Confused by the new iOS 18 Photos app? You're not the only one.
Apple updated the default Photos app with iOS 18 earlier this fall and some folks on the internet are unhappy about it. TikTok influencer Alix Earle, for example, got hundreds of thousands of likes on a quick video denouncing the update. Put simply, Apple reorganized the Photos app, introduced several new features, and, unsurprisingly, it’s causing frustration among users.
The good news is that you can fix it — for the most part.
How to fix iOS 18 Photos app
There's good news and bad news here.
Easy! Credit: Screenshot: Apple The bad news is that the only way to keep the old Photos app is to avoid updating your phone, but this also means missing out on the important security benefits that come with regular updates.
The good news is that you can at least de-clutter the new Photos app a bit. Here's how.
Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the app and hit "Customize & Reorder"
Toggle on or off the various tabs as you see fit. You can also drag them up and down to reorder where they appear in the app
Hit the X button in the upper right corner
Again, the Photos app will look the way it looks no matter how much reordering you do. The old design is gone. However, you still have the option to hide the algorithmically generated content you’d rather not see.