AUDIO GUIDES

You can view our list of available audio guides at the top of this page.

Some of the guides are free, but others must be purchased. Once you've purchased a guide, you will receive a confirmation email with a link in that will take you to the audio guide.

If you get lost, remember that our friendly visitor experience assistants are always on hand to help.

All of the audio guide tours are self-guided experiences and you will require your own smartphone. They can be enjoyed at the Museum or from the comfort of your own home.

Please bring your own headphones and connect to the Museum’s free Wi-Fi to access the audio guides at the Museum.

No, you do not have to download the app to access the guides. The audio guides are available via a mobile website.

By downloading the Smartify app, you can save the guide for later, and also explore thousands more art museums, tours and collections, and so we recommend using the Smartify app, for the best user experience.

No, you do not have to create a Smartify account to access the tours.

However, if you do download the Smartify app and create an account, you will be able to access your personal collection of artworks across different devices, if you log out, and you will receive personalised notifications about new artworks, artists and tours. You can also opt out of notifications, or delete your account, at any time.

Exhibition guides

Headphone icons, on labels next to objects, indicate stops on the audio guide tour.
 

Other guides

Please look out for stickers on the floor of the Museum with large QR codes on. You can scan these codes using your phone/tablet camera.

A purchase is required for our highlights and exhibition guides. You will not be able to download these audio guides without payment. 

Smartify only uses a very small amount of data and can be used on your own 4G internet connection.

Please speak to a member of staff if you would like help connecting to the free 'Ashmolean Public' Wifi network.

Yes, just press the speaker button on the tour player on your smartphone and you can switch to play the tour through the phone receiver and hold it up to your ear.

In the Smartify app, save any audio guide by clicking on the small ‘heart’ icon on the top right of the guide page.

You will find all of your saved audio guides permanently under ‘Profile’ > 'Tours':

Our visitor assistants can help you by directing you to a QR code which, once scanned with your smartphone's camera, will take you back to the audio guide.

You can also bookmark the guide URL in your smartphone's browser, or use the 'Add to Home screen' option to create a shortcut on your smartphone's Home screen. Again, please ask our visitor assistants if you need further help.

We do recommend downloading the Smartify app for the best possible user experience.