Which Tool for Which Purpose?

  • Work or school presentation: Google Slides (free, online) or Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Photo slideshow for sharing: Google Photos, Apple Photos or Canva
  • Video slideshow (with music): Canva, CapCut or iMovie
  • Birthday or wedding montage: Canva or Animoto

Google Slides (Free Presentation Slideshow)

  1. 1

    Go to slides.google.com and create a new presentation

    Sign in with a Google account. Click the + to create a blank presentation or choose a template. Your work saves automatically to Google Drive.

  2. 2

    Add slides and content

    Click Insert → New Slide to add slides. Click on text boxes to type. Insert → Image to add photos. Use the layout options on the right to change the structure of each slide.

  3. 3

    Add transitions and present

    Slide menu → Transition to add animations between slides. Click the Present button (top right) to run the slideshow full screen. Share a link so others can view or edit.

iPhone Photo Slideshow (Built-In, No App Needed)

  1. 4

    Select photos in the Photos app

    Open Photos → tap Select → tap all the photos you want to include.

  2. 5

    Share → Slideshow

    Tap the Share icon (box with arrow) → scroll down and tap Slideshow. Your iPhone plays the photos as a slideshow with music and transitions automatically. Tap Options to change the theme, music and transition speed.

Canva (Best for Beautiful Shareable Slideshows)

Go to canva.com → search for "photo slideshow" or "presentation" in templates. Choose a template, replace the placeholder images with your photos, change the text and colours. Export as MP4 video (for sharing) or PDF (for presenting). Free tier is generous.

For video slideshows with musicCapCut (free mobile app) is excellent for creating photo montage videos with background music, text overlays and transitions. Very popular for creating social-media-ready slideshows for birthdays, events and travel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Insert → Audio (in Google Slides). You can insert audio files from Google Drive. Set the audio to autoplay when the slide appears and loop if needed. Note: audio does not play in presentations shared as links — it works when you present from Slides directly.
Google Slides: click Share and send the link (set to Viewer access for people who should only watch). Canva: export as MP4 or PDF and send the file, or share via Canva link. For iPhone slideshows: they play locally only unless you screen record or export using iMovie.