SlideFlow

SlideFlow is free to download, and you can try it in two ways:

• An unlimited free trial mode, where generated slideshows include self-promotions. Use SlideFlow for free forever if you help us promote SlideFlow!
• A fully functional free trial for a few days, included with some subscriptions.

Full access is available through subscriptions or a one-time lifetime purchase. See the current pricing on the App Store. Your purchase can be shared with your family through Apple Family Sharing.

Yes, SlideFlow works on Mac, as well as on iPhone and iPad, with only minor differences between the versions. On Mac it requires macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later.

Your purchase unlocks all features on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and can be shared with your family through Apple Family Sharing. To get started, see our tutorial on making a photo slideshow on Mac.

Yes, SlideFlow works both on iPhone and iPad, as well as on Mac, with only minor differences between the versions. On iPhone and iPad it requires iOS 17.0 or iPadOS 17.0 or later.

Your purchase unlocks all features on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and can be shared with your family through Apple Family Sharing. To get started, see our tutorial on making a photo slideshow on iPhone and iPad.

Functionally, SlideFlow is almost the same on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and your slideshows sync between all your devices via iCloud.

The user interface is designed individually for every platform, so that SlideFlow feels natural on each of them: with a mouse and keyboard on Mac, and with touch on iPhone and iPad. So the screens look different, but you will find the same features on all your devices.

The one functional difference to keep in mind is your own music. On iPhone and iPad you can add music both from audio files and from your Music library, while on Mac only audio files can be used.

Yes. Many DLNA-capable TVs are supported. Simply connect your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to the same local network as your TV via Wi-Fi or Ethernet, and you are ready to go. Our guide on playing a slideshow on your TV shows the whole procedure, and what to change when a room is watching.

You can also cast any single photo or video to your TV, not just slideshows – browsing your photo library on your device while the television shows the picture.

If your TV doesn’t appear, or appears but won’t play, connecting SlideFlow to your TV goes through the causes one by one. It is nearly always something specific about the local network.

Yes. You can export or share your slideshows as MP4 video files, which play on practically any modern device. You choose how they are encoded:

• 720p (HD), 1080p (Full HD), or 4K (Ultra HD) resolution, balancing quality and file size.
• H.264 (more compatible, but larger file size) or HEVC / H.265 (smaller file size, but may not play on older devices).

You can also pick the aspect ratio, including vertical and square videos for Instagram or TikTok.

For the full picture, see our guide on saving a photo slideshow as a video, which explains what to pick for each destination.

Yes. SlideFlow can export in three aspect ratios:

• Horizontal 16:9: for general use, YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, etc.
• Vertical 9:16: for TikTok, Instagram and Facebook Stories, YouTube Shorts, etc.
• Square 1:1: for Instagram and Facebook posts, etc.

Whatever you choose, the slideshow content is optimized to fit the frame in the best possible way. You can also choose the resolution and video format of the exported file.

Our guide on saving a slideshow as a video shows how the same photo looks in all three shapes, and which one to use for each platform.

You don’t have to wait at all! Unlike traditional slideshow makers, SlideFlow doesn’t render the entire video before playing it. It generates the slideshow on the fly, so playback starts almost immediately – on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and even on TV.

Full rendering only happens when you choose to export your slideshow as a video file.

Yes. You can build slideshows both from your Apple Photos library and from any image and video files.

SlideFlow can also create slideshows from the Photos library automatically, based on capture date and location (see Moments), or from any Photos album. Smart selection and filtering let you narrow things down further, for example including only favorite photos and skipping videos or screenshots.

The two sources behave differently, though: library photos are referenced, while files are copied into the slideshow. Our guide on the Photos library versus files explains what each one gives you, what each one costs, and which to pick.

Yes. You can freely mix photos and videos in any order within the same slideshow, whether they come from Apple Photos, files, or both.

Your settings apply to both kinds of media, so a mixed slideshow holds together as one piece: transitions ease a clip in and out just as they do a photo, and creative filters restyle videos alongside the stills around them.

SlideFlow offers face-aware animations, a great way to introduce people within their environment. When enabled, SlideFlow looks for faces in your photos and animates the photos where it finds them:

• Zoom on Faces first introduces the environment (the full photo) and then focuses on people.
• Zoom Out from Faces does the opposite: it begins with the people, then reveals the environment they are in.

You can see some examples in the final video of our Mac tutorial.

Yes. SlideFlow includes a wide selection of built-in music tracks across various genres. In addition, you can add your own music from:

• Any audio files. They work on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and they become part of the slideshow, so they sync to your other devices via iCloud together with it.
• Your Music library. Note:
  • Import from the Music library only works on iPhone and iPad, not on Mac.
  • Music imported from the Music library is only available on that one iPhone or iPad. It doesn’t sync to your other devices via iCloud.
  • The Music app has copyright restrictions. You can only import songs that you own, for example songs you imported yourself or purchased. Streamed music is not available.

For the full picture, see our guide on making a photo slideshow with music.

1. Open a slideshow.
2. Open the slideshow settings, for example using the Customize button.
3. Click or tap Music in the General section.

You are now on the Music Tracks screen, showing the tracks that play while the current slideshow shows your photos. Here you can play and manage them: drag to reorder, remove them one at a time or with Remove All, and use Add Music to add more built-in tracks or your own.

The Shuffle music tracks toggle sits at the top of the same screen, above the list, once the slideshow has at least two tracks. It is on by default, so the tracks play in random order and your slideshow sounds a little different every time. Turn it off, and they play in the order shown.

Our guide on making a photo slideshow with music walks through these steps with screenshots for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

Yes, you can change all these and many other slideshow settings. You can even define settings at multiple levels:

• Slideshow Settings: settings applied to one slideshow, and to every photo and video in it that has no settings of its own.
• Media Settings: override any slideshow-level setting for one specific photo or video.
• Default Slideshow Settings: settings applied to all newly created slideshows. They belong to the app rather than to a slideshow, so you'll find them in SlideFlow's settings. Choose your favorite settings there, and all new slideshows will use them!

Our guide on customizing slideshow settings walks through every setting at all three levels. There are also dedicated guides for transitions and creative filters.

Turn on the four settings that vary while the slideshow plays, and no two viewings will be the same:

• Shuffle photos & videos plays your media in a different order.
• Slide transitions: enable a set rather than a single one, and SlideFlow varies among them.
• Filters: enable several, and the same photo comes back in a different style.
• Shuffle music tracks changes the order of the soundtrack.

None of this is decided in advance. SlideFlow builds the slideshow as it plays instead of rendering a video up front, so the choices are made afresh every time you press play – and again on every pass when Repeat slideshow is on. That is what keeps a slideshow looping on a TV at a party from turning into wallpaper nobody notices after the second loop.

It is also a way to experience your own photos and videos in new ways. A familiar shot arriving in Noir, or after a whip pan instead of a fade, shows you the picture rather than the memory – and none of it re-saves anything. Filters and every other effect are applied while the slideshow plays, so your library keeps one untouched original instead of an edited copy for every style you want to see.

Our guide explains the four settings that make every playback different, including where to find each one. Note that an exported video is a fixed file: the variation is resolved once at export and kept, so switch the shuffles off first if the video should match what you previewed.

Moments are slideshows SlideFlow builds for you automatically from your Photos library. Pick a date range and press Create Moments: SlideFlow looks at when your photos and videos were taken, groups them into the events they naturally belong to, and names each group after its dates and, where it can tell, the place. A weekend away becomes one Moment, a birthday dinner another.

Moments are temporary. They last until you replace them with a new set, clear them, or quit the app, and that is the point: you can generate dozens of them, look through your last year in a few minutes, and your saved slideshows stay uncluttered. Play them on your Mac, iPhone, iPad, or TV, and export them as videos, exactly like any other slideshow.

When a Moment turns out to be worth keeping, press Save as Slideshow and it becomes a normal saved slideshow, editable and synced through iCloud. You can also skip the temporary step altogether: the New Slideshow menu creates saved slideshows from a date range the same way, and from your Photos albums and smart albums. Either route can include only photos, only videos, or only your favorites.

Yes. Your slideshows are synced across all your devices – Macs, iPhones, and iPads – using iCloud. This happens when:

• You are signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID.
• iCloud sync is enabled in Settings for SlideFlow.
• If you use photos and videos from your library:
  • iCloud sync is enabled for the Photos Library.
  • SlideFlow has sufficient Photos access on all devices.

For the full picture – including what sync costs in iCloud storage and why music from the Music app stays on one device – see our guide on syncing slideshows across devices.