How to make a grow-up video from your photos, step by step

Published 2026-10-25

A grow-up video plays one person's face through the years: the eyes stay in the same place in every frame while everything else changes. It works for a child from birth to today, for a parent's whole life from old prints, or for ten years of selfies. Here's how to make one in about ten minutes, most of which is choosing photos.

What you need

15 to 40 photos of one person, spread across the years you want to cover. One or two per year is plenty. More works too; the reel speeds up to fit.
Faces looking roughly at the camera. A slight turn is fine. Full side profiles don't line up.
The birthday, if you want each photo labelled with an age.
A phone or computer with a recent Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.

1. Gather the photos

Most phones already group photos by face, which saves a lot of scrolling:

On iPhone or Mac, use the People collection in Apple Photos. See how to gather every photo of one person in Apple Photos.
With Google Photos, search for the person. See how to gather every photo of one person in Google Photos.
For prints, photograph or scan them first. See scan old photos with your phone and fix their dates.

Pick the photos where the face is biggest and sharpest. Group photos are fine; you'll choose the face later.

2. Add them to the tool

Open Grow-Up Reel and press Choose photos, or drag a folder onto the page on a computer. Before it looks for faces, the page asks you to confirm the photos are yours to use and that the people in them, or for children a parent or guardian, are happy for you to make the video.

Your browser then finds the face in each photo. Nothing is uploaded: the face model runs inside the page, on your device.

3. Check the lineup

Every photo appears as a small tile with the face lined up by the eyes, oldest first. Three things to look for:

"2 faces" or more: the biggest face was picked. If that's not the right person, tap the photo, then tap the right face.
"No face found": the face may be small, dark or turned away. Tap the photo and tap the two eyes yourself, or leave it out.
Photos in the wrong place: the order comes from each photo's date. Scans and photos saved from messaging apps often carry the wrong date. Tap the photo and set the right one. A year on its own is fine.

4. Choose the settings

Captions: pick Age and enter the birthday. Babies are labelled in months up to two years old, then "Age 3", "Age 4" and so on.
Music: the built-in tracks are generated on your device, so they're yours to use. Choose No music if you want to add a sound inside Instagram or TikTok.
Shape: 9:16 for Reels, TikTok and Shorts; 4:5 or 1:1 for a feed post; 16:9 for a TV.
Between photos: Morph moves the features of one face into the next. It's the effect people remember.
Title card: optional, for example "Maya, 0 to 10".

Press Make my reel. A 20 to 30 second reel takes about half a minute to a minute on a laptop and a little longer on a phone. Then press Download video or, on a phone, Share… to send it straight to Messages, WhatsApp or Instagram.

Can I make the video without the photos leaving my phone?

Yes, that's how it always works. The page reads the photos from your device and makes the video there. There's no upload step and no account.

What if my phone is slow?

Choose 720p or 540p under Quality. Both look fine on a phone screen and render much faster. Reels with hundreds of photos are quicker on a computer.

Why won't my HEIC photos open?

Chrome and Edge on a computer can't open HEIC, Apple's photo format. Use Safari, or export the photos as JPEG first. On an iPhone, the photo picker converts them for you.