The Photos app inside iOS can detect important events, people, or places you capture on your iPhone by compiling the pictures and videos into a slideshow that it calls Memories. When a memory is created, the Photos app chooses the song for it automatically but you can change this using the Memory Mix feature. 

In this post, we’ll help you understand how you can change the music for memories that are created inside the Photos app on an iPhone. 

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How to change music for a memory on an iPhone

When you play a memory from the Photos app, a song gets automatically applied to it. If you wish to change the song that plays with this memory, you can do it from within the Memories section on your phone.

  1. Open the Photos app on your iPhone and select the For You tab at the bottom.
  2. Inside the For You screen, select the memory you want to edit from “Memories”. You can choose a different memory from this screen by swiping left/right inside “Memories” or by tapping on See All.
  3. When a memory loads up on the full screen, tap the screen once for additional options to appear. From here, tap on the Memory Mix button (the one that resembles that of a music note with star signs) at the bottom left corner.
  4. This should open up the editing screen for your memory. From here, tap on the Music button (the one with the music note icon and a ‘+’ sign) at the bottom right corner. 
  5. You should now see the Music screen. You can look for a track you want to apply from under the sections available – Top Suggestions, Soundtracks, and Apple Music Suggestions. When you tap on a track, Photos will play a preview of it.  
  6. When you like a track you played, tap on it again to add it to your memory. 
  7. After that, go back to the previous screen and tap on Done. 
  8. The music you selected will appear at the bottom of the Memory Mixes screen. 
  9. To view the memory with your newly selected music, tap on an empty area of this screen. When the memory starts playing, you should see the title of the selected music at the top of your screen.

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Can you use a song from your iPhone library as Memory music?

No. Apple doesn’t provide a way to choose a song that you have saved on your iPhone as music for your memories. For now, you can choose tunes that are available under Top Suggestions, Soundtracks, and Apple Music Suggestions inside the Photos app. Among these three sections, you can choose any song from the first two sections for free. Tracks that are suggested by Apple Music can only be applied to memories if you have an Apple Music subscription. 

Can you choose a Spotify track for a memory?

No, you cannot set your memory music from your favorite tracks on Spotify. Currently, Apple only allows you to choose music as a memory from its Apple Music app and not from any other service. That itself will only be possible if you have an active Apple Music subscription on your iPhone. There’s also a limitation on which tracks can be applied as memory music as you can only choose those songs from the Apple Music library that are suggested to you based on your preferences or songs played at the time. 

That’s all there is to know about changing music for memories inside the Photos app on an iPhone. 

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