iOS 18: The Photos app is frustrating - see how you can improve the situation

October 1, 2024

Many users share the frustration about the changes Apple introduced to the Photos app in iOS 18, especially in terms of complexity and restructuring of categories.

While some of these additions may have a good purpose, such as organization and easier access to memories and albums, the excessive segmentation into categories and folders seems to have caused more confusion and dissatisfaction.

If you want to make the app easier to use and closer to the way it was before, there are a few steps and settings you can adjust:

How to Simplify the Photos app on iOS 18

Adaptation and reordering of categories

Open the Photos app.
Go to the Albums tab and scroll down.
Find the Customize and Reorder option.
From here you can rearrange the categories as you wish, putting the most important ones (e.g. "Albums", "Favorites") first and hiding the ones you don't use (like "Wallpaper Suggestions" or "Pinned Collections").

Hide Unnecessary Categories

When customizing categories, you can uncheck the display option for any category you find meaningless.
If you have "Pinned Collections" or "Recent Days" that you don't use, turn them off to make the app cleaner.

Change View in the "Library" Main Tab

Go to the Library tab.
Press the ... (Three dots) button in the top right corner.
Here, you can change the view to display photos as you wish - by year, month or day - or return to a more pared-down "All Photos" view.

Using "Albums" as a Central Navigation Point

If you're not happy with the new basic view, you can use the Albums tab as your main access point.
Create folders and albums with your own name, so you can have a more personalized organization that bypasses the app's automatic categories.

Disable Reminders and Notifications

If the suggested reminders and notifications are not useful to you, you can turn them off.
Go to Settings > Photos and turn off Memories & Sharing Suggestions notifications.

Disable the least used features

If the "Wallpaper Suggestions" feature or the "Trips" category are meaningless, you can turn them off through the Albums settings in the Photos app.

Additional Tips to Improve the Experience

Use the New Search: you can use the new and improved search to quickly find photos by location, date or person. This can help you skip the complex category structure.
Cleaning and Organizing Albums: do a cleanup of your albums and organize them according to your preferences, ignoring the app's automatic suggestions.

While these adjustments can help improve your experience with the Photos app, we hope Apple will listen to user feedback and bring additional settings or customization features in future updates.