Transitions in Keynote on iOS

Add animations to your presentation while working on-the-go

Keynote for iOS is a great presentation tool, but you’re missing a trick if you use it solely to show text and graphics through a series of static slides. Instead, make use of Keynote’s transitions and build effects to inject animation into your slideshow and grab your audience’s attention.

There are two ways to build movement into your presentation. The first involves animating individual objects – text, tables, charts, shapes, or photos – using a series of build effects. There are over 30 to choose from, both simple (such as Appear and Blur) and complex (Flash Bulbs and Shimmer). These are split into two types: build-in effects bring objects into your presentation, while build-out effects take them away again. These build effects are executed in a sequence, so by carefully ordering them you can generate some sophisticated animated effects.

The second method uses transition effects to make the move between slides less jarring. They work in a similar way to animations, and there are over 40 to choose from. They include Magic Move, a special transition that’s designed to allow you to move objects around the slide in addition to applying regular build effects – all with the absolute minimum of effort.

It’s tempting to dive in and overwhelm your audience with a wide number of different effects, but we’d recommend you restrain yourself! The best slideshows tend to mix and match one or two effect types to give your presentation a consistent narrative and structure.

It’s also worth limiting the total number of animations on each slide – instead of introducing an effect for every single object, pare back your animations to produce a lean, understated presentation.