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How to Use Photos on Apple TV

It's easy to share and view your iOS photos and videos on Apple TV

By Jonny Evans Jonny Evans Writer Johnny Evans is a former Lifewire writer who specializes in iPhones, iOS, and Apple TV and blogs daily about it at other publications. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on April 12, 2022 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Streaming Devices Apple TV Roku Chromecast Fire TV

What to Know

Sign in to iCloud: Settings > Accounts > iCloud. Turn on one of the three options for accessing photos.The tvOS 10 interface divides Photos into five tabs: Photos, Memories, Shared, Albums, and Live Photos.To use AirPlay: Select image, video, or album on iOS > go to Control Center > AirPlay icon.
This article explains how to use the iCloud Photo Library, My Photo Stream, or iCloud Photo Sharing to access photos on your Apple TV. Additional information covers how to log into iCloud on your Apple TV and how to use AirPlay.

How to use Photos on Apple TV

Rather than download your photos and videos, Apple TV streams them from iCloud. Before you get to use Photos on Apple TV, you must activate photo sharing on iCloud for your iPhone, iPad, Mac or PC. First, log into iCloud on your Apple TV by navigating to Settings > Accounts > iCloud > Sign in. Enter your Apple ID, then select Continue and enter your password. Now that you’re signed into your iCloud account on your Apple TV, you must enable at least one of three options for accessing your photos. iCloud Photo Library: If you use iCloud Photo Library on your devices, you can stream all your photos and videos from the service on your Apple TV. iCloud Photo Sharing: Choose this option if you want to access only albums shared with you or albums you’ve shared with others. My Photo Stream: Choose this option to access the last 1,000 photos or videos you’ve captured on your iOS device. You can use this feature at the same time as iCloud Photo Sharing but it is not available with iCloud Photo Library.

Get to Know Photos

Photos gathers all of your images and presents them in an elegant layout. You need to manage your own Photos library if you want to make sure you're not sharing anything you don't want to share. You can also set any of these images as a screensaver on Apple TV. The tvOS 10 interface divides Photos into five tabs: Photos, Memories, Shared, Albums, and Live Photos: Photos: This collection gathers all of your images and videos in the order in which they were taken. Navigate through the collection with your Siri Remote, or select an image to view it in full screen. Memories: Apple TV includes Apple’s unique Memories feature. Memories automatically sorts certain images into albums based on time, location, or people. It is a great way to rediscover moments and places you may have forgotten about. Shared: Access any images you’ve shared to iCloud using iCloud Photo Sharing, or images shared with you by friends or family using the same service. The only snag is you cannot share images with others from the Apple TV because the images are not stored on your device. Albums: This section includes all the albums you’ve created in Photos on your devices, so long as your iCloud settings are correct. You’ll also find all the automatically created albums for video, panoramas, and more. Live Photos: You can see Live Photos on your Apple TV. All you need to do is select the image, press and hold the trackpad on your remote for about a half-second, and the Live Photo will begin to play. If it doesn’t work at first you may need to wait a few moments, as the image won’t play until more of it has been downloaded from iCloud.

AirPlay

If you don’t want to use iCloud you can also stream images to your Apple TV using AirPlay. Select an image, video, or album on your iOS, and flick up from the bottom of the screen to display Control Center and select AirPlay. You can access AirPlay on most Macs, too. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire How to Turn on Photo Stream and iCloud Photo Sharing How to Download Photos from iCloud How to Access iCloud Photos From Any Apple, Windows, or Android Device How to Delete Photos From the Photo Stream My Photo Stream vs. iCloud Photo Library: What's the Difference? How to Set up the Apple TV With Your iPhone How to Set up and Use iCloud on the iPad How to Save a Live Photo as a Video on iPhone How to Quickly Select Multiple Photos in iOS How to Set Your iPad's Background Wallpaper How to Delete Photos From iCloud (While Keeping Them on Your iPhone) How to Recover Permanently Deleted Photos From iCloud How to Recover or Undelete a Photo on the iPad How to Use iCloud For Windows Using iPhone Photo Albums How to Set Up and Use Home Sharing in iTunes Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies