Get # APPLE's iOS 18 PHOTOS App Redesign: Adapt & Overcome

With technology moving faster than ever before, APPLE has taken another step forwards with the latest operating system update, iOS 18. Although iPhone fans have all been eagerly downloading it (I have, I’m a Windows girl working among Mac fanatics, don’t judge me), a burning question has trickled down the chain, from the depths of TechRadar’s office and straight to Reddit forums: the complete overhaul of the PHOTOS app. So, what’s new, what’s not, and how can you make the most of the latest changes?

A Scroll Through Memory Lane: The PHOTOS App Redesign

No more tabbed navigation bar at the bottom of the PHOTOS app, now long-gone. 'Scrolling is the future and anyone who doesn’t like it can go back to a flip phone.’ APPLE has been criticised for prioritising vertiginous parallaxes over ergonomics But if you’re feeling nostalgic and APPLE has let you down, fear not: the tabs are still present.

Rediscovering Navigation Ease with Customization

But the redesign had its own advantages too: two customisations were tucked away in the new navigation system, waiting to restore a portion of the old feel. On your iPad or iPhone, point to the PHOTOS app, then tap that little grid of nine dots in the corner and tap the little three-line icon at the top to reach the Albums page. At the bottom of the pop-up with Albums and the other cloud-based solutions appear, there’s a morsel called Customise ⁝ and ‘Reorder’.

Pinning Your Preferences

For anyone tired of the endless scroll, the ‘Pinned Collections’ feature might be a lifesaver. Sitting right below the PHOTOS feed, ‘Pinned Collections’ allows you to easily access your favourite albums with a simple tap. It’s a subtle throwback to the tabbed navigation bar of old.

Untangling the Screenshot Snarl

But the biggest concession to user-tailoring is the new PHOTOS app, which lets you demote screenshots to their own folder in ‘Pinned Collections’, clearing out your main feed, and keeping those spontaneous screen captures out of view and out of mind.

The Growing Pains of Progress

As satisfying as change can be, there are always trade-offs. At least a few users have pined for video playback to seem a little less soft, with thumbnail previews gone from the scrub bar and a tap still required to play videos in full-screen mode, which detracts from clarity and adds to clutter.

Looking to the Horizon: APPLE Intelligence Features

While iOS 18’s PHOTOS app redesign continues to provoke emotions ranging from mild confusion to copious anger, anticipation mounts worldwide for forthcoming APPLE Intelligence features. APPLE has announced that they will begin gradually deploying these features in iOS 18 starting next month in the US, followed by deployment in the UK and Australia.

Beyond the Redesign: Embracing iOS 18

Just as the most heated arguments on the internet are often over how much pixels constitute a good monochrome image (or a colour image, for that matter), the ‘PHOTOS app redesign’ kerfuffle is a testament to the fervour of APPLE’s customer base. And to its need for adaptability. If you like this kind of commentary, don’t forget to keep an eye on upcoming articles for dedicated APPLE fans.

A Bite Into APPLE's Philosophy

At its core, APPLE’s embrace of everyday creativity is a philosophy of what’s possible. It’s an ode to an artful balance of creativity and technology that aims to enhance human life. The controversial redesign of the PHOTOS app in iOS 18 is built on this premise of breaching new horizons, by putting users in the driver’s seat of their apps through customisation. It’s not simply that APPLE is redesigning for redesign’s sake. The redesigning allows users to co-creatively design their experience. That is what makes APPLE, APPLE – a sustained quest for improvement while always retaining a human touch in the midst of a sea of high-tech machinery.