To show holiday events in the Memories section of the iPhone Photos app, open Photos, tap Collections, tap your account in the top-right corner, and turn on Show Holiday Events. Photos can then build memories and featured content around holidays in your home country or region.
These steps follow Apple’s iOS 27 iPhone User Guide pages Hide people, memories, and holidays in Photos and View your memories in Photos. Apple’s guide gives the same route for iOS 26. On iOS 18 and earlier, the switch is in the Settings app instead, and those steps are covered separately below.
What Show Holiday Events Does
A memory is a collection that the Photos app puts together for you from pictures and videos already in your library. Apple describes memories as personalized collections that feature a significant person, pet, place, activity, or event. Each one can also be played as a memory movie, which is a slideshow set to music.
Show Holiday Events controls one type of memory. When it is on, Photos is allowed to create memories and featured content about holidays in your home country or region. When it is off, Apple says Photos is prevented from creating them.
Before you change it, keep these points in mind:
- The switch does not add, move, or delete any photos. It only affects what Photos suggests to you.
- It works together with a second switch, Show Featured Content. If that one is off, Photos does not automatically generate featured photos or memories at all.
- Photos builds memories from your own library, so a holiday memory needs pictures or videos to work with. Turning the switch on does not guarantee that a particular holiday will appear.
- Apple does not publish a list of the holidays that Photos recognizes.
How to Turn On Show Holiday Events (iOS 26 and iOS 27)
- Open the Photos app on your iPhone.
- Tap Collections. This is the part of the app that holds Memories, albums, and other groupings.
- Tap your account in the top-right corner. A screen with Photos options opens.
- Find Show Featured Content and make sure it is turned on.
- Turn on Show Holiday Events.
There is nothing to save. The change applies as soon as you flip the switch, and you can close the account screen and go back to your library.
How to Turn On Show Holiday Events on iOS 18 and Earlier
Older versions of iOS keep this switch in the Settings app, not inside Photos. To see which version you have, go to Settings > General > About and look at the iOS version line.
On iOS 18:
- Open the Settings app.
- Scroll down and tap Apps.
- Tap Photos.
- Turn on Show Holiday Events. Check that Show Featured Content is on as well.
On iOS 17, Apple’s guide lists the same two switches under Settings > Photos, without the Apps step. Versions before that also kept the option in the Photos section of the Settings app. On very old versions, that section was named Photos & Camera.
How to Find Your Holiday Memories
Holiday memories are not kept in a separate folder. They appear alongside your other memories, so the way to confirm the setting is working is to look through the Memories collection.
- In the Photos app, tap Collections.
- Swipe left under Memories to scroll through a selection, or tap Memories to see all of them.
- Tap a memory to see the photos and videos it contains.
- Tap the Play button in the bottom-right corner of a memory to watch it as a memory movie. If you would rather watch in silence, see how to turn off the music in an iPhone slideshow or memory movie.
Do not expect a new holiday memory the moment you turn the switch on. Apple does not say how quickly Photos creates memories, and the app decides on its own which ones to make. The setting only gives it permission to include holidays.
What You Can Do With a Holiday Memory
Once a holiday memory shows up, it behaves like any other memory. These are the options Apple documents for iOS 27:
| Goal | What to do |
|---|---|
| Keep it easy to find | Touch and hold the memory, then tap Add to Favorite Memories. Find it later under Collections > Memories > Favorites. |
| Share the movie | Play the memory, tap the screen, tap the More button at the top, then tap Share or AirPlay. |
| Share individual pictures | Open the memory, tap Select, choose the items, then tap the Share button. |
| Change the music or style | Play the memory, tap the screen, then tap Customize. |
| Remove the memory | Touch and hold the memory, then tap Delete Memory. |
Deleting a memory is not the same as deleting a photo. The command removes the memory itself. If you want to remove a picture from your library, that is a separate action in Photos.
Apple’s steps for music, length, titles, and the photos included in a movie are in Personalize your memory movies in Photos on iPhone.
How to Turn Off Holiday Events
To undo the change, go back to the same place and flip the switch the other way.
- iOS 26 and iOS 27: Open Photos, tap Collections, tap your account in the top-right corner, and turn off Show Holiday Events.
- iOS 18: Go to Settings > Apps > Photos and turn off Show Holiday Events.
- iOS 17: Go to Settings > Photos and turn off Show Holiday Events.
Apple says this prevents Photos from creating memories and featured content about holidays. Your photos and videos stay in your library. Apple’s guide does not say whether holiday memories that already exist are removed, so if one is still there, delete it with Delete Memory.
Warning: Do not turn off Show Featured Content if holidays are the only thing you want to stop. That switch stops Photos from automatically generating featured photos and memories of every kind, not only holiday ones.
See less of one day or one person instead
If only one holiday is the problem, you may not need the switch at all. Touch and hold the memory, tap Feature Less, and choose the option that fits. Depending on the memory, Apple lists Feature This Day Less, Feature This Place Less, and Feature a Person Less.
To feature a specific person less often anywhere in Photos, open a photo of them, tap the More button, and tap Don’t Feature a Person. You can then pick Feature This Person Less or Never Feature This Person and tap Confirm.
Both choices can be reversed from the account screen in Collections. Reset Suggested Memories clears your Feature Less choices, and Reset People & Pets Suggestions lets someone be featured again.
Troubleshooting
The Show Holiday Events switch is missing
You are probably looking in the place used by a different iOS version. On iOS 26 and iOS 27, look in the Photos app under Collections and your account. On iOS 18 and earlier, look in the Settings app under Photos. If the account button is not visible in Photos, make sure you tapped Collections first, because Apple’s steps start there.
The switch is on but there are no holiday memories
Work through these checks in order:
- Confirm that Show Featured Content is on. Without it, Photos does not generate memories.
- Tap Memories to open the full list. The row on the Collections screen only shows a selection.
- Think about whether your library has pictures or videos from a holiday. Photos can only build a memory from what you have.
- Check whether you chose Feature This Day Less on a holiday memory in the past. If you did, use Reset Suggested Memories on the account screen.
If everything is set correctly, the remaining factor is Photos itself. Memories are suggestions, and there is no button that forces the app to make a holiday one.
The Memories row is missing completely
This points to Show Featured Content being off, since that switch covers memories as a whole. Turn it back on from the same screen where you found Show Holiday Events.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which holidays does Photos use?
Apple says the setting covers holiday events in your home country or region. It does not list the individual holidays, and its Photos guide does not explain how the app decides what your home country or region is. Your iPhone’s own region is shown under Settings > General > Language & Region.
Does turning off holiday events delete photos?
No. The switch only controls whether Photos creates memories and featured content about holidays. The pictures and videos remain in your library and in any albums you put them in.
Does this setting affect the Photos widget?
It can. Apple says you can set Photos to show holidays less frequently or not at all in your memories, featured photos, and the Photos widget. Turning off Show Featured Content also turns off memories and featured photos in the widget on your Home Screen.
Can I make my own holiday memory?
You can get a similar result without waiting for Photos. Apple says any collection or album can be viewed as a memory movie, so you can put your holiday pictures in an album, open it from Collections, and tap the Play button. On iPhone models that support Apple Intelligence, iOS 27 also has a Create option under Collections > Memories where you type a description of the movie you want.
Is Show Holiday Events on by default?
Apple’s guide does not state the default. The quickest way to know is to open the account screen in Photos and look at the switch.
Next Step
Open Collections > Memories after your next holiday and add the ones you like to Favorite Memories so they are easy to find. While you are in Photos, you might also want to turn off video autoplay in the Photos app.
Matthew Burleigh is the founder, head writer, and editor of Solve Your Tech, which he launched in 2012. He has written technology tutorials since 2008 and worked in IT since 2003, including small-business support, IT management, and consulting. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science from Arizona State University.
Matthew writes practical guides for Windows, iPhone and iPad, Microsoft Office, Outlook, Google apps, and Android. Solve Your Tech’s guides are tested on current devices or checked against official product documentation, with clear steps, sources, and update dates.
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