Since iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, the Photos app for iPhone and iPad looks completely different. Apple has drastically changed the interface of the application and not everyone is happy with that. Fortunately, you can adjust the display, but that is limited. You cannot restore the old interface.
The app only contains one page with your photo library at the top and below that you will find quite a few featured photos and folders. By changing the view you can customize the app more to your liking, but it takes some getting used to.
Photos interface
With iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, Apple has drastically adjusted one of the most used applications on the iPhone and iPad and provided it with a single view, also called a single page view. This means that all components are only displayed on one page, something that not everyone may have expected.
Apple has never overhauled the Photos app so thoroughly. Their opinion is that users take a lot of photos with their iPhone, but quickly forget about them. That’s why the Photos app now includes more options to rediscover and relive old photos.
Build Photos app for iPhone
As soon as you open the Photos application for iPhone or iPad with iOS 18, iPadOS 18 or newer, the single-page view opens immediately. Below we schematically outline the new view for you.
- Photo library with select, search and profile button
- Recent days with photos from a past period
- Persons and pets
- Pinned collections (collections)
- Looking back: featured photos of a specific period or moment
- Travel: Automatically collected photos from travels
- Albums
- Shared albums
- Featured photos: suggestions to relive old photos
- Media types: Quickly sort by specific categories
- Other: hidden, recently deleted, duplicates and handwriting
- Wallpaper suggestions: Quickly set a new wallpaper
Customize Photos app view
The overview above is standard for the Photos app, but you can manually adjust the view to your own wishes. To do this, follow the steps below:
- Open the Photos app
- Scroll all the way down
- Tap ‘Customize and change order’
- Decide for yourself which parts should be visible and which you want to hide
Simple interface setup for Photos
Do you want a simple view? Then we recommend that you activate the following view and hide the other components.
- Albums
- Persons and pets
- Shared albums
- Media types
- Other
This limits the view to your photos, albums and the different types of categories to quickly access your videos, selfies and favorites, among others. Do you not use shared albums? Then you can even disable this. This way you can maintain an overview even better.
Pinned collections
Do you still want to retain access to certain parts in the Photos app? Then you can also use pinned collections. This is a strip with quick access to different parts in the app.
- Open the Photos app
- Scroll all the way down
- Tap ‘Customize and change order’
- Enable the ‘Pinned collections’ option
- Tap the cross to leave the overview
- Scroll to Pinned Collections and tap Edit
Then add the desired parts with the plus button and remove the parts you do not want to see. Tap the cross to confirm the adjustment. Then, from the Photos page, you can directly access your pinned collections in a narrow strip. This way you tidy up the overview page and the busy overview is drastically reduced.
iPad still contains navigation column
Unlike the iPhone, on the iPad you can still consult the sidebar with access to all individual components such as a shortcut to your photo library, collections, favorites and more.