Apple Shares New 'The Archives' iPhone Ad Focusing on Memories Feature in Photos App

Apple today continued on with its line of iPhone 7 advertisements, introducing a new spot called "The Archives," which focuses on the Memories feature that's available in the Photos app.

In the video, available on YouTube, an archivist is shown working in a vast photo archive, carefully selecting and then pasting together physical versions of Live Photos and videos into a montage that's first shown on a projector and then transferred to the iPhone 7.


"Her Dreams" by Luca D'Alberto and "Unchained Melody" by Lykke Li accompany the video, as does the tagline that Apple's been using for all of its recent ads, "practically magic."

Apple has done several ads in this series that focus on the photographic capabilities of the iPhone 7, including "The City" and "Take Mine," but this is the first ad that has highlighted the Memories feature that's baked into iOS. Memories aggregates photos and videos around selected dates, locations, and people, turning them into slideshows accompanied by music.

Today's ad is also accompanied by a simple tutorial video that outlines how to use the Memories feature, which joins many other iPhone 7 photography tutorials that Apple has been producing since May.


Apple's Memories feature is set to see a major improvement in iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra, gaining support for a range of new categories including pets, babies, outdoor activities, performances, weddings, birthdays, and sporting events.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Tuesday May 27, 2025 9:10 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of May 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X ...
Whatsapp Feature

WhatsApp Teases Long-Awaited iPad App

Monday May 26, 2025 10:23 am PDT by
The popular messaging app WhatsApp has teased a long-awaited iPad app, which would be offered alongside its existing iPhone and Mac apps. The official WhatsApp account on X today reacted with an eyes emoji to a post saying that WhatsApp should release an iPad app. This could be a hint that Meta is gearing up to release WhatsApp for iPad, which has already been available for beta testing via...
WWDC 2025 Banner

WWDC is Just Two Weeks Away: Here Are the Biggest iOS 19 Rumors

Monday May 26, 2025 8:12 am PDT by
WWDC 2025 is just two weeks away as of today, with Apple's opening keynote scheduled for Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. During the keynote, Apple is expected to announce iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16, watchOS 12, tvOS 19, visionOS 3, and other software updates, along with new Apple Intelligence features. In some years, there are also hardware announcements at WWDC, but there are no...
HomePod With Screen Feature

Apple's Rumored Smart Home Hub Has Faced a Disappointing Setback

Monday May 26, 2025 7:18 am PDT by
Apple has scrapped some of the features that it had planned for its long-rumored smart home hub device, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "I'm told that Apple has pulled some bolder features from the device that could reappear in subsequent models," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter this week. However, he did not reveal any of the specific features that were pulled. Apple made...
top stories 2025 05 24

Top Stories: iPhone 17 Air Details, Apple's Smart Glasses, and More

Saturday May 24, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
WWDC is coming up quickly with a number of software announcements in store, but we're also looking further ahead to hardware launches like the iPhone 17 lineup and even Apple's smart glasses project. This week also saw big news with former Apple design guru Jony Ive joining forces with OpenAI to build future AI-driven devices, while Fortnite returned to the U.S. App Store for the first time...
iPhone Top Left Hole Punch Face ID Feature 2

Apple Rumored to Redesign the iPhone Every Year Through to 2027

Tuesday May 27, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly preparing to implement significant iPhone hardware redesigns each year for the next three generations. According leaks from the Chinese supply chain disclosed by Weibo user "Digital Chat Station," Apple plans to carry out a series of phased industrial design changes affecting different parts of the iPhone across three consecutive years: 2025, 2026, and 2027. The changes...
iCloud General Feature Redux

Apple Raises iCloud+ Prices in Three Countries

Monday May 26, 2025 1:45 pm PDT by
Apple recently raised prices for its iCloud+ plans in Brazil, Chile, and Peru, according to a support document updated last Thursday. The table below outlines the price changes in each country. Country Old Prices New Prices Brazil 50GB: R$ 4.90 200GB: R$ 14.90 2TB: R$ 49.90 6TB: R$ 149.90 12TB: R$ 299.90 50GB: R$ ...
Emergency SOS via Satellite iPhone YT

Report: Apple Planned to Offer Starlink-Like Home Internet Service

Tuesday May 27, 2025 7:08 am PDT by
Apple had plans to offer a Starlink-like satellite home internet service in collaboration with Boeing, The Information reports. Starting in 2015, Apple held discussions with Boeing about "Project Eagle," a plan to launch a service to provide wireless internet services to iPhones and homes. The companies would have launched thousands of satellites into orbit around the Earth to beam internet...

Top Rated Comments

gsmornot Avatar
104 months ago
In the end and as you age you find this is all that really matters.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nimoy Avatar
104 months ago
Brilliant ad! Amazing production for a relatively minor software feature.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
104 months ago
Pretty feel-tastic advert. Good job.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nutmac Avatar
104 months ago
I like the memories functionality.
Me too.

With iCloud now offering 2 TB for $9.99/month, and iOS 11 bringing Family Sharing, I recommend iCloud Photo Library highly to anyone with a sizable photo library. It brings entirely new level of enjoyment out of your photos and videos.

Now, if only Apple would bring Family Sharing to iCloud Photo Library (e.g., husband and wife using a single library).
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
scrapesleon Avatar
104 months ago
song was actually heartbreaking
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
skwood Avatar
104 months ago
I think this is an excellent ad, helps users understand what the feature is, adds emotional depth to it and plays to the iPhone's strengths.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)