Layouts

In private beta

Digital photo books, told in your own voice.

We’ll only use it to tell you when you can try Layouts.

How it works

From your camera roll to their living room.

Design a book on your iPhone or iPad, then share the link with friends to view on their phone, the web or their TV.

  1. Compose

    Arrange your photos into pages, starting from one of nine layouts or placing them freely, and add captions and text.

  2. Narrate

    Record the story of each page in your own voice, highlighting the photo you’re talking about as you go.

  3. Share

    Share a link that opens on a phone, a computer or an Apple TV, and your readers never need an account.

Designing

Start with a layout, then make it yours.

Pick one of nine layouts for a page, or let Auto-arrange lay your photos out in the order you took them. Then move, resize, overlap and crop anything on the page, with guides that snap it into line.

  • Supported file types: HEIC, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, AVIF and RAW.
  • Supports borders, captions, a choice of typefaces and background colors.
  • Your books stay in step between your iPhone and iPad.
  • Single
  • Single, full-bleed
  • Pair
  • Big left + 2 stacked
  • Big left + 3 stacked
  • Row of three
  • Grid
  • Photo + text
  • Cover

Narrating

Your voice, with every page they turn.

Open a page, press record and tell its story. Press and hold a photo as you talk about it, and it glows for your readers at just that moment.

  • Record in as many takes as you need, and undo the last one anytime.
  • Readers can listen, or turn the pages at their own pace.
  • Automatic play-through: readers can let the book advance by itself.
  • Preview a page, highlights and all, before you share it.

For photographers

The settings behind every shot.

Readers can open any photo on its own, zoom in, and see the camera, lens and exposure it was taken with, read from the photo itself when you add it.

  • Camera, lens, aperture, shutter speed, ISO and focal length.
  • Read from every photo you add, RAW files included.
  • On iPhone, on iPad and on the web.
  • Turn it off for any book. Where and when a photo was taken is never shown.

On Apple TV

Made for the biggest screen in the house.

Sharing a book to your Apple TV takes a tap, from the app or from the book’s link, and nobody needs an account. Then sit back and watch it together, stories and all.

  • No accounts, no sign-in and nothing to set up on the TV.
  • Photos in full 4K on a 4K TV.
  • Automatic play-through, made for watching together.
  • Link your account, and the TV shows every book you’ve published.

On the web

A link that opens anywhere.

The people you share with don’t need the app. A book’s link opens in any browser and shows its cover when you send it in Messages. On a computer, or a phone held sideways, each page is exactly as you designed it; held upright, the page becomes a column to scroll.

  • Narration and its highlights play in the browser, too.
  • Tap a photo to zoom in and see its camera, lens and exposure.
  • Send the book to an Apple TV from the browser, with Play on TV.
  • Works on Android and Windows, in the browser.

Questions

Do the people I share with need the app?

No. A book’s link opens in any web browser, on a phone, a tablet or a computer, and nobody needs an account to read it. If they have the Layouts app, the link opens there instead.

What do I need to design a book?

An iPhone or iPad with iOS 26 or later, and an account: sign in with Apple or with a code sent to your email. During the beta, the app also runs on a Mac with Apple silicon.

Who can see my book?

Anyone you give its link to. Books aren’t listed anywhere, and search engines are told not to index them. You can reset the link or unpublish the book whenever you like, and the old link stops working.

Does a shared photo give away where I took it?

No. Readers get smaller copies made from the picture alone, with no location or date in them, and your original files stay in private storage. Readers can see the camera and lens settings, unless you turn them off.

How do I get a book onto my Apple TV?

Open Add a book in the Layouts app on the TV and scan its code with your iPhone’s camera, or press Play on TV in any book’s link and type the code. After the first time, the TV is one tap away.

Is there an Android app?

Not yet. Anyone on Android, Windows or anything else can read a book in their browser.

How do I join the beta?

Layouts is in a private beta for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. Join the waitlist at the top or the bottom of this page, and we’ll email you when there’s room.

Tell the stories behind your photos.

We’ll only use it to tell you when you can try Layouts.

iPhone and iPad
Design books, read them and send them to a TV.
Apple TV
Read together, on the biggest screen.
Any web browser
Read a book from its link, with no account.