Is there a way to revert photos app after IOS 18

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…

Hi asi277,

Unfortunately, no one here is going to be able to help you FIX it. There is no FIX. However, if you read every post in this thread, you will get an idea of how some of the people have learned how to deal with the new iOS 18 Photos app. As you read, you will see that most people agree with you that the update is not Great. Keep in mind that there are millions of people that use the iPhone with iOS 18. These are only a select few.

It’s not really that difficult to learn how to customize it for youself, you simply have to look and listen. There are a number of good YouTube videos about how to deal with customizing it to your liking. It will not be the same as what it was, however, there are a number of new features that are definitely worth exploring.

Your $8K is not in vain…. You and your family will find that any platform you move to is going to have it’s changes/updates that some people will like and others will hate.

You can please, some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the times, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time. I think Abraham Lincoln said that. I’ll let you be in my dream, if I can be in yours, I think Dylan said that.

Take a deep breathe. Sit down with your family and figure it out. Make it a family project. Enjoy Life and Change

Keyaira19 wrote:

Is there a way to go back to iOS 17 photo’s?

Nope! Downgrading iOS has never been a supported option.

Same here. Try Amazon Photo—much cleaner, easier to use like the previous version of the Apple iPhone app

First of all, I am not here to shove the new Photos app down anyones throat, I am simply wanting to assist anyone in understanding how they may try to navigate the new Photos app to alleviate frustration.

I may not totally understand your issue, however, even on the iPhone, you can do a search, like: 15 pro, and get all the images you have taken on your iPhone 15 pro. Similarly, if your EXIF metadata transfers with the images you import from your proper camera, you should be able to search for those the same way. After you do the import, you will have to create an Album/Folder for those images to do the separation. Again, I realize it is not the perfect solution, however, at this point, I would guess that the best any of us are going to get is a good satisfactory workaround that works for us. I wish I had better news/solution for you.

Additionally, you can use Utilities in Photos to select only "Imported" images and Raw images and use Search to locate images by their extension, like: jpeg, heif, tiff and others.

Again, you could use Recent Days to sort, which may make it a bit easier to separate images.

Best to you in using iOS 18 Photos!

Tony.d., When you are in an Album and you have the preview (what you are calling movie mode) window at the top, you can swipe up gently to hide the preview temporarily or better yet, tap the "3 dot circle" up by Select and the X and choose "Hide Preview".

I am not a fan of the new functionality of iOS 18 Photos by any stretch of the imagination, however, the sooner you spend some time with it, the sooner you will find a way to customize it for your best utilization. I have spent many hours learning the ins and outs of it (a little at a time) and I have finally found something that workrs for me. I suggest you watch some Youtube videos and start with the basics of what you use the most and add options as you need them. Get rid of all the clutter and start from there.

Best

Uncle_George wrote:

"Tell Apple"? Sorry Idris, Apple has clearly demonstrated that there is no turning back.

If Apple gets as much feedback as people in this thread seem to think they will, they may well make changes. They've certainly done that in the past.

With your vast experience, you must realize remember that iPhoto was a lot more fun to use compared to Photos. Yet asking for a return of iPhoto features is an exercise in futility.

With my vast experience, I recognize that not everyone has the same preferences and needs in software. Assuming that everyone likes iPhotos better than Photos is misguided. I suspect most people don't care much.

(I do send polite extensive essays to Apple Feedback every time they release a new MacOS that does not make the changes I want.)

Fixed that for you. And that's exactly what you should do.

I waited until late January before updating due to the many negative messages on here. I have over 300 albums with about 23,000 photos in total. I finally updated and all albums were exactly as I had them in IOS 17. I then used the Customize button at the bottom and unchecked most options in Photos. So, now I have 'Albums', (where all of my previous albums are that I set up myself so had to do nothing to them), 'Media Types' and 'Utilities'. In 'Utilities' the Favourites album appeared without any set up by me.

And any photos I take appear at the bottom of 'Recents' so I see them easily with no scrolling. So the bottom line is my Photos in 18.3.1 looks very similar to the "old" set up in IOS 17. Absolutely no issues, after having updated last month.

Before anyone suggests it, I do not work for Apple. I am an active senior who takes many photos or copies many from Facebook that are historical. Anyone can do it. Just take the plunge and follow the advice found online in many places like "iPhone Life."

Paulocs,

When you say, “see my recently taken photos first.” Are you referring to the top of your phones screen, meaning that you would have scroll to the very top on your photos to see the latest photos? If you are, this option has never been possible on an iPhone.

The only choices you have for sorting are:

“Sort by Recently Added” - meaning that photos are sorted according to when they were added to your iPhone Photos Library. Whether you took the photo with your phones camera or imported it via Airdrop, email, text, etc.

“Sort by Date Captured” - these will be sorted by the photos capture date according to the metadata of that photo, provided the photo has metadata. So, if someone Airdropped you a photo that they took on New Years Day, that photo will be located with all photos taken on or around that time in your Photos App Library even though they Airdropped it to you on April first.

Therefore, I assume you will want to Sort by Date Captured in order to see the most recently captured/taken photos first. Meaning they will appear at the bottom of the Library where you land when you open your Photos app.

To make this Sorting choice, if it is not already chosen, you first open the Photos app, you will see your Library on the upper half and whatever choices you have made for viewing your photos on the lower half. Simply swipe down on the screen so you only see your Library. Three choices will appear at the bottom of the screen. On the left, there will be a circle with, most likely, an up-and-down arrow. In the middle, it will say Years, Months and All and on the right there will be a circle with an X. Tap the up-and-down arrow on the left and you will get a menu that looks like this.

Choose the option you like. While you are there, explore the other available options.

To return to the Library on top and the rest of your viewing options below, as in where you first started, tap the X.

i just wanted to add that if you are looking for a photo that you recently added that my have a capture date from awhile back, you may be able to find it faster if you look in your “Recently Saved” collection. This is a great way to find photos that have been added to your Library that you did not take with the camera on your phone.

I trust this has been helpful!

Cheers!

roxcy64 wrote:

Same here. Try Amazon Photo—much cleaner, easier to use like the previous version of the Apple iPhone app

But there are privacy implications that some people might consider important.

The APIs are still the same, so the libraries can be accessed the same as before on older OS versions. FYI, someone has an iOS app on the App Store that lets you view Recents as they existed previously for iOS 18. The app is very limited in what it does, but Recents/Roll is one thing it can do properly.

Zurarczurx,

You may want to start a new thread here that is more to your issue then staying on this one. You are a rare bred and the others here are the usual suspects using Photos on all their devices and using iCloud to sync them.

Best to you! I wish I could be of more assistance! Also, if there is an Apple Store near you, you may want to discuss this with someone there. A genius?

Another thought... You may want to try a different camera app. Some of the other camera apps keep their photos separate from the Photos app. That way you avoid the Photos app scanning your images and you should be able to download those photos without going through the Photos app. I think ProCam and Camera+ are two that allow you to store the images in their app. I have used and occasionally use these apps for more control.

"Tell Apple"? Sorry Idris, Apple has clearly demonstrated that there is no turning back.

With your vast experience, you must realize remember that iPhoto was a lot more fun to use compared to Photos. Yet asking for a return of iPhoto features is an exercise in futility.

(I do send polite extensive essays to Apple Feedback every time they release a new MacOS that does not fix Photo's functionality.)

AHE987 wrote:

And everything is squashed into the screen rather than having larger photo images to choose from. I don’t like it at all.

You do know you can change the size of the thumbnails on the screen, right? If you prefer the larger photo images, simply change the grid size. You have many more options in the Photos app that were not available before and we know people do like options.

Filter and sort the photo library on iPhone - Apple Support

B_RadZ wrote:

I've had iphone since the 3G. This update has me ready to go to andoid. I cannot stand the clutter this gives by putting every album right in the same screen.

Not sure what you mean by putting every album on the same screen, the Photo Library has always contained every photo that was in the Album. The album contains just a link to the photo and they have never been moved from the photo library to the album. With the Photos app, you now have far more customization options that you never had before. Here are some guides related to viewing the photos and your albums.

• View photos and videos on iPhone - Apple Support
• Customize the Photos app on iPhone - Apple Support
• Filter and sort the photo library on iPhone - Apple Support
• Edit and organize albums on iPhone - Apple Support

There are also many other Photos apps available in the App Store to choose from and you may find one that you like better. Of course, you are free to use any device you wish. If you would prefer another platform, I would suggest to find one that best meets your needs. You would also see yearly updates in the UI and apps there as well.

I take 2 kinds of photos.

Proper photos which I keep in folders on my Mac. I manage them with an image management app - modify them, add categories, notes, etc, and then synch them to my iPhone and iPad with Finder via USB. 99% of those pics are taken with a proper camera, not a phone. If I do take proper pics with my phone I download them to a folder on mac, import them to the IM app and then delete them from the phone and synch them back to my phone using Finder via USB. I hardly use my phone as a camera. I probably take about 2 pics a month at most with my phone unless I find myself without my camera and something good happens.

Pics I take with my phone are disposable snapshots for future reference. E.g. if I drink a wine I like I'll take a pic of the label so the next time I'm shopping for wine I can see if I can find it. Ditto, say, a nice cheese at a friend's house. If take my lawnmower to bits I might take pics with my phone so that when the spares arrive I can put it back together.

With the previous Photos app these two classes of pics were completely separable on the phone. The proper pics were in the "From My Mac" section, organized by the folders as they appear on the Mac (Decade/Year/Month/Index in my hierarchy). The snaps I took with the iPhone appeared in the "Recents" section of Photos - which used to be called Camera Roll. The 'from my Mac' photos did not appear in the Recents section, even if they were taken recently. So when I'm in the supermarket and I remember the cheese all I did was tap photos, recents, and it would be there - most likely on the first screen with no swiping required because I take hardly any photos with the phone.

Today the nearest equivalent of "Recents" includes every pic I've ever taken. So if I snap the cheese and then go on a holiday and then to my niece's wedding and then go to the supermarket there can be hundreds of pics between the cheese pic and now. Previously it took seconds to find them. Now it takes a lot of swiping and messing about to get past all the holiday and wedding pics I've taken to find the one solitary picture of a cheese label - whether in library or Recent Days - because all the pics in the From My Mac section are lumped together with pics I take with my phone. And that assumes Recent Days works, which it doesn't on my phone.

If you only use your phone and Photos for managing your photography then all of this will either be a mystery or a surprise to you because you'll never have needed or known about this separation between Mac pics and iPhone pics.

My use-case is not unusual; many of the people complaining about the new photos are complaining about the removal of this facet of Photos. Other users who do use their phone as their main camera but don't use Photos on the Mac used to be able to use this separation as a means of identifying which images still needed to be imported for processing before deletion - that's become very difficult for them and if I managed a photo collection that way I'd be tearing my hair out. It's made the photos app a real pain in the neck for us and there's no good reason as far as I can tell.