Is there a way to revert photos app after IOS 18

Hi Foxfire64!  I too am very unhappy and disappointed with the new Photos app and with Apple in general.  The original was much more intuitive, elegant and actually "usable".  However, I doubt very much if Apple will be going back to the iOS 17 version any time soon, if ever.  There are many other benefits of iOS 18 that warrant upgrading.

I am a retired Photographer and take a lot of photos. I was recently in Europe for 3 months and captured over 12,000 images.  So, I bit the bullet and figured out a way to organize my Photos app to best suit my way of handling my images.

You may want to play around with the customization to find your best layout.  This is what I did.

I opened Customization (at the bottom of the Photos app) and turned off everything but Pinned Collections, Trips and Recent Days. (BTW, Recent Days is basically the same as Recent in iOS 17, except that now you have all days/dates available there.) I'm kinda a minimalist, so I keep it simple. This eliminates most of the clutter.  Before you tap the X to exit this screen, choose the order in which you will mosts likely use these.  Now, tap X to return to your Photos.  

Next, you will see the word "Modify” next to Pinned Collections. (By the way, if you haven't discovered this yet, the > next to all the options, is used to enable you to see all of the options in that collection on a new page, if you will.) 

Tap Modify and you will be shown the options for adding things to your Pinned Collections.  I choose, in this order, Albums, Favorites, Videos, Screenshots, Recently Saved, Recently Deleted and People & Pets.  Once you’ve selected the things you want in Pinned Collections, you can reorder them anytime by simply returning to Customization.  You can even choose a particular album to be in Pinned Collections (scroll to the bottom).

Know that you will most likely not get your Photos app to look like iOS 17, however, you can get pretty close.  And remember, just because you have customized it now, you can always go back to the customization screen and make adjustments anytime.

There are also many YouTube videos that discus this customization process.  Watch a few to see if they may also assist you in finding a way to get what you want from the new iOS 18 Photos app.

I do realize that this may only seem like a workaround, however, like I said earlier, Apple will most likely NOT go back to the previous version.  If you have hope that they might,  I encourage you to write to Apple at www.apple.com/feedback and voice your opinion.  Writing to them is the only way they will ever see our frustrations with some of the awful “improvements” they make us endure.

[Edited by Moderator]

Have to tried to customize the layout of Photos according to your needs?

See this page in the user guide: Customize the Photos app on iPhone – Apple Support (UK)

Particularly, you can now hide most of the collections that are wasting space on the display.

1. Scroll to the bottom of the app, then tap Customize & Reorder.
2. Deselect the collections you want to hide.

And you can pi the collections you really need to use for easy access:

1. Scroll down, then tap Pinned Collections.
2. Tap Modify, then do any of the following:

• • Remove a pinned collection: Tap , then tap Delete.
  • Pin a collection: Tap the suggested collection you want to add, or tap Any Collection or Album to see more options.
  • Reorder pinned collections: Drag the collections into a new order.

After I removed most of the collections, Photos is usable again for me. I still don't like the iOS 18 version, but I can live with it.

Hauntingdeath,

If you are talking about the Photos app on the iPhone, Recent Days is what you're looking for. Yes, it is not the same as it was, however, it is similar to Days on the Mac version of Photos. If you go to Recents Days in the new Photos app, you will see all the photos you have take on any particular day. If you took a photo today (whatever day that is), that photo will appear in a Today Folder/Album on your phone as long as you have Recent Days as one of your customizations. The photos you took yesterday will be in an Album/Folder called Yesterday and the ones you took in the 10th will be in the May 10th Album/Folder and so on (according to the day/date they were taken).

Don't get me wrong, I don't like the new Photos app any more then anyone here, but we have to get that Apple is not going back to iOS 17 version and there are a LOT of new things in iOS 18 that warrant updating.

AND, ALWAYS voice your frustrations and comments to Apple at www.apple.com/feedback . Tell them what you think. I do at least once a month on many different issues. Nothing is perfect, however, we need to let them know!!!

AND, iOS 19 or 20 or 21 is not going to have any fewer changes to anything that they want to make us endure.

Cede132 wrote:

I use my photos for work and ease of access to my photos is very important to me. The new photo upgrade is so disorganized and confusing. This is the first time that I am seriously considering changing phone brand. I have tried everything but failed to revert back to the old setup. There’s nothing good about this new setup. I couldn’t even find my recent pictures

To view you library for recent pictures, simply follow the steps here:

Find photos and videos by date on iPhone - Apple Support

If you want to learn more what you can do with the Photos app, start here:

Get started with Photos on iPhone - Apple Support

There are many additional customization options available in the Photos app, so you have more options to view your photos instead of the old flatline list of photos. You won't be able to revert the photos app, so the options will be up to you. Learn about the new features, use a different Photos app from the App Store, or if you think the answer is to change phones, then that is your choice.

MSJ-1993 wrote:

Do not upgrade to new iOS 18 it's terrible...photos are disorganized, haphazard and I despise it. I want to revert to previous version!!! Regret upgrading.

Since reverting is not possible, I would have to suggest you look in the App Store for a Photos app you like better. There are many to choose from and all have complete access to your Photo Library just like the Apple Photos app.

I've been so frustrated with this issue for months ... finally found what I was looking for tonight. When you're in the photos app, scroll down to "Utilities > " - where is shows Hidden, Recently Deleted, etc. Swipe over until you see "Recently Saved" ... it's the one folder I have been missing the most. It used to just be Recents ... they renamed it, but it's still there. Honestly, the new app isn't 100% terrible now!

asi277 wrote:

I totally agree, this is the worst update by far of the iOS,

we have 6 iPhones in my family, this update just misses the iPhone photo app to a point that it’s more annoying than usable ,

all of my kids want to switch from iPhone to the just because of that.. I just spent 8K$ on new iPhones and can’t see a way to fix this…

There are the same posts here that users hated the iOS 17 update when it was released as well and now everyone wants to go back to it. Photos has a lot more customization options and includes features that others had wanted and sent feedback to Apple. When someone finds a feature found on another service, they immediately want it to be something they can do on their iPhone as well. You can send your feedback here.

Product Feedback - Apple

If there is something specific that is a problem for your Family, many tips have been suggested here for those that want to make it more like the previous version. For example, just swiping down on the screen to view the Library is very similar to the Photo Library on iOS 17. You would only need to exit the Library if you want to view an Album or Collection and even those can be reordered or hidden.

No one here is going to say you have to use the iPhone and if switching is the answer for you, there are many cellular promotions that will give you new phones from a variety of manufacturers just to switch to a different cell service. Of course, that will also involve learning a completely new Photos app, just like you are doing now, and you would still find yearly updates on those phones that will change the UI.

Sarofim wrote:

I would like to revert to a previous iOS. The photo app is awful on the new version! All the time I spent organizing my photos with the caption, you can’t search for them a caption. Also, if there’s something unique in the photo, a word or something similar, it won’t pull it up. This is an awful app. I want control over my photo library! Is there any way to revert back to the previous iOS?

Nope!, there is not a way to revert. You do have many other Photos apps available in the App Store and can choose to use anyone that best meets your needs. You are not required to use the Apple Photos app, they all have access to your same Photo Library.

I finally figured out a way to somewhat reorganise my photos app to prior ios 18.

1. In photos app, scroll to the bottom and hit "Customise & Reorder". Check your preferences.
2. In photos app, scroll slightly up so all you see are the photos and the sort (Arrow up and down) /year/month/all buttons. Press the sort button > View Options > Enable Screenshots and Shared with You. You should have all photos show up now.

I might have missed something but to me this brings back the oldish structure the old photos app had and thats all i need for it.

Kugar2019 wrote:

I can not get used to update of Photo’s App. Since it’s search engine had become second nature to me I feelbtotally lost and daily upset occurs

You can get used to it; you don't want to. And that's a valid choice. But it leads to other choices. You can continue to be upset, or you can get a different photo management app or you can get a different device entirely. What you decide to do, though, is up to you.

If it were me, I'd start here:

Customize the Photos app on iPhone – Apple Support (AU)

You might also want to let Apple know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

ARI0912- wrote:

I hate the new photos app in Update 18.1.1, too. Apple should always provide an option for a user to revert back to previous layouts of an app.

Could you imagine the size of an update that would also include everything from the previous update as well? I would expect much more complaining how Apple is taking up too much storage space on a users devices. And if Apple did not provide any changes to their apps, then there would be complaints that Apple is not being innovative. It's a no win.

You may find this post helpful with some of the things you can now do with the Photos app.

Please explain the changes in Photo App w… - Apple Community

That was also an article posted about some of the changes users did not like and how they can make it more like it was previously.

https://www.techradar.com/phones/iphone/hate-ios-18s-new-photos-app-try-these-fixes-to-make-it-more-like-the-old-version

In addition to the User Guide:

View photos and videos on iPhone - Apple Support

My technique to make it look like the original app is to scroll to the bottom of photos and click “Customize & Reorder” and then un-check everything except “Media Types”, and “Utilities”. I saw the trick on YouTube.

There is no way to downgrade your iOS or revert the Photos app to a previous iOS.

You can let Apple know your feedback through this portal ⇢ Feedback - Photos - Apple

ÄitiRakas wrote:

Maybe there is some other app we could use to view our photo libraries?

There are literally thousands of them. Simply look in the App Store under the category Photos & Video. Apple makes it very easy for other developers to access your photo library with your permission and they can use it any way they want in an app.

marla194 wrote:

Please return to the previous format with the next update to indicate that you actually care about your iPhone users.

You may not realize it, but you are not speaking to Apple here and none of the users you have posted to can make any changes. If you are looking to let Apple know how you feel, then use the Feedback link that has been provided many times in this post.

You do have a couple other options as well. Many have found that once they learned the new features available, they have found the photos app quite useful. You can also see those posts and suggestions including the link to the Photos User Guide. The other option is to choose from one of the many Photos app in the App Store. There are others to choose from if you don't like the Apple Photos app.