I’ve been on a mission recently to find a really good app for making photo-to-video slideshows. Of course it had to be simple, so stylish templates were a pre-requisite. And, I’m a bit of a control freak, so I wanted to know that themes wouldn’t be overly restrictive either.
ProShow Web is the latest in this long line of slideshow making apps and I think it may finally be the one! I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks now, and the more I explore its options the more I like it.

Make a Slideshow with ProShow Web

With ProShow Web, making photo slideshows on an iPhone or iPad is quick and slick. Themes are categorized by style or occasion but I found it helpful to scroll through the whole library because many of the templates fit multiple scenarios. Tap a theme, then tap the right arrow to see a sample or tap the Create button in the upper right corner to start making your slideshow. (Tip: If you make a mistake and want to change your theme later, go to the Details section to edit your template choice.)
Make a Slideshow with ProShow Web
Now it’s on to Imagery. The next screen says Add Photos, however you will actually have the option to add photos, videos and title frames. This is one of ProShow Web’s truly standout features. When it comes to playing nice with others, ProShow Web connected with more photo services than any other app I’ve tested. If you’ve been online awhile, chances are your life is spread out all over the Internet. I really appreciate that ProShow Web works with how I store photos and doesn’t require me to keep my images organized in one place. You can currently grab photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad library, Photo Stream, Facebook, flickr, Instagram, SmugMug, 500pixels and your ProShow account online. I’d love to add my Shutterfly account since that’s where the soccer photos go, but overall I was able to add images from 5 different accounts into the same slideshow. So, not bad.
Whether you’re making a simple video for the last day of school or a slideshow of wedding photos, the right music is critical. ProShow Web has two options: choose from your music or choose from their music library.
music library
As expected, choosing your own music results in limited options because any music with DRM enabled is unavailable. All of the music on my iPad comes from iTunes, so although my Music Library showed the titles of my songs I wasn’t able to use any of them as background music. The error message simply said the song “was unavailable. Maybe it hasn’t been downloaded yet.” Frustrating.
Thankfully, WebShow Pro has an extensive selection of quality music. Just like the themes, tap a song then tap the right arrow to listen to a sample. By default only the top 24 songs are displayed so to see additional songs, tap the button on the bottom of the screen which opens a new menu to browse by category, tempo, or length.
After adding music to your slideshow, the Details screen offers a last chance to go the settings before viewing your creation. If you’ve chosen the music carefully, then Sync to Music should keep the images moving along at an appropriate pace to match the mood you’re going for. Toggle this off and it’s easy to speed things along or slow it all down. (Tip: Show Title will be the name used when saving or sharing your slideshow, if you want a Title Slide, go back to Imagery and choose Title from add content screen.)

ProShow Web is my App of Choice for Making Slideshows

This is the barebones version of how to make a slideshow with ProShow Web and the result is beautiful. The whole thing can be done in less than 15 minutes and that includes connecting your accounts the first time. If I was in a high-noon showdown to make the fastest slideshow, my app of choice would be ProShow Web.
More importantly, for those that want to express themselves creatively ProShow Web has so much more than I could touch on in a single review. There are photo filters and slide transitions, non-destructive editing tools for trimming video, drag-and-drop everything. Although a lot of it seems hidden, it’s not unintuitive. As soon as you find a feature you’ll think, ‘Oh, that makes sense.’
With ProShow Web you can build great photo slideshows on your iPhone or iPad using the pre-set themes. With a little more time, ProShow Web has everything you need to create slideshows on your iPad that turn heads and make desktop users green with envy.
ProShow Web is free for personal use, with a cap of 15 photos per video. Unlimited, full-length videos start at $4.99/ month.