macOS still can’t shuffle a slideshow

Updated: October 2021.

One of the biggest pet peeves I have had with Apple’s Photos.app for many, many years now is that you still can’t shuffle a damned slideshow. This limitation seems just bonkers to me. This is an obviously desirable feature that I had and used regularly with iPhoto for many years — so long ago now it is starting to seem like ancient history. It was one of many features that vanished when iPhoto was replaced with Photos.

Slideshow shuffling was also missing from iOS for years, and there were even 3rd party apps that existed primarily to deliver that one feature. But slideshow shuffling finally appeared in iOS 13. There was no fanfare, not even a marketing bullet point, just finally there, better late than never.

Apple had touted several major new features in Photos with each release of macOS, and there was a particularly strong Photos focus in Catalina. When it was released, I even heard some Mac wonks say that the changes were their main motivation for upgrading. I was actually optimistic that slideshow shuffle would finally be a thing. But no! There was still no slideshow shuffle in Photos. Catalina did not bring the shuffle.

And then … MacOS Big Sur didn’t bring the shuffle either.

Numb disappointment now appears to be my default position on Apple software, especially on the Mac. And the absence of slideshow shuffle is one of the best examples of why.