How to use Memories in Photos on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch

With Memories, you can rediscover moments from within your photo library. Photos recognises significant people, places and events in your library, then presents them in curated collections called Memories. You can also create your own Memories, view them as movies and share them with friends and family.

Before you begin

iPhone showing a Memory open to show People, Places and Related Memories

Explore your Memories

To see your Memories, open Photos and go to the For You tab. You can tap a Memory thumbnail to open it and see all the photos and videos in that particular Memory, or you can tap See All to scroll through all of your Memories. 

When you open a Memory, you can scroll down to see the people included in the memory, a map showing where the photos and videos were taken and a list of related Memories. To create Memories, Photos uses machine learning to analyse your library on your device. Your data isn't sent to Apple, so your memories stay private and only you can see them.

People

Tap the thumbnail of a person or a group of people to see more photos of them.

Places

Tap the map to see more photos taken nearby. Then select a badge on the map to see the collection of photos at that location.

Related Memories

Discover other Memories related to the one you're currently viewing. Memories are organised by people, places, scenes, events, pets, holidays, activities and more.


Watch a Memory movie

Photos automatically creates a short movie for each Memory, complete with transitions, music and featured photos and videos from your library. To watch a memory movie, just tap the Memory.

Create your own Memories

Photos automatically creates Memories for you, but you can create your own Memories and even add someone from your People album to your Memories.

To create your own Memories from an album, or a specific month or day:

  1. Go to the Albums tab and select the album. Or go to the Library tab and tap Months or Days.
  2. Tap the More button the blue circle with three dots, then tap Play Memory Movie.
  3. While the movie plays, tap the screen, then tap Edit.
  4. Tap OK, then make edits to the movie if you want.
  5. Tap Done.

To add someone in your People album to your Memories:

  1. Go to the Albums tab, then tap the People album.
  2. Tap the thumbnail of the person, then tap the More button the blue circle with three dots.
  3. Tap Add to Memories.

Save and share your favourite memories

Want to save a memory for later? Go to the For You tab, then select a Memory. Tap the More button the blue circle with three dots, then tap Add to Favourite Memories. To see your Favourite Memories, go to the For You tab, tap “See All” next to Memories, then tap Favourites. If you decide that you don't want to save a Memory any more, tap the More button the blue circle with three dots, then tap Remove from Favourite Memories. 

  1. Play a Memory movie, then tap it to show the editing and sharing options. 
  2. Tap the Share button  and choose to share the movie through Messages, Mail, Shared Albums or your favourite social media sites.

Find out more

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