Photos in iOS 27 can make slideshows you control, and Shared Albums now keep full resolutionPhotos in iOS 27 can make slideshows you control, and Shared Albums now keep full resolution

The Photos app in iOS 27 can turn any selection of photos and videos into a slideshow with its own music, transitions and timing.

It is one of two Photos changes 9to5Mac singled out on 2 October as long-requested; the other is an overhaul of Shared Albums. Both shipped in iOS 27.0 on 14 September, and neither is an Apple Intelligence feature, so they work on every iPhone that runs iOS 27.

How do you make a slideshow in iOS 27 Photos?

Apple's iPhone guide gives the steps. In Library, tap Select, choose the photos and videos, tap the More button and then Start Slideshow. For a whole album, open it from Collections and use the same More button. While the slideshow plays, tap the screen for controls:

• Customize, then Transition and Duration, sets the style, speed and time per slide.
• Customize, then Music, picks a song.
• Customize, then Loop, repeats it.
• Share and AirPlay send it elsewhere.

MacRumors and other outlets that tested the betas report that a slideshow can be saved back to the library as a video from the Share menu. Apple's guide does not document that step, and one beta-era report noted that a slideshow set to an Apple Music track cannot be saved or shared that way, which fits how music licensing usually works.

What changed in Shared Albums?

Apple's What's new guide lists full-resolution sharing and new ways to filter and react. Until iOS 27, Shared Albums stored reduced-resolution copies. Owners can now give each participant one of three permission levels: manage the album, add photos, or view and comment. Reactions use emoji, and the activity feed can be filtered by media type or by who shared. A Make Album Temporary option deletes the album after 30 days, and Apple says temporary albums do not count against iCloud storage.

Apple's iOS page says it is now easier for friends on Android or Windows to join and add their own photos through iCloud.com. 9to5Mac describes this as Android and Windows users being able to add photos; Apple's wording places it in the browser rather than in an app. Apple's availability page lists the Shared Albums changes worldwide except mainland China.

Our take

Both are fixes to features that were quietly worse than they looked. The old slideshow played whatever Apple chose, and the old Shared Albums were the place you put photos you did not mind degrading. Full resolution makes Shared Albums a real way to pool a family event's pictures, and the permission levels mean one careless participant can no longer delete everyone else's. Apple had already moved Apple Invites shared albums to full resolution this autumn; Photos now matches it.

What iOS 27 does not fix is the rest of iCloud Photos. iDownloadBlog's wishlist the same day reads as a list of things people still cannot do: delete a photo from one device only, keep chosen photos off iCloud, or download more than 1,000 at a time from iCloud.com. APPDOOK would add the Android route to that list. A browser page is a start, but it is not the same as the app an Android relative already has, and a shared album is only as full as its least patient contributor makes it.