Starting with iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, the Photos app for iPhone and iPad will look completely different. Apple has drastically changed the interface of the application. The app now contains just one page with your photo library at the top in a carousel view, and below that you will find a large number of featured photos.
The simplified view includes the familiar grid, and new collections make it easier to see all the photos with a certain theme without having to put them into an album first.
Simplified view for Photos
Starting with iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, Apple has drastically changed one of the most used applications on the iPhone and iPad, giving it a single page view. This means that all components are displayed on just one page, something that not everyone may be interested in.
Apple says that the Photos app has never been so thoroughly overhauled. According to them, users take a lot of pictures with their iPhone, but they are quickly forgotten. For that reason, the Photos app now includes more options to rediscover and relive old photos.
Unlike the iPhone, you can still consult the navigation column on the iPad, which provides access to all the individual components, such as a shortcut to your photo library, collections, favorites and more.
Photos App Build for iPhone
When you open the Photos app for iPhone or iPad with iOS 18, iPadOS 18 or later, you can immediately see the new view. Below we have listed the new view for you.
- Carousel view contains your photo library, favorites, videos, featured photos, and memories by default
- Recent days with photos from a past period
- People and pets
- Pinned collections (collections)
- Flashback: Featured photos from a specific period or moment
- Travel: Automatically collected photos from travels
- Albums
- Shared Albums
- Featured Photos: Suggestions for Reliving Old Photos
- Media Types: Quickly sort by specific categories
- Other: Hidden, Recently Deleted, Duplicate Items, and Handwriting
- Background Suggestions: Quickly set a new wallpaper
Adjust display
The above overview is standard for the photos app, but you can manually adjust the display to your own preferences. To do this, tap ‘Customize’ at the bottom and determine which parts should be visible and which you want to hide. You can also adjust the carousel view this way.
Open photo library
If you want quick access to your photo library, you can swipe down after opening the Photos app. In most cases, the grid with your photos will already be actively displayed at the top of the app. If this is not the case, you must first swipe left or right in the carousel until the grid with your library is visible.
Once you open the photo library you can select photos and share it or add it to an album. Using the two arrows you can different view options or filters to display.
Sort by date or recent
In previous versions of the Photos app, you had a default view based on date and a view between your albums sorted by ‘Recently added’. This is no longer the case. By default, the photo library is sorted by date. After opening the photo library, tap the two arrows you can change the sorting from date to recently added.
Carousel view
Swipe right from the grid to access the new carousel, which highlights your best content in a beautiful, poster-like display. Each day, the carousel will reveal a new set of photos for a fun surprise, so you can keep rediscovering memories on an ongoing basis.
In the carousel you will find standard highlighted photos, highlighted memories, favorites and videos. Using the ‘Customize’ button you can adjust the display. For example, you can add albums, people, pets, trips, memories or media types so that you are always surprised with the moments that you find important.
Want faster access to your photo library? Remove all other items in the carousel.
Collections with collections
Apple says that Photos will feature more collections starting with iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. These are collections of important moments and show the best photos and videos. You can find these collections in Memories or Featured Photos, among other things. You can view and save these collections on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Examples include Travel, Recent Days, or special media types. Because every photo library is unique, you can organize the collections and choose where to pin each collection.
Groups in People
New is the possibility to create groups for People and pets. You can easily merge multiple people and/or pets, so that all photos where this group is visible are displayed. In addition, this information is useful for the suggestions that photos can make, such as sharing photos after a day out with members of the group.
Other innovations
- Added additional categories and media formats including: QR codes, recently added, etc.
- You can autoplay your content anywhere in the app with the revamped video player, tap your profile picture to turn off autoplay
- New view when editing photos
- Adaptive copy editing function, automatically adjusts exposure and brightness when pasting the edits to better fit the selected photos
No refreshed view for Mac
Unlike the iPhone and iPad, Apple has not changed the view for Mac to a single page starting with macOS Sequoia. On the Mac, you can still use the different ‘tabs’ from the navigation column. You do have access to the new collections, categories, media formats, trips and groups in People/Pets. On the iPad, Apple has created a combination of both: single page view with navigation column.