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The iOS 18 Photos App Needs Changed
Mar 11, 2025
Article on Cult of Mac: https://www.cultofmac.com/861937/ios-18-photos-beta/ More Apple news: http://www.cultofmac.com Chapters: 0:00 Photos in iOS 18 2:03 The Carousel 3:14 Recent Days 4:38 Search Button 5:19 Collections 6:53 Modal Sheets 8:06 Conclusions The #Apple #Photos app in the #iOS18beta aims to simplify, but ends up a more confusing hodge-podge of design than it ever was before. I think if these designs aren’t revised, there will be significant backlash when #iOS18 is publicly released. Produced by Extra Ordinary for Cult of Mac Music composed by Will Davenport, arranged by D. Griffin Jones Follow us! Twitter: https://twitter.com/cultofmac Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cultofmac
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0:00
the photos app in iOS 18 aims to
0:02
simplify but ends up being a more
0:04
confusing hodgepodge of design than it
0:06
ever has been before unless these
0:09
designs are revised I think there will
0:11
be significant backlash when the update
0:13
is released here's
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why so let me start this out by
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acknowledging that yes iOS 18 is still
0:20
in beta and is very likely to change
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before release that's why I'm writing
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this as more of a wish list of changes
0:27
not as a criticism of a final product in
0:30
fact all of my criticisms have also been
0:32
submitted as feedback through Apple's
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official feedback channels by Beta 3
0:36
there have already been a few tweaks and
0:38
improvements but there's been no
0:40
movement on the bigger picture problems
0:42
with the design so let's take a moment
0:44
to look at what it's trying to do where
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it succeeds and where it falls short I
0:48
don't think the new photos app needs to
0:50
be entirely thrown away but a few key
0:53
things need changed the problem with the
0:55
current photos app is that it's
0:56
organized into this tab view that nobody
0:59
really used uses there's both the
1:01
library Tab and there's also the recents
1:04
album and most people don't know the
1:06
difference between the two the library
1:09
tab is actually sorted by dates where
1:11
the images were created and the recent
1:13
album is sorted by date added to the
1:16
library most people just stay in one of
1:18
those two views 100% of the time in what
1:21
Apple press describes as its biggest
1:24
ever redesign there's no more tab bar
1:27
when you open the photos app you can
1:28
scroll up to see your your library or
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you can scroll down to see your
1:32
collections of people and pets the map
1:35
memories and more the resting position
1:38
of the app is sort of the spot where the
1:41
two areas meet and this aspect of the
1:43
design works really well you can scroll
1:45
up and up and up through your library
1:47
and instantly jump back to the bottom
1:49
just by tapping the X and similarly you
1:51
can scroll way down through the list of
1:53
Collections and jump right back to the
1:55
Top by tapping the toolbar the biggest
1:57
problems with the design are with Apple
2:00
has designed this lower section of the
2:02
app again the broad design of the app is
2:04
that you scroll up to see your library
2:06
and scroll down to see your collections
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of stuff but sometimes inexplicably when
2:12
you scroll down your library also
2:14
Scrolls away to the left so you go back
2:17
up and you don't see it anymore well how
2:20
do you get it back if you're really
2:21
eagle-eyed you'll notice a series of
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white pagination dots around the bottom
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that indicates that you need to scroll
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left or right a random number of times
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until you see your library again this
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feature is called the Carousel and I
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find it absolutely bizarre I can't
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imagine how I will have to explain to
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somebody how to get their pictures back
2:44
when they inadvertently swipe it away
2:47
and the most frustrating thing is that
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the items in the carousel are the exact
2:51
same things as you can see in the list
2:54
of collections below that you can just
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scroll down to see I don't know why it's
2:58
there it doesn't serve any new function
3:00
or purpose and sure the carousel is
3:03
customizable but it can't be completely
3:05
turned off and the Very people who are
3:08
most likely to be confused by its design
3:10
are the least likely to customize the
3:13
photos app here's another confusing
3:15
decision immediately below the most
3:17
recent items in your photo library you
3:20
see another section with the most recent
3:23
items in your photo library organized by
3:25
dates you can tap on a day and it'll
3:28
filter out pictures like receipts
3:31
documents screenshots images saved from
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the web Etc this seems to fundamentally
3:37
misunderstand what people liked about
3:39
the recents album in the photos app the
3:42
library tab is for the pictures you've
3:44
just taken the recents tab is for the
3:46
pictures you've just saved the picture
3:49
you downloaded from Safari the video
3:51
your brother sent you over messages you
3:54
always know that in the recents tab they
3:56
will be immediately accessible recent
3:58
days doesn't do this now there is a spot
4:02
in the photos app where you can find
4:03
this called recently saved but it's
4:06
buried very far down below it's very
4:09
easy to overlook while it's also
4:10
possible to sort the library above by
4:12
date added rather than date captured
4:15
it's not obvious it took me several days
4:17
to figure that out on my own and I do
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this for a living I think the solution
4:22
here is really obvious switch out recent
4:25
days for recently added that way as soon
4:28
as you open the photos app you can
4:29
scroll up to see your library
4:31
chronologically sorted above and you can
4:33
still immediately see that picture you
4:36
just saved Below in the old design the
4:39
search feature was really prominent it
4:41
was one of only four tabs in the bottom
4:44
tab bar in the new design it's been
4:47
demoted to a tiny little button way up
4:50
in the toolbar in this most recent third
4:53
beta they made the button more prominent
4:56
by coloring it blue instead of gray but
4:59
it's still really hard to reach with one
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hand it's still a demotion from before
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with how powerful the visual search is
5:05
and with how much more powerful it will
5:07
be with apple intelligence the search
5:09
field should be made more prominent it
5:11
should be a full-size text box between
5:14
the library and the
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collections where you can reach it
5:18
one-handed the collection of images
5:20
below looks less like an organized set
5:22
of memories albums and media types and
5:25
more like a kitchen junk drawer there's
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just way too much stuff here people and
5:30
pets one of my favorite features
5:33
actually deserves to be there without
5:34
any changes memories which is a list of
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intelligently generated albums of people
5:39
and trips followed by trips which is the
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same thing as memories but only for
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trips pinned collections a customizable
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set of different collections inside the
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already customizable list of different
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collections featured photos which is
5:55
like memories and trips except it only
5:57
shows one picture at a time Al albums a
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list of your manually created albums
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inexplicably it only shows two on screen
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at a time media types a quick way to
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find panoramas slow-mo videos animated
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gifts time lapses and more this is an
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incredibly useful feature but all of the
6:16
more interesting categories are in the
6:18
third or even fourth tab utilities which
6:20
is where you can find hidden photos
6:22
duplicates recently deleted alongside a
6:25
bunch of really cool new categories like
6:27
documents illustrations receipts
6:30
recently viewed but again unfortunately
6:33
it only shows four on screen at a time
6:35
and all the cool new categories are
6:37
hidden off screen where you won't find
6:39
them and finally wallpaper suggestions
6:42
based on the pictures in my photo
6:43
library all of the suggestions are
6:46
pictures of my dog Indie and various
6:49
Italian Landscapes absolutely perfect no
6:52
notes one last cribble I have with this
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design is that Apple inconsistently uses
6:57
an interface element called the most
6:59
sheet if you tap on a collection like
7:02
recent days or people in pets a slideup
7:05
sheet will appear from the bottom
7:07
personally I prefer the old navigation
7:09
detail view that slides in from the
7:11
right because swipe to go back from the
7:13
left Edge is a universally understood
7:15
gesture but at least with this modal
7:18
sheet there's a big obvious x button in
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the top and the modal sheet has a little
7:23
bit of the background peeking through on
7:24
the top so you can into it that you can
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swipe down to get back to where you were
7:28
before tap on a specific item inside
7:31
that collection like Griffin or Athens
7:34
October 2023 also brings up a modal
7:37
sheet but one that looks and works
7:39
completely different for example you can
7:41
swipe left and right between them to
7:43
navigate through the collection but
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there are no pagination dots on the
7:46
bottom to indicate that's possible and
7:48
the sheet completely fills the top half
7:51
of the screen so it's not obvious that
7:53
you can swipe down to go back and the
7:55
close button is much smaller and harder
7:58
to see as well now these screens do look
8:00
pretty cool but there should be a few
8:02
more visual affordances to teach you how
8:05
it works so all things considered here's
8:07
my feedback get rid of the carousel it's
8:11
redundant at best and confusing at worst
8:14
swap recent days for recently saved
8:17
simplify the collections you can
8:19
condense memories trips and featured
8:22
photos into one for Simplicity make it
8:24
more visually obvious that albums media
8:26
types and utilities are paginated lists
8:29
and make it easier to see more of them
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at once finally make the search button a
8:34
full-size text field between the library
8:37
and the collections it has a gorgeous
8:39
full screen user interface that's really
8:42
starting to grow on me it's a shame to
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keep such an awesome feature hidden away
8:46
in the toolbar and that's my feedback
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Apple luckily has a lot of time to
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implement these changes before September
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if you've tried out the photos app let
8:54
me know what you think in the comments
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below remember to like And subscribe I'm
8:58
dein Jones with Cult of Mac
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