Photo Management

[m1maverick]

The question you asked is irrelevant because Apples photos app doesn't work like Androids offerings. If you can't adapt to it and it's a deal breaker you should consider moving back to the platform that allows you to do what you need it to do

My questions were:

• Are any replacement apps for Photos and, if so, what are some recommended ones?
• Or is there a way to accomplish what I am trying to do in Photos?

Apparently the answers are no and no. Correct?

 

[m1maverick]

Apple could just add another "Album" that of photos that aren't in other albums.

Kind of like when they removed the "All Songs" from artists in the music app, forcing you to look through each album for specific songs rather than just an alphabetical list of all the songs from that artist.

All Apple need do is add the capability to move pictures to whatever album the user wants. I see no reason this can't exist. Having all pictures in a single album gets unwieldy.

 

[m1maverick]

OP - for what it's worth, I use the app "Slidebox" to manage my library. No, it doesn't fix the problem by moving things out of recents into albums. However, to me, it provided the best option for sorting all my photos into albums and making sure everything has a place. It basically scans your library for new photos (since the last time you opened Slidebox), and asks you what album each needs to go in, or gives you the option to skip over it if you don't want to put it in an album or delete it if it was something like a screenshot that you used once and forgot to delete after the fact. It is a helpful tool for doing about as much as you can with the stock photos app. But, like you, I would still MUCH prefer to be able to truly move things. Like I've said, the library tab is all photos. We don't need two different places to see all photos. Recents should be changed to something else, such as everything not moved to an album.

Thanks for the recommendation. I've just ordered a replacement Android phone and will likely switch back. Many may not consider this issue something worthy of switching but IMO, it is super annoying. It's not the only reason for switching back but if I could have found a way to move a picture from one album to another I likely wouldn't be switching back (I can deal with the other annoyances).

 

[mrochester]

All Apple need do is add the capability to move pictures to whatever album the user wants. I see no reason this can't exist. Having all pictures in a single album gets unwieldy.

You can put each photo into any number of different albums; they don’t just need to be in one.

 

[mrochester]

Thanks for the recommendation. I've just ordered a replacement Android phone and will likely switch back. Many may not consider this issue something worthy of switching but IMO, it is super annoying. It's not the only reason for switching back but if I could have found a way to move a picture from one album to another I likely wouldn't be switching back (I can deal with the other annoyances).

Good luck!

 

[klasma]

I did research this before posting and I saw this explanation several times. However, it is a distinction without a purpose as the result is the same: The picture still appears in the Recents album. I am surprised that moving a picture from one album to another appears to be impossible in the Photos app. Given the research I did it looks like a feature many people want yet there doesn't appear to be a solution.

The conceptual model of the photo albums is like filtered views on all the photos you have.

The Recents folder shows all photos sorted by time added (as opposed to by time taken as in All Photos).

Adding a photo to a named album is like tagging the photo with that name, and the album is a filtered view of all photos tagged with the respective name.

You can “move” a photo from one named album to another by “Remove”-ing it from one named album and adding it to another. You can’t remove photos from “smart” albums like Recents though.

Similarly, if you delete a photo in any album, it is deleted everywhere, because it’s the same photo, not a copy. (You can create an explicit copy with “Duplicate” though.)

This is NOT about how Apple implements things behind the curtain. It’s how Apple expects USERS to conceptualize albums in their head. Of course you can disagree with that conceptual model, but it is what it is.

 

[adrianlondon]

Hashphotos is a good app.

The free version has an “unsorted” list which shows every photo not in an album. (“recents” doesn’t count of course).

It can also edit metadata which is also why I like it.

 

[Mr. Awesome]

I fully understand it's not making a copy but rather adding a pointer to the picture in the new album. I get it and it's a distinction without a purpose. Whether it is making an actual copy, adding a new pointer to the new album, or something else is irrelevant. The end result is I have an album which contains all of my pictures. That wouldn't be an issue except for the fact that all new pictures end up in this album. Frankly, it's stupid and I cannot for the life of me fathom why Apple would not allow the user to move the picture (yes, I know the actual implementation is done through pointers but I am using Apple's terminology) from the Recents album to a different album.

I think what you’re missing is that Recents isn’t an album in the same way as user-created albums are (despite the app implying that it is based on where it shows up). Think of Recents as sort of a Camera Roll replacement. It always shows every photo in your library, ordered by how recently it was added or imported. It’s essentially just All Photos but organized differently.

 

[m1maverick]

I think what you’re missing is that Recents isn’t an album in the same way as user-created albums are (despite the app implying that it is based on where it shows up). Think of Recents as sort of a Camera Roll replacement. It always shows every photo in your library, ordered by how recently it was added or imported. It’s essentially just All Photos but organized differently.

What I am missing is the ability to move pictures from Recents to other albums.

With my Android phone when I took a picture it was placed in the, aptly named, "Camera" album. I could leave it there, copy it to another album or even move it to a different album. In this album pictures can be sorted by time taken, time modified, or name. Pictures can even be grouped by date. All the functionality of the Recents album plus the ability to move pictures out of it.

I really don't have an issue with the Recents folder showing all pictures (but then Apple should consider naming the Album "All Pictures" or something to that effect). The issue becomes when I want to organize pictures into their own albums. To my knowledge, correct me if I'm wrong, Recents is where pictures appear after taking them. There's no "Camera" folder where I can find these pictures. Thus I have to wade through a bunch of pictures in order to place them into an album.

Here's one use case which is what raised this issue. I am recapping five Classic II Macintosh systems. As part of this process I take pictures of the logic and analog boards for each one so that I have a record of how the capacitors are laid out on each one. I do this in bulk where I do each phase of the work on all five systems at once. Thus I have taken pictures of all five systems at one time.

With my Android phone I would take all the pictures I need for one system, create a folder for it, then move those pictures into that folder. I would then repeat that process four more times for the remaining Macs. I can do the same with my iPhone except now I have to spend time weeding through all of the pictures for each previous Mac trying to determine which pictures belong to the previous Macs and which belong to the one I just took pictures for. With the Andoid phone it is easy to know as they're the only Mac pictures remaining in the Album because I had moved the previous ones. This might not sound difficult but, in the interests of being thorough, I took many pictures for each Mac...between 25 and 50.

I really don't see why Apple doesn't permit someone to move pictures out of the (IMO, misnamed) Recents album.

 

[zorinlynx]

It's so incredibly interesting to see how differently people approach things like photo organization.

In my case, if putting a photo in an album removed it from recents, it would drive me absolutely insane. Being able to have photos in multiple albums without duplication is one of the killer features of Photos.app, and I wouldn't want it any other way!

Yet other people can't stand this. Makes you think!

 

[zorinlynx]

What I am missing is the ability to move pictures from Recents to other albums.

With my Android phone when I took a picture it was placed in the, aptly named, "Camera" album. I could leave it there, copy it to another album or even move it to a different album. In this album pictures can be sorted by time taken, time modified, or name. Pictures can even be grouped by date. All the functionality of the Recents album plus the ability to move pictures out of it.

I really don't have an issue with the Recents folder showing all pictures (but then Apple should consider naming the Album "All Pictures" or something to that effect). The issue becomes when I want to organize pictures into their own albums. To my knowledge, correct me if I'm wrong, Recents is where pictures appear after taking them. There's no "Camera" folder where I can find these pictures. Thus I have to wade through a bunch of pictures in order to place them into an album.

Here's one use case which is what raised this issue. I am recapping five Classic II Macintosh systems. As part of this process I take pictures of the logic and analog boards for each one so that I have a record of how the capacitors are laid out on each one. I do this in bulk where I do each phase of the work on all five systems at once. Thus I have taken pictures of all five systems at one time.

With my Android phone I would take all the pictures I need for one system, create a folder for it, then move those pictures into that folder. I would then repeat that process four more times for the remaining Macs. I can do the same with my iPhone except now I have to spend time weeding through all of the pictures for each previous Mac trying to determine which pictures belong to the previous Macs and which belong to the one I just took pictures for. With the Andoid phone it is easy to know as they're the only Mac pictures remaining in the Album because I had moved the previous ones. This might not sound difficult but, in the interests of being thorough, I took many pictures for each Mac...between 25 and 50.

I really don't see why Apple doesn't permit someone to move pictures out of the (IMO, misnamed) Recents album.

This is one of the reasons I wish Apple would support Smart Albums in iOS. In MacOS Photos I have a Smart Album called "Not in any album", which contains photos I've not put in albums yet. If I drag a photo from that album to a regular album, it disappears. This would solve your problem, but for GOD KNOWS WHY, Apple won't implement Smart Albums on iOS.

This is a genuine pet peeve of mine and something I wish they'd fix. I bet if they did, it would make you happy as well because you'd be able to get that behavior back.

 

[mrochester]

What I am missing is the ability to move pictures from Recents to other albums.

With my Android phone when I took a picture it was placed in the, aptly named, "Camera" album. I could leave it there, copy it to another album or even move it to a different album. In this album pictures can be sorted by time taken, time modified, or name. Pictures can even be grouped by date. All the functionality of the Recents album plus the ability to move pictures out of it.

I really don't have an issue with the Recents folder showing all pictures (but then Apple should consider naming the Album "All Pictures" or something to that effect). The issue becomes when I want to organize pictures into their own albums. To my knowledge, correct me if I'm wrong, Recents is where pictures appear after taking them. There's no "Camera" folder where I can find these pictures. Thus I have to wade through a bunch of pictures in order to place them into an album.

Here's one use case which is what raised this issue. I am recapping five Classic II Macintosh systems. As part of this process I take pictures of the logic and analog boards for each one so that I have a record of how the capacitors are laid out on each one. I do this in bulk where I do each phase of the work on all five systems at once. Thus I have taken pictures of all five systems at one time.

With my Android phone I would take all the pictures I need for one system, create a folder for it, then move those pictures into that folder. I would then repeat that process four more times for the remaining Macs. I can do the same with my iPhone except now I have to spend time weeding through all of the pictures for each previous Mac trying to determine which pictures belong to the previous Macs and which belong to the one I just took pictures for. With the Andoid phone it is easy to know as they're the only Mac pictures remaining in the Album because I had moved the previous ones. This might not sound difficult but, in the interests of being thorough, I took many pictures for each Mac...between 25 and 50.

I really don't see why Apple doesn't permit someone to move pictures out of the (IMO, misnamed) Recents album.

We can all see what you want to do, we’re just telling you it doesn’t do that.

 

[Patrickgee]

Late last year I cracked the screen on my Android phone. I decided to give the iPhone a try and so I picked up an iPhone 12 Pro. In order to do some of the things I was used to on my Android device I ended up purchasing iMazing which is a nice little program. After using the iPhone for a few months I have encountered a number of annoyances with the most prevalent being the inability to move pictures in the Photos app.

With my Android phone I would take pictures and then move them to other albums. With the iPhone I am unable to do so. All I can do is copy them into a different album. This is quite annoying as my "Recents" album continues to grow without organization (except for the time the picture was taken). Thus when I have new pictures to add to one of my albums I have to search through the Recents album for the pictures I have yet to copy and then copy them to the new album. This is annoying.

I am not sure what the logic is behind having every picture left in the Recents album but whatever the reason it is how Photos works. Picture management in Photos seems to be a afterthought so I am wondering if there are any replacement apps for Photos and, if so, what are some recommended ones? Or is there a way to accomplish what I am trying to do in Photos?

I think you are referring to moving Pictures on your iPhone to albums on your iPhone. I also find that annoying. I would expect it to move to the new album and be removed from Camera album.
I move them in Photos to a new named album (which doesn't duplicate it) which I can then sync with my iPhone. You can either leave them in Photos in an the recent album or right click and remove from Album. (Not delete)

 

[BLtheP]

It's so incredibly interesting to see how differently people approach things like photo organization.

In my case, if putting a photo in an album removed it from recents, it would drive me absolutely insane. Being able to have photos in multiple albums without duplication is one of the killer features of Photos.app, and I wouldn't want it any other way!

Yet other people can't stand this. Makes you think!

To be fair, I think what we’re all wanting here would be the ability to copy/duplicate OR move. So if they gave us that, you’d still be able to copy as you like and anybody wanting to be able to move them would be able to do so.

Smart albums would be a decent fix.

As I’ve iterated, I think the recents as it is is not very useful. We have the “library” tab that already has all photos in it. Over in the albums tab we have recents which should, IMO, be changed to function more like how this thread suggests.

 

[lukas.j]

I think what m1maverick would like to have is the ability to empty the 'Recents' folder over time. Like when you receive emails and you manage them by moving them into subfolders and trying to have an empty 'Incoming' folder in the evening when leaving your desk at work.

 

[m1maverick]

I think what m1maverick would like to have is the ability to empty the 'Recents' folder over time. Like when you receive emails and you manage them by moving them into subfolders and trying to have an empty 'Incoming' folder in the evening when leaving your desk at work.

There are a couple of ways I can think of as to how Apple could address my (and, from my research, many others) issue. One would be to allow people to move items out of the Recents album. Doing so could break the paradigm of "Recents" as it would no longer represent all recent pictures. So...

Another would be to create another album, say "Camera" and place pictures into it (like Android does). The assumption being that pictures could be moved from it into another album. As they do today a pointer to the picture can be added to the Recents album to maintain the Recents paradigm.

 

[Altis]

All photos are in at least one album (the recents album). There’ll be no photos in no album.

Maybe an album named "Recents" shouldn't contain every single photo on the device? Should photos that are old or even from previous iPhones be under "Recents"?

It doesn't really make sense and it's a PITA sometimes as OP is pointing out. Once you've catalogued a photo into other albums, you should be able to see only photos that are not in an album other than "Recents" AKA All Photos.

 

[Rainshadow]

I fully understand it's not making a copy but rather adding a pointer to the picture in the new album. I get it and it's a distinction without a purpose. Whether it is making an actual copy, adding a new pointer to the new album, or something else is irrelevant. The end result is I have an album which contains all of my pictures. That wouldn't be an issue except for the fact that all new pictures end up in this album. Frankly, it's stupid and I cannot for the life of me fathom why Apple would not allow the user to move the picture (yes, I know the actual implementation is done through pointers but I am using Apple's terminology) from the Recents album to a different album.

I’m just curious why. If it’s so you don’t see a billion photos in recents… don’t view or use recents at all. Just use albums. I would hate to “move” a photo to one album and be unable to have it elsewhere. Also, one of my favorite ways to view photos is by scrolling through my years of photos - even the screenshots included. It’s like my life in sedimentary form.

I am sincerely curious what functional need someone would have to NOT want access to a photo on the recents roll. You can still make an album with it. But why would you NEED to not see it in recents? Unless - is it a private picture with data or something you want locked up? I don’t even know whether the photos app lets you lock albums or not.

 

[Mike Boreham]

As above.

You actually aren't copying them to album but are just creating a link to the file in the album. That way you can delete a photo from an album without deleting the original file wherever it may live. Much safer and easier system.

If you want to actually move photos between albums you might want to look at Lightroom.

Just to be clear, "Lightroom Classic" works like that but "Lightroom" works like Photos. Classic can do both ways via collections. Adobes terminology shenanigans create so many problems.

 

[BLtheP]

I’m just curious why. If it’s so you don’t see a billion photos in recents… don’t view or use recents at all. Just use albums. I would hate to “move” a photo to one album and be unable to have it elsewhere. Also, one of my favorite ways to view photos is by scrolling through my years of photos - even the screenshots included. It’s like my life in sedimentary form.

I am sincerely curious what functional need someone would have to NOT want access to a photo on the recents roll. You can still make an album with it. But why would you NEED to not see it in recents? Unless - is it a private picture with data or something you want locked up? I don’t even know whether the photos app lets you lock albums or not.

It is hard to manage albums when you have no way to move photos to them. There are plenty of photos I want to keep but don’t want to see when scrolling to find something to send in a message, post on FB, etc. The only way I find albums useful at all is using something like Slidebox to help keep the albums up to date so that I have a better chance of finding something by going to the album it’s in instead of scrolling through the main view.

I don’t think anybody is lobbying to remove the ability to copy. If Apple does anything to change any of this, they should give you the ability to move OR copy/duplicate. No need to take away one because they added the other.

 

[m1maverick]

I’m just curious why. If it’s so you don’t see a billion photos in recents… don’t view or use recents at all. Just use albums. I would hate to “move” a photo to one album and be unable to have it elsewhere. Also, one of my favorite ways to view photos is by scrolling through my years of photos - even the screenshots included. It’s like my life in sedimentary form.

I spoke to a specific use case in post #34. The problem is Recents is where all new pictures are placed (or is there another location which I am missing?) In the use case I described I have to weed through the Recents album trying to locate the pictures I just took from the ones I previously took.

Here are a few pictures to illustrate:

Imagine having to weed through 50 pictures that look similar to this. Much easier to:

1. Take the pictures.
2. Create a new album to store these pictures.
3. Move the pictures to the new album.
4. Repeat for the next system.

By moving the pictures it's easy to quickly identify the pictures of the latest system from previous ones as the previous ones are no longer present.

Now if there is an album which contains the pictures I just took and from which I can move them out of and into a different album that would be an acceptable solution. To my knowledge no such album exists. Does it?