How to Make a Slideshow on TikTok

A slideshow on TikTok is a post made in photo mode: a set of still images that viewers swipe left and right through, with a sound playing underneath. It shows up in the For You feed next to videos, but it behaves differently. People control the pace, so a good slideshow gets read, not skimmed.

That makes slideshows the cheapest format on the platform to make well. You don't need to film, act or edit footage. You need six clear images, one idea per slide, and a first slide that earns the swipe. For the format in depth, see our TikTok photo mode guide.

TikTok moves buttons around between app versions, but the flow has stayed close to this for a long time:

1. Prepare your images first. Export them at 1080×1920 (9:16) so nothing gets cropped, and save them in the order you want them to appear.
2. Open TikTok and tap the + button at the bottom of the screen.
3. Tap Upload (bottom right) to open your camera roll, then switch to the Photos tab.
4. Select your images in order. The number on each thumbnail is its slide position. Tap Next.
5. If TikTok opens your images as a video, look for the option to switch to photo mode (it is usually labelled Photo or shown as a toggle) so viewers can swipe instead of watching an auto-advancing reel.
6. Tap Add sound at the top to pick a track. Trim it so the strongest part plays first.
7. Add text in the editor only if your images don't already carry it. Text baked into the image is easier to control.
8. Tap Next, write a title and caption, add 3 to 5 hashtags, pick a cover slide, then post or save as a draft.

💡Put your text on the images before uploading, not in TikTok's editor. Baked-in text survives reposting to Instagram, looks the same on every phone and lets you control font, size and line breaks.

TikTok's photo mode accepts far more images than you need. Six is the sweet spot for most product and education posts: long enough to tell a story, short enough that nobody bails halfway. Here is a structure that works for almost any topic.

Slide 1 is the only one most people will see, so treat it like a headline. Our hook generator writes ten first-slide options across different angles if you are stuck. Slides 2 to 5 should each add one new piece of information. If a slide only repeats the previous one, cut it.

Want a fill-in-the-blanks version? Use the TikTok slideshow template, which follows this same six-slide arc.

• One idea per slide. If you need a comma and an 'and', it is probably two slides.
• Keep each slide under about 20 words. Big text, high contrast, centered in the frame.
• Leave the bottom fifth of the image clear. Captions, the username and buttons sit there.
• End slides 1 to 5 on a reason to swipe: a question, a cliffhanger, or a number that isn't finished yet ('3 of 5').
• Use real specifics. '66°F' beats 'a cool room', and '$12 a month' beats 'affordable'.
• Match the visuals. A consistent background or photo style makes the post feel like one story instead of six random images.

The angle matters as much as the wording. A before and after story, a listicle and a POV slideshow can all sell the same product to different people. Test more than one.

Every slideshow needs a sound, even though people are reading. Silence feels broken in the feed, and a fitting track sets the mood before the viewer reads a word. Pick from TikTok's sound library inside the app, because those tracks are cleared for use on the platform.

• Calm, lo-fi or acoustic tracks suit education and routine posts.
• Upbeat or trending sounds suit lists, transformations and humor.
• Business accounts usually only see the Commercial Music Library. That is normal and still has plenty of choice.
• Trim the clip so the recognizable part of the song starts on slide 1.

• A weak first slide. A logo, a product shot with no text or 'Here are some tips' gives no reason to swipe.
• Wrong aspect ratio. Square or 4:5 images get letterboxed with bars on a 9:16 screen. Export at 1080×1920.
• Text in the danger zone. Words under the caption or behind the right-side buttons get hidden.
• Too many slides. Twelve slides of filler loses people. Six strong ones beats twelve okay ones.
• No CTA. The last slide should ask for a save, a follow, a comment or a click.
• The caption repeats the slides. Use the caption for context, a question or keywords people search for. Our caption generator can draft one.
• Posting once and judging the format. One slideshow tells you little. Post several angles before deciding.

The slow part of slideshows is not the app, it is writing and designing dozens of them so you can find the angles that land. Batch it: write ten hooks in one sitting, pick the best six, and build all the posts at once.

If you are promoting a product, the TikTok slideshow generator from UGCHooks reads your product page and returns 40 six-slide slideshows at 1080×1920, each with a caption and hashtags, ready to upload in photo mode. The first 10 posts are free with no sign-up.