Use Memories in Photos on your iPhone or iPad

The Photos app recognizes significant people, places, and events in your library, then presents them in curated collections called Memories. You can also create your own Memories, and share them with friends and family.

Before you begin

• Make sure that your iPhone or iPad has the latest version of iOS or iPadOS.

• If you want your Memories to stay updated across your Apple devices, make sure that you're signed into iCloud with the same Apple ID across your devices, then turn on iCloud Photos.

Explore your Memories

1. Open Photos and tap the For You tab.

2. Tap See All to scroll through your memories. Or tap a memory to start playing it, then tap the memory again to see options, like Memory mixes or Browse. When you tap the Browse button, the music will continue to play while showing you all of the photos within the memory.

Memories are automatically suggested for you and will continuously play, but you can select a different suggestion, replay, favorite, or share the memory you just watched.

Change the Memory mix

Memory mixes are curated combinations of photographic looks and corresponding songs that you can apply to a memory. For each memory, you can choose between multiple Memory mixes, or select your own look and song from Apple Music. Here's how:

1. Open Photos and tap the For You Tab.

2. Tap a memory to play it.

3. Tap the screen, tap the Memory mixes button, then swipe left to scroll through the different mixes.

4. Tap the screen again to apply the Memory mix.

Change the Memory look

1. Open Photos and tap the For You Tab.

2. Tap a memory to play it.

3. Tap the screen, tap the Memory mixes button, then tap the Filters button.

4. Select a look from the Memory Looks list, then tap Done.

Change the Memory music

In iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 or later, you can change the music for your memories by choosing from soundtracks or suggested songs. If you're an Apple Music subscriber, you can also access the Apple Music library and view suggested songs based on your preferences or songs played at the time the memory was made. Here's how to change the music:

1. Open Photos and tap the For You tab.

2. Tap a memory to play it.

3. Tap the Memory mixes button, then tap the Music button.

4. Select a song from the list, or search for a specific song, then tap Done.

Create your own memories

To create your own memories from an album:

1. Go to the Albums tab and tap an album you have created, then tap the More button.

2. Then tap Play Memory Video.

3. While the memory plays, tap the screen, then tap the More button.

4. Tap Add to Favorites.

5. Tap the Close button.

To create a memory for a specific person or pet:

1. Go to the Albums tab, then tap the People & Pets album.

2. Tap the thumbnail of the person or pet.

3. Tap the play button on the featured photo of the person or pet.

Save your favorite memories

1. Go to the For You tab, then select a memory.

2. Tap the More button, then tap Add to Favorites.

To see your Favorite Memories, go to the For You tab, tap See All next to Memories, then tap Favorites. If you decide that you don't want to save a memory anymore, just tap the Favorite button again.

Share your favorite memories

1. Play a memory, then tap the screen to show the editing and sharing options.

2. Tap the Share button, then choose how you want to share.

When you share a memory, the music is shared with it. If a certain song isn't shareable, you'll be prompted to choose a song that can be shared with the memory.

Edit your memories

You can make some changes to your Memories to personalize them even more. You can do things like change the title, add and remove photos from a memory, and depending on the number of photos in a memory, you can change the length of a memory.

Change the title

1. Go to the memory, tap the More button.

2. Tap Edit Title, then tap Save.

Add and remove photos within a memory

1. Play a memory, then tap the screen.

2. Tap the More button, then tap Manage Photos.

3. Check photos to add them or deselect the photos you want to remove.

4. Tap Done.

Rearrange photos or videos in a memory:

1. Play a memory, then tap the screen.

2. Tap the Browse button.

3. Touch and hold a photo or video to move it to a different place in the memory.

To make a photo the key photo for a memory:

1. Play the memory, then tap the Pause button.

2. Tap the More button, then tap Make Key Photo.

To hide a specific photo from a memory:

1. Play the memory, then tap the Pause button.

2. Tap the More button, then tap Hide From Memory.

Change the length of a memory

1. Play a memory, then tap the screen.

2. Tap the More button, then tap Short, Medium, or Long.

Depending on how many photos you have in the memory, you might see only Short and Medium length options.

Learn more

Learn more about using Memories on your Mac.