How to change an album cover on iPhone Photos

What is the album cover on iPhone?

Apple calls the cover the key photo. By default, the Photos app uses the most recent photo you added to an album as its cover. That is why album covers seem to change on their own: every time you add a picture, it may become the new cover. Setting a key photo yourself fixes the cover so it stays put until you change it again.

How to change album cover on iPhone, step by step

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Find your album. In iOS 18 and later, scroll down the main screen to Albums and tap the album, or tap Albums to see the full list. In older versions, tap the Albums tab at the bottom.
3. Inside the album, touch and hold the photo you want as the cover. Do not tap it, just hold until a menu appears.
4. Tap Make Key Photo.
5. Go back to the album list. The new cover shows right away.

If you open the photo full screen first, you can also tap the ••• button at the top right and look for Make Key Photo there.

Albums where you cannot change the cover

Some albums are made by the Photos app, not by you. Their covers are chosen automatically and Make Key Photo does not appear. These include:

• Recents (Library) and Favorites
• Media type albums such as Videos, Selfies, Live Photos, Portrait, Panoramas and Screenshots
• Recently Deleted, Hidden and Imports
• Smart Albums synced from a Mac

If you want control over the cover, create your own album with the same photos. Tap the + button in Albums, choose New Album, name it, add photos, then set the key photo.

Shared albums

Shared albums in iCloud work differently. The cover is usually the newest item added by anyone in the album. Recent iOS versions may not show Make Key Photo for shared albums at all. If the option is missing, the only workaround is to add the photo you want as the cover last, or ask the album owner to do it. Shared album covers can look different on each person's device.

Change the cover on Mac and iPad

On iPad, the steps are the same as on iPhone. On a Mac, open Photos, open the album, select the photo and choose Image › Make Key Photo from the menu bar. With iCloud Photos turned on in Settings › your name › iCloud › Photos, the key photo you choose on one device syncs to your others.

People, Pets and Memories covers

The People and Pets section shows a face for each person. To change it, open the person, touch and hold a photo where their face is clear and choose Make Key Photo. On some versions you tap ••• then Choose Key Photo. For a Memory, play it, tap the ••• button and look for Edit Title or Choose Key Photo, depending on your iOS version.

Featured Photos and the widget

The photos that show in the Photos widget and in Featured Photos are picked by the iPhone, not by album covers. To stop a picture from appearing there, open it, tap ••• and choose Feature this Photo Less or Remove from Featured Photos.

Organize your albums

• Rename an album: touch and hold it in the album list and tap Rename Album.
• Reorder albums: in the full album list, tap Sort or Edit and drag them, depending on your iOS version.
• Group albums into folders: tap + and choose New Folder.
• Delete an album: touch and hold it and tap Delete Album. The photos stay in your library.

Album covers in Google Photos

If you keep your albums in Google Photos instead, open the album, tap a photo, tap the ••• button and choose Use as album cover. It syncs to every device signed in to that Google account. Our comparison of Google Photos and iCloud explains which service suits you.

Make Key Photo is missing or does nothing

• Check the album type. Built in and shared albums may not offer it.
• Make sure you touch and hold, not tap.
• Restart the iPhone and try again. Photos can stop updating thumbnails until it restarts.
• If the old cover keeps returning, iCloud may still be syncing. Leave the iPhone on Wi-Fi and charging for a while.
• Update iOS in Settings › General › Software Update.

Why the cover matters

Covers are how you find albums at a glance, especially once you have dozens. A clear, recognizable photo, like a face for a family album or a landmark for a trip, saves scrolling. It is a small change, but it makes the Photos app much easier to use.

Pick a photo that works as a cover

Album covers appear as small squares, so the Photos app crops your key photo to fit. A wide landscape shot may lose its subject at the edges. Close ups, faces and photos with one clear subject in the middle work best. If you want a specific crop, make a copy of the photo first: open it, tap ••• and choose Duplicate. Then crop the copy to a square with Edit › Crop and set that copy as the key photo. The original stays untouched.

Use a video as the cover

Videos can be key photos too. The cover shows the video's thumbnail frame. To pick a better frame, edit the video and trim the start so the frame you want comes first, or take a screenshot of the right moment and use that image instead.

The cover keeps changing back

If your album jumps back to the newest photo every time you add something, the key photo was not saved. Set it again and wait a minute before closing Photos, so iCloud has time to sync. Also check that you are setting the cover on the album itself and not inside a folder view or a search result. Albums synced from a computer through Finder or iTunes are read only on the iPhone, so their cover must be changed on the computer.

Hide a photo you do not want as a cover

If a private photo keeps showing as a cover, move it out of the album, or hide it. Open the photo, tap ••• and choose Hide. It moves to the Hidden album, which is locked with Face ID on recent iOS versions, and it no longer appears as a cover anywhere.

Quick recap

Open the album, touch and hold the photo, tap Make Key Photo. That is all it takes for albums you made. For built in albums the cover is automatic, and for shared albums the newest photo usually wins. If your photo library is getting too big to manage, our guide to freeing up iPhone storage can help you tidy up.

Change the cover of a shared iCloud album you own

If you created a shared album, you have the most control over it. Open the album, tap the people icon to check who can add photos, and turn off Subscribers Can Post if you want only your photos in it. With fewer new uploads, the cover changes less often. Then add the photo you want as the cover last, so it shows as the newest item.

Does the cover change the photo?

No. Making a photo the key photo does not edit, move or copy it. The picture stays where it was in your library and in any other albums. You can choose a different key photo at any time without losing anything.

If you manage many albums for family events or trips, setting covers once you finish adding photos saves you from fixing them again later. It is one of the small habits that keeps a large photo library easy to browse.