Trips video only shows half of the trip

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Level 1

4 points

Trips video only shows half of the trip

I've just returned from a family trip to Italy and have to say the trips recap video (whatever it is formally called now) in Photos does great job - photos/video selection, transformations, music - all works nice and a lot better than the 'show as presentation' option.

Except for two things:

for some reason it only includes about half of the photos; I don't mean that out of 10 photos of the same church it only uses one - that's a positive actually; but the issue is that even though the photos from whole of the trip are included in this trip's folder (a total of 810), the video ends about half way through the trip; maybe a little later, but the photos from last 4-5 days are not included at all; it is as if the video is created only based on more or less 500 earliest photos, and leaves the other 300 not used at all; so then it looks as if the places we've been to on final 4-5 days (out of total of 15; give or take) are in the folder, but not in the video; why? and how to fix it?
we've visited many places on our trip (as in: cities, churches, galleries...) and the GPS data is in there, but it is not shown in the video; which is not perfect as with time it will likely get more and more difficult to remember which mosaic was in Parma, which one in Padova and which one in Florence or Ravenna... Not to mention which church was St. Anna vs St. Nicholas etc etc; is there a way to make Apple Photos create the recap video with location data / location name visible in the video? that'd be a nice option to have

iPhone 15 Pro, iOS 18

Posted on Sep 1, 2025 03:52 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 1, 2025 07:51 AM in response to Arturek

I just went to Tyler and took some pictures of horses. A month earlier I had gone to "Texas Zoofari" in Kaufman to take pictures of emus and Giraffes. I now have a "Trip" named Tyler & Kaufman with pictures taken 50 miles and 3 weeks apart. Some trip!

Really, you have to think of the Trip album as a little gift from Apple that you didn't expect. It has cute pictures in it and it's fun to see. It may not be what you would have made, but then it's a gift, after all.

The Trips shows give you an idea of what you can do in making your own by putting pictures into an album.

Watch memories in Photos on iPhone - Apple Support

Memories that Apple makes will never be as cool as your own memories, or as good as the Memory movie you make, yourself.

If you have suggestions for Apple, go here:

Feedback - Photos - Apple

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Answer 2

Arturek Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 3, 2025 11:21 AM in response to Arturek

so for anyone who'll be looking for this: yes, I've found there actually is a limit of 500 photos that the iPhone (or other apple devices, I believe) will look at when creating a Memories; if - like me - you upload 800, then the first 500 will be included in the Memories (one way or another, no guarantee that each one will), while the other 300 won't; simple as that;

but Memories video will be created based on any folder or album you create, so if you don't want to delete or exclude any of your photos (or videos), then just create two separate albums for them (like week 1, week 2 or Tyler, Kaufman) and you'll get a separate Memories vid for each;

as to presenting the location data - still unresolved...

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Answer 3

Sep 3, 2025 11:28 AM in response to Arturek

Arturek wrote: :then just create two separate albums for them (like week 1, week 2 or Tyler, Kaufman) and you'll get a separate Memories vid for each;

In my case, those were separate albums, separated in time by 5 other albums and a month. I'm not sure of the veracity of your answer. I'm certainly not sure of how Apple's AI makes decisions about Trips, and they're not telling.

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Answer 4

Arturek Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 3, 2025 11:50 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

so it might be that iOS might decide to create a Memories/Trips video from any group of photos (or videos) that's less than 500 in size;

and as long as there's less than 500 of them and Apple believes they are connected, it may create a Trips vid using them;

but still - if there's more than 500 photos in your group/album/folder, then the video will only be created from the first 500 of them;

and if as you say you have a separate album for any of those trips, there's an option to play a video presentation of them, and that's supposed to be the same as the "spontaneous" trips video, only limited to the photos in this specific folder;

while digging through all the options in photos on iphone I found I could add photos to a 'Trip', but with a limit of 500 (sorry, I won't go looking for a screenshot now, but is was there);

and when I create albums with <500 photos the vids are created for them with no issues, while for an album with >500 photos only the first 500 is included;

so this is proven enough for me;

as to how the 'spontaneous' trips videos are created and how are the photos selected for them - I don't know and that's not the issue I'm trying to investigate :-)

if you happen to find a way to make these videos present the location data, I'd be super happy to know it

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