You tab. If you find those automatic ones intrusive, here is how to turn Photos Memories off.
Conclusion
Starting a slideshow on iPhone or iPad with iOS 14 takes only a few taps: pick an album, choose Slideshow, and optionally tune the theme, music, and speed — or throw it up on the TV with AirPlay for family movie-night style viewing. Once you have tried it, you will wonder why you ever swiped through albums manually.
