Does anybody actually LIKE the new iOS 18 Photos app? [MERGED]

[Dandelion1]

In the pinned collections, there is a folder called Recently Saved. Could that be what you are looking for?

Also, if you scroll all the way down, there is an option to customize and reorder. Perhaps something in this menu could be helpful for what you are trying to do?

Re the second point, I've examined the options, both by myself and with people from Apple Support (while screen sharing) and there doesn't seem to be any way of viewing just the photos taken using this iPhone (or even the photos taken using this iPhone, mixed together with photos saved to this iPhone). It's a very strange omission: one can choose to view the photos saved to this iPhone (via Recently Saved) or all photos but not the photos taken using this iPhone.

 

[adrianlondon]

If Apple allowed smart albums (on iOS - MacOS already has them), especially if one could also interrogate EXIF/IPTC fields, their app would become *much* more useful.

 

[NauticalDan]

Yep. Apple's Find recently saved photos says:

Re the second point, I've examined the options, both by myself and with people from Apple Support (while screen sharing) and there doesn't seem to be any way of viewing just the photos taken using this iPhone (or even the photos taken using this iPhone, mixed together with photos saved to this iPhone). It's a very strange omission: one can choose to view the photos saved to this iPhone (via Recently Saved) or all photos but not the photos taken using this iPhone.

They did almost this exact same thing with an iOS update a few years ago and put the Camera Roll back in a .1 or .2 update. Hopefully that happens again. Even just having the recently saved section include camera photos would be an improvement here.

 

[droplink]

I hate Photos.
I hated it before and I hate it even more now.

Why is it that Apple thinks that Apple knows better how I want to structure my library than I do?

All these "recent days" "People and pets" and "pinned collections" are completely opposite to being able to just have a good structured, manually set Album.
Yes, I understand I can turn that off (and I did)
I just want Albums to work like it does in any proper desktop photo app like Lightroom or Aperture (rip).

 

[warrior30]

I'm going against the grain here as I think most people on this thread disklike Photo's but I actually like it. I didn't at first, but once I had a play with customization I think I like it more than I dislike it.

I like cherry picking the type of collections / memories I want, having the ability to pin useful things due to the fact it can recognise objects has improved how I use the apps.

Prior to this my photo's album (30k+) was just a dumping ground and I rarely scan back more than the last couple of weeks or my last holiday. I find that with all the collections available and different ways you can sort it, I've found myself browsing through photos from years gone by that is not a random sift through.

Anyway, I can see why loads of people don't like it, so I'm not trying to change their minds, but I for one do like i.

 

[timborama]

In the pinned collections, there is a folder called Recently Saved. Could that be what you are looking for?

Also, if you scroll all the way down, there is an option to customize and reorder. Perhaps something in this menu could be helpful for what you are trying to do?

Recently Saved contains NO photos, only grabs and downloads. It is NOT a replacement for Recents/Roll. There is no equivalent Recents/Roll functionality in the iOS 18 Photos, period! And for me, and many others, that’s a dealbreaker. My iPhone 16 is going back.

 

[timborama]

This is the biggest problem I have with iOS 18. It's beyond frustrating my sync'd Mac photo's are mixed in with all my camera roll photos (some of which I might want to save to my Mac, some I might not - I usually do a purge or review of those every year or two).

Bingo, that’s the issue for me as well. I have a feeling no one at Apple syncs from a Mac anymore, they’re all brainwashed into using iCloud. Shared albums don’t appear in the library view, but then all the metadata (ie. Exif, etc) that area is reserved for comments LOL.

Another behavior that’s annoying AF, is they changed the direction of sort. I scroll to the top and the view collapses easily. Driving me crazy.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

There is no equivalent Recents/Roll functionality in the iOS 18 Photos

Isn't the big cluster of all photos above the categories functionally the same as Recents? Since it shows everything - photos taken, downloaded, screenshot, etc.

 

[warrior30]

Isn't the big cluster of all photos above the categories functionally the same as Recents? Since it shows everything - photos taken, downloaded, screenshot, etc.

I thought the same thing as well, I'm not sure what advantages the old camera roll / recents / stream has over icloud? It does the same thing and more, or am I missing something?

 

[timborama]

Isn't the big cluster of all photos above the categories functionally the same as Recents? Since it shows everything - photos taken, downloaded, screenshot, etc.

Nope, that big thing at the top contains EVERYTHING (synced albums included, which the old Recents does not). I have 44,000 synced album photos. They are intermixed in that Library view/grid on iOS 18 with my other photos. They are not on the old Photos app.

The whole point of offloading photos to iPhotos on Mac is to clear out the “recents” and organize them into albums. With the option to sync them back to the phone. iOS 18 just merges those synced photos back in, making that view unwieldy.

But strangely shared albums photos are not merged into that library (which is a good thing) BUT you lose the ability to see metadata on those shared album photos (in favor of a comments field, oh joy). It’s just a big mess.

Note to Apple… just post the old photos app to the App Store, and let the customer decide.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Nope, that big thing at the top contains EVERYTHING (synced albums included, which the old Recents does not). I have 44,000 synced album photos. They are intermixed in that Library view/grid on iOS 18 with my other photos. They aren’t on the old iOS 18.

Ah, that makes sense. I'm in agreement with you then - that mess is horrible and an affront to anyone that appreciates neatly organized photos.

 

[jonnyb098]

It looks awful because it is awful! That’s one of the worst things about it

How is it more awful than the current version which has been trash and unchanged since iOS 7 ?

 

[odoy]

iOS 18 installed, try to get my taken photos, read the internet and downgrade to iOS 17. over and out


Apple, i don’t have the time for your experiments/ science how to do something

 

[MrRom92]

How is it more awful than the current version which has been trash and unchanged since iOS 7 ?

Have you not used it? Just use it. It’s a nightmare

 

[adrianlondon]

Everyone (not me, I don't care, but there are certainly a lot of you) who want "Recents" back - a way to show only photos taken on that device - log a Feedback.

If you're on the beta, you already have the app. If not, stick this into Safari: applefeedback://

There's a good chance Apple will add it, either into 18.1 or soon after.

 

[timborama]

What I really don't like is that video preview or scrubbing feature has been removed and that videos is not covering the screen.
I get that videos previously wasn't full screen before since buttons and such was shown, but now it looks weird and you have to press it to cover more screen.

It’s absurd, 3 taps just to play a video in full screen. Tap to shrink to reveal play button, tap to play, tap to expand full screen. Was just one tap in previous version. An also no thumbnails when scrubbing. The more I use the app, the more I hate it.


Need to petition Apple to put back the old version of Photos. They can supply both app versions, let the people decide.

 

[RealPhone]

Apple is following in Sonos' footsteps, which renewed the App so that it became almost unusable. Almost everyone hates the new App, and Sonos has lost tens of millions on the App renewal, which is a disaster for Sonos.

 

[warrior30]

Apple is following in Sonos' footsteps, which renewed the App so that it became almost unusable. Almost everyone hates the new App, and Sonos has lost tens of millions on the App renewal, which is a disaster for Sonos.

Pretty dramatic to compare the two, yes it seems like majority don't like the Photo's app, but I doubt there will be a significant loss of customers to Android phones just because of one badly designed app (which I personally don't mind btw) as compared to Sonos.

 

[aboulfad]

Aside from the UI/UX that most have voiced their dislikes, there’s just way too many bugs in the iOS18 version. I hoped iOS18.1 public preview to fix some, alas no. I have reported using the beta feedback (app installed on iPhones enrolled in betas) the following 3 bugs:
- videos continuous playback
- photos taken on iPhone not showing up in “recently”
- if no personal albums exists but shared albums do, the albums tile in pinned collections is empty

 

[gank41]

Pretty dramatic to compare the two, yes it seems like majority don't like the Photo's app, but I doubt there will be a significant loss of customers to Android phones just because of one badly designed app (which I personally don't mind btw) as compared to Sonos.

Unfortunately, as a life-long Apple user, this has generally always been the case. Apple tends to "know better" at how to do "things" than we do. It's rare that they revert course, and who knows in this situation, but I think they're going to wait for more AI stuff to roll out before they even think about addressing this. Which means it's probably not going to be addressed and will just fall by the wayside along with a number of other bad UI decisions they've made.

 

[thisMRguy]

so glad I found this thread, photos app is a horrid expeirnece, it feels like a multiple frames in iframe in another iframe.

 

[timborama]

Pretty dramatic to compare the two, yes it seems like majority don't like the Photo's app, but I doubt there will be a significant loss of customers to Android phones just because of one badly designed app (which I personally don't mind btw) as compared to Sonos.

There might not be a loss to Android, but the photos app may stop people from upgrading their devices. I’ve decided to return my 16PM because of it, and just keep using my 14PM on iOS 17. IF apple decides to fix photos app, I’ll reconsider buying a 16PM.

 

[jonnyb098]

Aside from the UI/UX that most have voiced their dislikes, there’s just way too many bugs in the iOS18 version. I hoped iOS18.1 public preview to fix some, alas no. I have reported using the beta feedback (app installed on iPhones enrolled in betas) the following 3 bugs:
- videos continuous playback
- photos taken on iPhone not showing up in “recently”
- if no personal albums exists but shared albums do, the albums tile in pinned collections is empty

Continuous video playback is not a bug it’s a feature. It’s always been super annoying to have to bring up the giant nav bar to replay a video and show someone then have to tap it away again. Video has always been a mess in the photos app but this is definitely not a bug

 

[obesechess]

Videos not playing full-screen anymore, not being able to easily sort through albums/dates/etc, the "recently viewed" and AI-generated "suggestions" spamming my Search page... this is wild.

 

[azhava]

Videos not playing full-screen anymore, not being able to easily sort through albums/dates/etc, the "recently viewed" and AI-generated "suggestions" spamming my Search page... this is wild.

If I tap on a video it plays full screen just like it always has. The only difference I see is that it loops now instead of playing once and stopping at the end - big deal, swipe down and it closes.