How to make a TikTok slideshow

A TikTok slideshow is a post made of still images instead of video: a set of pictures people swipe through, with a line of text on each one and a sound underneath. It is the easiest format on the app to make, it needs no filming and no face, and it gets its own distribution on the For You page. This guide covers how to make a TikTok slideshow inside the TikTok app step by step, the other ways to make one, and what separates a slideshow that gets swiped through from one that gets scrolled past.

The two kinds of TikTok slideshow

Before you make one, it helps to know that TikTok has two slideshow formats, and the app decides between them on one screen. The first is the swipeable photo post, made in Photo Mode, where each image is a slide the viewer swipes through at their own pace. The second is the video-style slideshow, where TikTok stitches your images into a video with transitions timed to the music, and the viewer watches rather than swipes.

Use the swipeable kind for anything people read: tips, lists, tutorials, product screenshots, before and afters. Use the video kind when the pictures matter more than the words, such as a photo dump or a story told in images. For an app, the swipeable photo post is almost always the right choice, because it lets each slide carry one idea and rewards the viewer for swiping.

How to make a TikTok slideshow in the TikTok app

The whole process takes a few minutes once your images are ready. These steps are the same on iPhone and Android, though button positions can shift slightly between app versions.

Step 1: Prepare your images

Make every image 1080 by 1920 pixels, portrait, which is the 9:16 ratio TikTok shows full screen. Square or landscape images get cropped or letterboxed, and cropping is how text ends up cut off. If you are adding text before uploading, keep it inside the middle of the frame, because TikTok's buttons cover the right edge and the caption covers the bottom. Save the images to your camera roll in the order you want them to appear.

Step 2: Open the create screen and choose Upload

Open TikTok and tap the plus button at the bottom of the screen. On the camera screen, tap Upload in the bottom-right corner to open your camera roll. Do not use the Photo option next to the record button, which takes a single new picture; Upload is where multi-image posts start.

Step 3: Select multiple images

In the picker, tap Select multiple, then tap your images in the order you want them shown. A number appears on each one as you select it, and that number is the slide order. TikTok accepts up to thirty-five images in a single slideshow. Tap Next when you are done.

Step 4: Choose Photo or Video

This is the screen that decides which kind of slideshow you are making. At the top you will see a toggle between Photo and Video. Photo creates the swipeable post; Video turns the images into an auto-playing slideshow with transitions. Choose Photo for a swipeable slideshow. If you do not see this toggle, update the app, because Photo Mode only appears on recent versions.

Step 5: Arrange the slides

Check the order on the preview. Your hook must be the first image, because it is the only slide most people see before deciding to swipe. If something is out of place, go back to the picker and reselect in the right sequence, or use the reorder control on the editing screen where the app offers one.

Step 6: Add a sound

Tap Add sound at the top of the editing screen and pick a track. A trending sound helps discovery; a soft ambient track is safer for a post people will read slowly. You can trim the sound so the strongest section plays first. Photo posts can also have a voiceover recorded over them, which is the closest you get to two sounds inside the app itself.

Step 7: Add text, stickers and filters

Tap the Text tool to type on a slide, then move and resize it. You can add different text to each slide by swiping to that slide first. The app's fonts and colours are limited, which is why many creators design the text into the images beforehand and use the in-app tool only for small additions. Filters and stickers work the same way as on video posts.

Step 8: Write the caption and post

Tap Next, write a caption that adds something the slides do not say, and add two or three hashtags that describe the topic. Check the privacy setting and whether comments are on, then tap Post. The slideshow appears on your profile with a small photo icon, and viewers can swipe through it or, if they have auto-scroll turned on, watch it advance with the sound.

Other ways to make a TikTok slideshow

The app is the last step, not the only tool. Most people who post slideshows every day make the slides somewhere else and use TikTok only to upload, because the in-app text tools are slow and the results look the same as everyone else's.

A design tool with a template

Canva, Figma or any design app works. Set up one 1080 by 1920 frame with a background, a dark overlay and big centred text, then duplicate it for each slide. Export as images and upload them in Photo Mode. The advantage is control: your own fonts, a consistent look, and text placed exactly inside the safe zone. The cost is time, because every post is still written and laid out by hand.

CapCut

CapCut, which TikTok's parent company owns, has slideshow templates that add transitions and sync the images to music. It exports a video, so what you get is the video-style slideshow rather than a swipeable photo post. It is the right choice for photo dumps and montages, and the wrong one for tip lists that people want to read at their own pace.

A slideshow maker built for apps

If you are promoting an app, the slow part is not the design, it is deciding what thirty posts should say. That is the gap AppSpark was built for: paste your app's link, and it writes the hooks, drafts one idea per slide, renders the slides in a consistent template and schedules them to TikTok, with a fresh batch every thirty days based on what performed. You can still approve every post. The point is that the writing and the design stop being the reason you skipped a day.

How to make a TikTok slideshow that performs

Making a slideshow is easy. Making one that gets swiped to the end is a set of habits, and they are all learnable.

Keep to one idea per slide

Each slide carries a single line or a single thought, big enough to read at a glance. A slide that needs to be studied is a slide that gets skipped, and a skipped slide ends the swipe. If you find yourself squeezing two points onto one image, add a slide instead.

Use five to eight slides

Under five and the post feels thin. Over ten and completion drops unless the post is a story with a real pull to the end. Most strong slideshows land at six to eight: a hook, four to six ideas, and a closing slide. How many slides a TikTok slideshow should have breaks this down by post type.

Use one template every time

Consistency is what makes an account recognisable in the feed. Same font, same overlay, same text position, every post. It also makes daily posting realistic, because each new slideshow is only new words and a new photo.

Respect the safe zone

Leave roughly 250 pixels clear at the top of a 1920-pixel slide, 400 at the bottom and 150 on the right. That is where TikTok draws the tabs, the caption and the button column. Text placed there is invisible to most viewers.

Pick the sound on purpose

A sound is not decoration on TikTok; it is part of how the post is found. Trending sounds bring discovery, quiet sounds suit reading. Either way, choose one before you post rather than accepting whatever the app suggests.

Writing the hook

The first slide decides whether anyone sees the rest, so write it before anything else. Keep it under eight words, make it a statement rather than a question, and promise something specific that the last slide pays off. "5 habits I stole from people who never burn out" makes the viewer want the five. "Do you burn out?" lets them answer in their head and scroll on.

• A number and a secret: "3 settings most people never turn on"
• A named viewer: "If your to-do list has 40 things on it, read this"
• A mild confession: "I ignored this for a year. Big mistake."
• A before and after: "My mornings before and after one change"

None of these mention the product, and that is deliberate. The hook earns attention, the middle slides earn trust, and the product waits for the end. The complete set of rules is in how to write a hook that stops the scroll.

The call to action

The last slide is the one people screenshot and share, so it has two jobs: pay off the hook's promise, and tell the viewer what to do next. On TikTok the link lives in the bio, so the call to action is usually a single line such as "Link in bio" or "The app that does this is in my bio", placed on the final slide and echoed in the caption.

Keep it to one step. Do not ask for a follow, a comment and a download on the same slide. Choose the action that matters most for that post: early on it is the follow, once there is some trust it is the link. And make the link do its job, pointing straight at the store listing or a one-screen landing page rather than a homepage with six options.

The whole format fits in ten minutes a day once the template is set. That is the point of it.

Common mistakes that cost views

• Uploading square or landscape images and letting TikTok crop the text away.
• Choosing Video instead of Photo on the toggle, so a tip list plays too fast to read.
• Putting the hook in the middle of the deck instead of on slide one.
• Small or thin text on a busy photo with no overlay.
• Ten slides where six would do, so completion drops and reach follows.
• A different look on every post, so the account never becomes recognisable.
• Ending on a tip instead of a call to action.

What to do after posting

After a day, look at how far people got through the post. If most dropped after slide two, the hook promised more than slide two delivered. If they reached the end but nobody visited the profile, the call to action is the problem. If reach was low but completion was high, the topic is right and the hook is weak. Fix one thing and post again tomorrow; the format rewards volume far more than polish. If you need topics, twenty TikTok slideshow ideas for apps covers a month.