How To Use the Redesigned iOS 18 Photos App

[@gillbarr6705]

I ignored the new app because it felt so foreign. You made it feel like a friend. Clear and actually much better than its predecessor

[@georgee3401]

Finally, a tutorial that very nicely describes the features of the redesigned Photos App. I can think of several other KZbin channels that could learn a great deal about quality presentations by watching your tutorials. Many thanks!

[@meeluanistyn1644]

Totally agree. The way Gary presents his videos is exactly what I need - no ego trips or waffle, just clear information delivered succinctly.

[@Mattguitarmania]

Gary, your videos are the best and most helpful! Apple owes you a lot of gratitude

[@Joebnx1]

Once again you did what Apple hasn’t! I echo all the comments here. I am indeed someone that was feeling frustrated with the redesign and now with your help I will take the time you suggested, sit down and customise things the way I want. Thank you.

[@pammainwaring1]

Great video thanks so so much . age 78 just what I needed .

[@michaelj.1121]

Excellent summary and very unbiased explanation!

[@sasunshine5866]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I could not figure this out to save my life, and now that you have shown me it’s pretty easy! I have spent many frustrated hours trying to find something! You do a simple, clear tutorial. Perhaps just a little fast would be my only caution. But thank you again 💕💕💕

[@KarenSchuessler]

Agreed! But your speed is fine with me. I just pause to take something in or look it up on my phone. You're but best, Gary!

[@ianh2674]

Another good video Gary, when i updated my iPad recently and iphone i must admit.i was a bit confused with the photos app - this video clarifies all

[@SteveSCHULTE-i1k]

I find going to the customize button at the bottom and simply turning-off EVERYTHING makes is somewhat resemble the pre-iOS 18 revision. (And then one can turn-on what one wants when one wants it; later turn it off). Thanks, Gary!!

[@loisskiathitis8926]

thank you, Gary!

[@einsteinparrot]

Thank you! Great explanation!

[@Joe-lb8qn]

Absolutely Brilliant !

[@alistairlegge7225]

Thanks Gary. The best explanation for the photos app. Like many I haven’t been a fan of what Apple did with the Photos App but this has been very helpful.

[@gregmgm06]

Fantastic video! You explain the app very clearly, really appreciated.

[@denniscraig850]

I needed this! Thanks!

[@pianoman6639]

Many thanks Gary I hadn’t taken a lot of notice of this before now .

[@Superjeanmarc]

"Your tutorials are hands down the best when it comes to explaining macOS and iOS tricks-always so clear and concise! I've been using Mac and iPhone for years and consider myself a power user, but I always learn something new from your videos. That said, I find it a bit ironic that, for a brand like Apple-which prides itself on intuitive design-I need to watch a full tutorial just to understand and take full advantage of the redesigned Photos app. While the new design does feel efficient once you get the hang of it, it’s definitely not as intuitive as it should be. It makes me wonder if we’re reaching a point where innovation for the sake of innovation (or commercial interest) is becoming counterproductive in some areas of tech. Sometimes, a good design just works and doesn’t need constant updates-like Brompton bikes, which have barely changed in decades because they nailed it from the start. Anyway, thanks again for your amazing work. You make figuring this stuff out so much easier!"

[@macmost]

It is all subjective. There is no such thing as being intuitive for all people. Some people will find it intuitive, and some will not. Sometimes the learning curve is made more difficult because the result when people learn it will be better. There are lots of factors.

[@Holly-days]

So very helpful, as always, Gary. Thanks!

[@photo3sixty700]

Great Stuff Thank You

[@theburrs2011]

A fantastic overview of how to use the new Photos application! It will make using it much more enjoyable and keep me from looking for a replacement simply because of organization.

[@garynagle3093]

Thank you. Excellent video.

[@RamMohammadJosephKaur]

For how long do you keep iPhone? When do you recommend one should upgrade typically?

[@macmost]

That's very subjective. Some people get a new one each year, some people hold on to them for 7, 8, 9 or even more years. Depends on your needs, situation, budget, etc.

[@Masterofsomethings1959]

Thank you. How do you keep up with all the new things?

[@MrJazz86]

Thanks for the video as always Gary. Is there a way to to see only the photos I took directly with my iPhone?

[@macmost]

Search for iPhone. You can search for any camera name and it will find those with that camera in the metadata.

[@MrJazz86]

@ thanks for the tip. In this way the search shows all iPhone photos even if those are coming from other iPhones (maybe one of my friend than I’ve received with airdrop) am I right?

[@macmost]

@@MrJazz86 yes. So what is your goal here? Why do you want to see only photos you took on your iPhone? Maybe if I knew your “why” I would be able to suggest a better solution.

[@MrJazz86]

@@macmost Yes my goal is to just see photos taken with my camera and not others (if this is possible)! Thanks in advance Gary

[@macmost]

@@MrJazz86 Yes, but why? Why is often a very important piece of information what looking for a tech solution. Why do you want to see only photos you took on your iPhone?

[@DA-ui4uc]

Thank you for the tutorial but I really don't like the change. If it ain't broke don't fix it springs to mind.

[@cats-uk]

I agree man. I strangely feel more angry with Apple now.

[@MarkLindstrom]

Nice informative video, however I have two observations re the new Photos app. First, some functionality has been removed; I sync my phone to my computer and photo folders that contain images taken by other cameras. Since the update all of these other images now appear in the continuous scrolling library display, which in itself isn’t the problem. The problem is that it is now not easily possible to see just the images taken on the phone itself. In the past it was just the iPhone images that showed up in the library. The only way I’ve so far found to see just the images taken on the phone, is to do a search for ‘iPhone’; unless others have any suggestions? It would have been useful if Apple had provided such a filter, or the provision for smart albums, based on a previous search. The second observation I’ve noticed, is that the new photos app seems to drain the battery much more quickly; not just on my phone but also on the iPad. I used to keep the old app open without any detrimental impact on battery life. Now, I have to ensure that I close the app after every view, otherwise the battery drains far too quickly.

[@macmost]

Previously I do t remember any mode that would just show you your iPhone photos out of all of your photos. Why would you want that? But you have already found a way to do it if you really want it. It also shouldn’t take up any more power than before, especially if you aren’t using it at all. Maybe it is just reindexing things right now and that is what you are seeing?

[@10OF9OFBORG]

Great video! One question, how to set up the album in the alphabet order? Thank you!

[@macmost]

Go into Albums, tap the ••• button at the top, Sort By Name.

[@10OF9OFBORG]

@ Thank you so much Gary!

[@lucasfantini223]

Great video. And what about keywords? Do you think apple will abandon this feature? I categorize my photos using keywords from macOS. But iOS doesn’t have this functionality.

[@macmost]

There's no indication they are interested in abandoning that. It is a primary part of the Mac version of Photos. I hope they eventually bring it to iOS too.

[@WendyFarkas]

Navigating the sections is important, and you explained it well (as usual). But I still can't figure out how to add /remove a given photo from an album or a collection.

[@macmost]

For an album, go to that album. Then tap and hold the photo and select Remove From Album from the menu that appears. As for other collections, they are mostly statements-of-fact, like the Videos collection shows your videos. You can't remove a video from there because it is, in fact, a video.

[@akula9713]

Can I look at the big library and see which pictures are not in a category or collection?

[@macmost]

Not really. What difference does it make if they are not in a category?

[@akula9713]

@ I’m trying to find a photo from 15 years ago or was it 10? I think I’ve put all those photos of that subject into various virtual albums, categories, etc. so I look in those areas and it’s not there. So I was going to show a friend a photo of something we just discussed, but cannot. After they leave I spend loads of time looking for it, and eventually find it. But if I could see library with a text icon on each photo to show if it was in a category or virtual album, the job could be done in minutes. I have photos going back to the 1800s, of our family, extended family, their adventures in the Empire, and thousands of more recent photos when digital cameras became popular.

[@macmost]

@@akula9713 So categories are automatic. If something has a horse in it, then you can find it by searching for horse. You don't get to assign categories. Think of them as objects or keywords or "things in the photos." Maybe you mean albums?

[@rhettshipley4593]

Hey Gary. Using 2 screens. When I double click on one screen to make it a full screen, the other screen goes black. Double click on the full screen to shrink it the other screen is restored. Do you know of any settings related to this very recent problem?

[@macmost]

One an iPhone? Or do you mean a Mac? (This video is about an iPhone topic). If you mean on a Mac, it is the Mission Control setting “displays have separate spaces.”

[@rhettshipley4593]

@@macmost I have an imac and an external display. When I double click either to make it full screen the other display disappears. As soon as I double click to shrink the screen the second display comes back to life.

[@rhettshipley4593]

This only happened after my last update of the os

[@GaryRosenzweig]

@@rhettshipley4593right. Did you see my previous reply. I gave you the solution there.

[@rhettshipley4593]

Turns out it was a glitch with the beta copy of sequoia 15.3. Happened after upgraded from 15.2.

[@geekmeee]

I have iPhone 14 Pro Max, iOS 18.3, but I am getting (former simplified) menus? then what you are showing??

[@macmost]

Not sure what you mean by "(former simplified) menus"

[@klondt]

I really miss the Camera Roll feature from earlier versions. The current setup mixes my recently taken photos with those I’ve saved and synced from my Mac, which makes it very confusing. I dislike this version of Photos so much.

[@Zomboy4313]

I personally have no issue with the new photos app, better than when it had the carousal

[@cats-uk]

Lightbulb moment in the first few mins. I should send this to screen casts online, don mcallister, Adam Christiansen, Jon gruber, Michael Johnstone

[@cats-uk]

It’s good to finally understand this paradigm. Thought Apple had lost their fucking minds

[@cats-uk]

I lasted 5 mins before feeling angry again. I wish Apple hadn’t done this.. It was already good before. There’s actually beauty in simplicity. Why drain the joy out of iPhone for this complex stuff?

[@cats-uk]

That said, on some level Apple do know what’s best long term. I hated iOS 7 at first. ….but obviously “flat” was right for Retina screens. I hated losing fhe home button… But I still can’t help but hate that they’ve *desecrated* Apple Photos app. Not to be over dramatic. Huge debt of gratitude to MacMost for being the first to decipher it.

[@pahati]

The search for date of photos taken is now no longer available 😢

[@macmost]

You can certainly search by date. Use the search button and enter a date like Dec 24, etc. try it.

[@JavisoGaming]

I miss the camera roll. I like the ability to see the pictures I just took.

[@macmost]

Just look at the last photos at the bottom of the library list.

[@JavisoGaming]

@ Yes but they are not all from my camera.

[@macmost]

@@JavisoGaming Doesn't matter. The Library list is by date.

[@jamestlynn]

Still on iOS 17 for this one reason: the photos app. It’s not just the layout. My god what did they do to the video scrubber? And why does it compress everything with the bars instead of just showing the photos/videos in normal full screen mode? It makes no sense. There are tons of Reddit posts detailing the MANY MANY problems with iOS 18 photos. Idk who signed off on this but they need to be fired. The theory is that Apple shuffled around their best talent over to the Apple Intelligence side of things and left the B team (or in this case the F team)

[@AnonymousOG]

Apple finally gives us more customization and online people just complain complain complain....

[@lukuxider2000]

hmmm you say scroll up and you scrolling down - bit confusing

[@macmost]

The content you want is "up" so you are going "up" to see the contents that are "above." But yes, you could make the case that my finger is physically moving "down" to do that. But I gotta pick one. Is it confusing though? You see the results right there.

[@derekprospero]

Thanks Gary, learned a few things as always. But man, I really dislike the way they integrated photos synced from Mac into the wall, without any way to filter them out. It’s completely ruined the app for me. If anyone knows something I’m missing, let me know 🙏

[@macmost]

"they integrated photos synced from Mac into the wall" I can't tell what you mean by that.

[@derekprospero]

@@macmostThanks for responding! I have a bunch of photos in folders that exist on my Mac. I keep them synced on my phone and they show up in a section called “From my Mac”. These photos cannot be edited or deleted on the phone, they can only be unsynced when I connect my phone to my Mac via cable. Before IOS 18, these photos did not mix with my camera roll. But now they’re just lumped in with photos I took with my phone ‘s camera and there doesn’t seem to be any way to filter them out. Basically i just want the old camera roll list, which was strictly stuff taken with the phones camera

[@macmost]

@@derekprospero Oh, so you are using the old cable sync technique, not iCloud Photos? I haven't done that in more than 10 years, so I can only guess at a solution. Maybe start with why. Why do you want to view photos taken from your iPhone separately? What's the goal?

[@derekprospero]

@@macmostI have large collections of art, client work, historical maps, etc, more than I care to keep in the cloud. I keep them on my Mac and it’s never been a problem to sync them to my phone because they were always kept separate from my phones camera roll. It’s such a pain now that everything is lumped into one giant gallery.

[@macmost]

@@derekprospero Maybe consider keeping client work and such out of your Photos library? Just a suggestion, but it really is designed to hold your photos. Using the Finder (Files on iOS) with iCloud Drive works really well for things like client work. You can organize as you like with folders, use real file names, store things that are not image files, etc.

[@AndyDolphinArtist]

The new Movie “feature” replacing Slideshow is awful. So much of this overhaul appears to be “Form over function”.

[@macmost]

What about it don’t you like, specifically!

[@AndyDolphinArtist]

@ It slices, dices and zooms the images and slips and slides them around for a second or two. Slideshow simply crossfaded from one whole image to the next, like a slideshow. I also disagree that placing everything in one long screen, filled with large images, is an improvement over r a simple index system. iOS 18 seems to be been designed such that many parts of it look like web pages rather than a filing system (eg, why does an app like Pages open with half the screen occupied by a title image and “call to action”-like button?)

[@GaryRosenzweig]

@@AndyDolphinArtistso you want it simpler? Fine to want that. But you also had people before wanting it to look nicer. Hard to please everyone I guess.

[@NeilLavitt]

I’m still utterly perplexed as to how iterative fiddling can enshitify an app so effectively.

[@cats-uk]

This step was revolutionary not evolutionary. In other words, they didn’t iterate. They did a paradigm shift. (I hate it, too.)

[@NeilLavitt]

@ well this is true, but I’ll change this to revolutionary enshitification😊

[@GginoBlue]

I hate this iteration of the app with a passion. My 85 year old mother is unable to see her photos anymore because of this redesign. And the fact that Apple was so pushy about installing ios18.. their notifications basically trick people into installing it. Awful.

[@Jonathantuba]

I hate the new photo app. Was quite happy how it was organised before. Apple has really spoilt this app.

[@Jalvesphoto]

You are to nice for this. I HATE IT! Who did this to us :( It is like it was made by someone with ADHD-- Less is more.