The redesign of the Photos app was one of the most controversial changes Apple made in iOS 18, and Apple pushed out several updates during beta testing. Compared to iOS 17, the Photos app has a completely new unified look and feel, as well as some nice new features.
This guide summarizes all the new features in the Photos app for iOS 18 and is up to date with the latest changes from Apple.
Uniform design
iOS 18 does away with separate tabs in the Photos app and introduces an all-in-one view. The Photo Library is still the main focus of the app and what you see when you open Photos, but now you scroll down to get to additional content instead of tapping the separate For You and Albums tabs.
The photo library grid displays about 30 images at a time. To use the swipe gestures to see fewer or more images on the screen, you need to swipe down to get to the full photo library view. From here, you can adjust the view by pinching or spreading.
This is also where the Years and Months organization options are located, allowing you to navigate through your past images. The Days option has been removed and is instead accessible in a Recent Days collection when you scroll down.
In any view of the Photos app, there’s a blue quick access search icon, as well as a select button that lets you select multiple images for sharing, deleting, adding to an album, etc. Tap “Search” to go to the search interface and tap “Done” when you’re done, or tap “Select” and tap images to select them.
You’ll have to get used to swiping down to get to the full photo library view and swiping up again to get to the other views in the app.
Below the main Photos grid, you can swipe to view different collections of images that were previously listed under the For You tab, along with your albums, which were also previously in a separate app section.
Much of the functionality from the previous version of the Photos app is included in the new version, but with a different organizational structure of the all-in-one screen.
Filter and sorting
In the full library view, accessible by swiping down, you can access the filtering and sorting options. You can sort the photo library either by “recently added” or by date taken.
The two arrows icon contains filters including Favorites, Edited, Photos, Videos, and Screenshots. Tapping one of these filters will allow you to filter out everything else to see just that category.
The separate View Options tab lets you remove screenshots and Shared With You images from your photo library. The View Options also includes the Zoom In, Zoom Out, and Aspect Ratio Grid tools, all of which were present in the previous version of the Photos app.
Collections and customization
The iOS 18 Photos app focuses on collections, which are basically different albums that group photos together by subject, location, type, and other parameters. Anything outside the photo grid is considered a “collection.”
- The last days – Shows your most recent pictures by date. You can scroll through or tap the collection name to see your entire photo library sorted by day. This is essentially the same as the Day view of iOS 17’s Photo Library design.
- Albums – A collection of all the albums you’ve created, including the shared albums you’re in.
- People and pets – Albums organized by people or pets, with Apple using machine learning to recognize the people in the images. The People & Pets album now supports groups, so if you have a lot of images with the same people, they’ll appear grouped together. Groups are automatically generated when there are enough images, but you can also create them.
- Memories – Includes Apple’s auto-generated slideshows as well as the new Apple Intelligence Memory Maker slideshows.
- Travel – Shows your photos from different places. If you tap on this collection and then on the dates, you can see your trips sorted by year.
- Shared albums – Albums you share with others.
- Pinned collections – A selection of your favorite collections or albums.
- Selected photos – A rotating collection of your best pictures displayed in the Photos app.
- Media types – Allows you to view images captured using different camera settings. Options include Videos, Selfies, Live Photos, Portraits, Panoramas, Slow Motion, Screenshots, Screen Recordings, Spatial, and RAW. This section used to be under the Albums tab.
- Tools – Essentially provides filters for different image types, allowing you to quickly get to images with handwriting, receipts, and more.
- Wallpaper suggestions – Images that the Photos app thinks would be ideal as wallpapers, with different tones, contemporary colors, and fonts.
Adjustment
You can change the order in which collections appear below the photo grid so you get to the features you use most often first. To do this, scroll to the bottom of the Photos app and then tap the Adjust & Reorder option.
You can uncheck the box to remove a collection, or tap and drag the three bars next to each collection to change the order. Tapping X will exit the menu and return you to the main Photos view.
Pinned collections
Pinned Collections are a collection of your other collections and albums. You can add anything you want to the Pinned Collections section, including albums, media types, other collections, and utilities. Basically, it’s a way to access any category of the Photos app with one tap… Click here to read the rest of the article
Article link: iOS 18 Photos app: All new features and design updates
