iOS 18 Photos App Redesign: Two Months Later, Users Still Divided

[WarmWinterHat]

It's super easy to customize and bring the display back to old times. Takes less than 30 seconds.

It's really not. You can make it similar, but take videos for example, viewing them is completely different.

It takes less than 30 seconds to either bring the Photos app back to the original version, or, customize it for what you'd like to see.

Apple offers choices. That's a good thing.

What my choice would be is strictly a camera roll, with no folders, faces, memories, anything. Just a single directory of the pictures I've taken, in the order I took them. Sadly, that's not an option.

 

[QuarterSwede]

It's crazy you can't just see your camera roll and you have to look at every picture stored on your phone when you open up the app!

That’s what the camera roll was … now it shows you half of that and then some recent day tags and folders (at least the way I customized it). It’s quite a bit faster for me as use recent photos and albums quite a bit. Definitely like this UI better than the old stale one.

 

[jonnysods]

I chalk this redesign to the pressure on Apple's software teams to have something new each year. There are some tweaks I could see would be helpful to the Photos app, but this feels like change for change's sake. You cannot open this app and easily use it, which was always the key to Apple's success.

They still can't get shuffle to work properly in the Music app (for me it will shuffle in the exact same order no matter what I try), but they redesigned the Photos app into something that requires customizing to get it working in a way you like.

 

[uacd]

It takes less than 30 seconds to either bring the Photos app back to the original version, or, customize it for what you'd like to see.

Apple offers choices. That's a good thing.

More like wishful thinking. I tried the reorganizing tricks. It is totally not the same. It feels like some illegal TikTok copy, and I really hate TikTok. Who thought endless scroll would be such a wonderful idea? And this new 5 tile grid is sooo un-Apple, I am used to 3 tile grid ever since my first iPhone.

Also fonts, elements design. It feels like app was made by someone who doesn’t even understand UI design and how much UX matters in such design. Maybe from a “fashion” standpoint it looks classy, no objections. But it is totally unusable mess

 

[Paddle1]

A change I'd like to see is for them to improve the video scrubbing. It's definitely not as smooth as it was in iOS 17 (in both feel and appearance).

 

[Mr Todhunter]

I find the new photos app simply horrible.

 

[citysnaps]

It's really not. You can make it similar, but take videos for example, viewing them is completely different.



What my choice would be is strictly a camera roll, with no folders, faces, memories, anything. Just a single directory of the pictures I've taken, in the order I took them. Sadly, that's not an option.

That's exactly how I have mine configured. Takes less than 30 seconds to set up.

 

[bigjnyc]

meh it doesn't bother me at all... After messing around and customizing the look to my liking, and getting used to it.... Works perfectly fine for me. I wonder how many of the people that absolutely hate it do not know or have not bothered to mess around with the customization options? You can pretty much make the bottom half of the app look however you want.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

That's exactly how I have mine configured. Takes less than 30 seconds to set up.

Explanation how, please? I've not found a way to do that.

 

[Alwis]

The Photos app war already bad prior to 18.0 and they made it even worse, I did not like it before and now I absolutely hate it.

Maybe it is good for people, who take thousands of photos without ever sorting them, but this is not me. I to take a lot of photos, with my iPhone and with "traditional" cameras, I edit them (mainly with CaptureOne), delete unwanted photos and sort them into albums.

And still smart albums are not synced from my Mac to the iPad and iPhone, why on earth not? Booth, my 2024 iPad Pro and my iPhone 16 Pro have more CPU power than my 2020 iMac, but no, can not use smart albums on them. So I have to recreate all smart albums as static ones and have to manually update these, how stupid.

 

[citysnaps]

Explanation how, please? I've not found a way to do that.

1. Open the Photos app.

2. Scroll to the bottom and select Customize & Reorder.

3. Deselect the options you don't want to see.


Optional:

4. *If* you want to see some of them, simply drag them in the order you'd like them to appear on your screen.

 

[timborama]

Returned my iPhone 16 pro max solely because of the photos app. Steaming pile 💩. Will stick with iOS 17 on 14PM

 

[citysnaps]

Returned my iPhone 16 pro max solely because of the photos app. Steaming pile 💩. Will stick with iOS 17 on 14PM

See my post right above.

 

[Paddle1]

You can hide everything but it's a lot more nuanced than just being able to customize everything to make it like before. There are various things that just behave differently or are moved around that can't be configured. Some users won't care or notice but if you're someone that does that isn't an adequate solution in its current state.

 

[plusacht]

When Apple released iOS 18 in September, it introduced an overhauled Photos app, dropping on users the biggest change to photo management on iPhone since the app's introduction. MacRumors forums users have been particularly vocal about the redesign – some have praised the AI features, but others have called for a return to the simpler interface of iOS 17.

The company has made much of Apple Intelligence, so it's no wonder that at the center of Apple's overhaul is an attempt to leverage AI and machine learning to simplify photo organization while introducing a more modern aesthetic. The major changes include a unified scrollable interface that replaces the traditional tab system, smart collections that automatically group photos by occasions like "Recent Days" and "Trips," and significantly enhanced search capabilities that understand natural language queries.

• How to Navigate the Redesigned Photos App
• How to Use Natural Language Search in Photos

Photos Redesign Draws Common Criticisms

These changes are supposed to accurately represent Apple's vision for a more intelligent photo management system, but reception remains decidedly mixed. Many users have found the transition jarring, with several recurring complaints emerging across social media and Apple community feedback:

• A cluttered interface that makes finding specific photos difficult
  
• Confusion from redundant auto-generated albums and collections
  
• Photos and videos no longer defaulting to full-screen viewing mode
  
• Removal of traditional navigation tabs like "Library" and "Albums"
  
• Overemphasis on AI features at the expense of simple organization

In response to both pre- and post-release feedback, Apple has implemented several updates through iOS 18 betas and point releases. For example, the company removed the controversial Carousel feature that displayed daily highlights, reintroduced the familiar pinch-to-zoom navigational gesture, and will soon improve the video player interface by removing the borders during playback. But is it enough?

• How to Customize and Reorder the Photos App

The Photos app represents one of the most significant overhauls to a core iOS app in recent years. Some argue it was a step in the right direction, but others see it as a regressive move prompted by Apple's rivals offering more and more AI-oriented photography features. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the Photos app redesign. Barring a complete reversion back to the original interface, what features would you like to see Apple add or remove in future updates?

Article Link: iOS 18 Photos App Redesign: Two Months Later, Users Still Divide

 

[koochey]

these rounded edged frames around the tiles in dark mode are sooo unaesthetic - in light mode they are just normal... but dark mode - screw you - if woke would be an app - congrats we present you the new photos app 🙃

 

[dsmedic10]

Has anyone found a way to restore the video scrolling/playing to the way iOS 17 handled it? I liked the way scrolling forward/backward was done in earlier versions. It seems more intuitive and and you got a glimpse of what the video timeline was. I liked that batter than the solid line that we have now.

 

[plusacht]

Let’s fix something which wasn’t broken and keep the broken things untouched.

 

[polyphenol]

I don't understand the Photo App honestly.
I have no idea how to move a photo to a collection/folder...

In my opinion - maybe I am getting too old for this - this is one of the least well implemented app from Apple.
Again - for me.

Right-click and choose Add to...

If you wish, select multiple images and add them all at once. E.g. a range or a load of individually selected images.

 

[bigjnyc]

I don’t believe users are divided. The majority hate it. As do I.

You think its the majority because you're going off of a bunch of tech enthusiasts/nerds crying about it on the internet... but I bet you the "Majority" of overall iPhone users don't care about it or don't mind it.

 

[deuxani]

1. Open the Photos app.

2. Scroll to the bottom and select Customize & Reorder.

3. Deselect the options you don't want to see.


Optional:

4. *If* you want to see some of them, simply drag them in the order you'd like them to appear on your screen.

5. Click the Up/Down arrows and select Sort by Date Captured

 

[PsykX]

They have improved the video player in 18.2, which for me is a very welcome addition.

The Search features introduced in 18.0 are absolutely killer, it saves me SO much time.

But having everything in one page when you open the app, I don't know. It's a good idea on paper, but in practice I find myself losing more time than anything. A Table of Contents might fix it so I could rapidly tap on Albums, etc., but a Tab Bar at the bottom, for me, is a type of Table of Contents disguised...

 

[Blue Nova]

Not only that, but you can’t play a slideshow in Airplay, can’t control the speed, like before using a rabbit and a turtle.

 

[citysnaps]

5. Click the Up/Down arrows and select Sort by Date Captured

If that's the ordering you want (probably the majority of people want that), that's not necessary as that's the default.

 

[sigmasirrus]

I feel like all the same stuff is there, so customization gets me where I need to be, like everyone else mentioned.

But what I miss from years ago is when the photo grid intelligently grouped your photos by day and location with a break between them. Made it so much easier to find a particular photo rather than the endless grid we have now.