When you open the iOS 18 Photos app, you’re greeted with a million different album categories like Recent Days, People, Pinned Collections, Memories, Trips (which, by the way, is just sitting empty for me), Featured Photos, Shared Albums, Wallpaper Suggestions, and finally, at the BOTTOM of the app – the actual “Albums” folder.
It’s like Apple wants to remind me of every category they’ve ever come up with, instead of just letting me view my photos normally. And honestly, why is the “Albums” album (like the one I actually care about) sitting at the very bottom? Who designed this?
Cluttered iOS 18 Photos app proves Apple is running away from the simplicity iPhone users are used to
iPhone Photos app search bar size and position – iOS 18 vs iOS 17. Much smaller, and much harder to reach. Thanks, Apple!
See, with iOS 17, the Photos app felt cleaner and more straightforward – you had your albums, your moments, and your memories, and that was that.
But now, every time I open the Photos app, I feel like I’m being bombarded with categories that I didn’t even ask for. And why is the Recent Days tab cutting into the view of my photos? I want to see more of them at once.
As I said, the “Trips” tab is sitting empty? Like I know I haven’t traveled much lately, but I don’t need an empty album reminding me of that every time I open the app. The “Featured Photos” album constantly shoves random images in my face, and “Pinned Collections” feels unnecessary.
Don’t even get me started on “Wallpaper Suggestions.” I don’t need my own app to suggest wallpapers from my own photos. And where is the Screenshots tab/album?! Why is it in the “Media Types” thing?
Fixing the mess Apple created with the iOS 18 Photos app in just two steps – Customize and Reorder + Pinned Collections
The only new iPhone 16 button that matters. Wink, wink.
Yes, you can customize the iOS 18 Photos app, and it’s actually not too hard. And trust me, the final outcome will be well worth it…
How to fix the cluttered iOS 18 Photos app
Step 1: Customize and Reorder the iOS 18 Photos app – get rid of the tabs/albums you don’t need
Yes, you can reorder and even hide some of the unnecessary albums iOS 18 has forced upon your Photos app.
Open the Photos app, scroll all the way to the bottom and hit the Customize and Reorder button, which Apple has made extra large – supposedly because it knew everyone will need to use it.
Then, simply drag and drop to reorder the albums so you see the ones you actually want to see first. You can even hide albums you don’t care about by toggling them off. Thank God!
Step 2: Use Pinned Collections for quick access to “Screenshots”, “Videos”, and “Favorites” albums
Luckily, the Pinned Collections tab can actually come in handy – if you take a minute to put it in order.
You need to tap the Modify button next to the Pinned Collections tab, and you can reorder the albums you see under Pinned Collections. Of course, I immediately made my Favorites, Screenshots and Videos albums visible first, and got rid of the rest.
This way, your most used albums will be (almost) the first thing you see when you open the app.
Extra tip: Utilize the Search bar in the iOS 18 Photos app
The other tip I have is to use Apple’s improved search engine to find photos.
If you ever feel lost, the search feature can be a lifesaver. You can search by date, location, or even people in your photos, which is super helpful when you don’t want to go through hundreds of photos.
Updates to Apple Intelligence should make this process even easier by making supported iPhones aware of the little details in photos/screenshots.
Is the iPhone becoming overly complicated?
To be continued…
All in all, the iOS 18 Photos app didn’t need this much complication, and Apple should know better.
But hey, if you’re feeling frustrated with the new Photos app in iOS 18, know that you’re not alone – as I said, literally everyone online seems to agree that this ain’t it.
The good news is that there are ways to make it better by customizing and simplifying the layout.
And Apple… Maybe we shouldn’t mess with one of the most used apps on the iPhone… too much? Just a thought.
Source: Phone Arena