At WWDC 2024, Apple announced a significant overhaul of its Photos app, set to debut with iOS 18. This update brings a refreshed interface, enhanced organizational tools, and innovative ways to browse through your cherished photos, encompassing friends, family, pets, vacations, and more.
The newly redesigned app is engineered to reduce the time spent searching for photos by making all necessary functionalities easily accessible. One of the most notable changes is the unified view, incorporating a photo grid at the top and a theme-organized library below.
The grid feature remains a reliable tool for revisiting specific dates, months, and years, now equipped with a filter button to refine results based on content type. Additionally, users can exclude screenshots from this view.
Leveraging the “intelligence” integrated into iOS 18, the Photos app will automatically organize images more effectively. Under the grid, you’ll find your most valued photos sorted into collections based on themes such as time, people, memorable moments, and travels.
The “Recent Days” function will now organize daily photos while filtering out clutter, such as snapshots of receipts. A dynamic viewing mode will autoplay the most recent photos at the top of the screen, and users can swipe to browse through previous days.
Moreover, you’ll have the ability to view your photo collections in collage format and share them seamlessly with a single tap.
Though finding specific individuals in your photo library was previously possible, the new app groups together favorite people for the first time, making searching for family and friends’ photos more intuitive.
The updated trips section consolidates all your travel experiences in one location and includes an autoplay feature for browsing through these memories. Apple has also introduced the ability to pin and reorder collections, ensuring your preferred memories are easily accessible.
A new carousel view, accessible by swiping right from the grid, will display your standout photos in a poster-like format. This feature will spotlight favorited photos and surprise you with new ones to enjoy daily.
