Is there a way to revert photos app after IOS 18

IOS18 Photos how can I go back to previous IOS17 Photos? I hate the new format. I don’t find “Recents” any more which was my most used folder. And get rid of the useless clutter Apple has stuck on Photos, most of which I will never use. Update is all screwed up and I will probably use Google or other app from now on.

I am carefully watching comments re IOS 18 and the related issues with Photos. I have not upgraded as yet as don't want to lose years of organization of my over 300 albums. I read that albums disappear and that photos in general are a mess. I have an iPhone 15 Pro and take a lot of photos.

I despise the new photos update. I work at a doggy daycare and have to take hundreds of photos, and many videos everyday. The new update has completely ruined my organization and I hate how hard it is to scroll through a video to different parts now. Why is the edit button in a new spot? Why don’t the videos take up the full screen anymore until you click it to full screen, but then I can’t scroll through the video or play or pause while it’s full screen?

The photo app on the iPhone is probably one of the most important features. The new update is a nightmare, even if you recheck options. Whoever thought this was a good idea obviously never uses this feature. Good grief! Please return to the previous format with the next update to indicate that you actually care about your iPhone users.

I completely agree. I have over 20,000 photos/videos etc. and made my own folders. After ios 18 everything changed and a lot are missing. I guess I have to redo everything and I don't think I can. It took forever to get it just the way I wanted it. Apple should do a much better job of describing the changes and making some of them (like photos) something you can accept or not. I want ios 17 back right now!!!!!

Yer_Man - This strikes me an excellent example of someone upgrading without ensuring that the new version met their needs and desires, rather than anything Apple has done.

How is one suppose to know what an upgrade for any new version of OS will be like on their phone (or any other device) without actually upgrading?

Yes there is. iOS 17.7 is still being signed by Apple, so you can downgrade. But you better act fast!

Reply to:

tiww

Yes there is. iOS 17.7 is still being signed by Apple, so you can downgrade. But you better act fast!

If you know how to revert/downgrade to iOS 17, will you please tell us how or provide a link to a place that does explain how to go back.

And Yer_Man, you haven't answered my question or explained "How is one suppose to know what an upgrade for any new version of OS will be like on their phone (or any other device) without actually upgrading?"

Thanks!

There are posts on this thread from people who use Photos like I do who are complaining about the functionality being removed. There are a lot of other recent Photos discussions along the same lines and many of those complaining also use it like I do or relied on the Recents/Camera Roll functionality. If you don't synch your photos to Mac Folders via Finder then you can't possibly know that previous versions of Photos separated these pics from pics taken with iPhone and how important that had become to people's workflow.

There are a lot of people, like you, who really want to help but because we use photos in such fundamentally different ways you see this mostly as a problem of presentation and organization which just needs getting used to whereas we see it as key function/capability of Photos being removed with no alternative provided - and this has caused some friction over the subject, which is a shame. I suspect that the teams who decided on this change don't use Photos like I do and they too would be mystified by the clamour that people like me are making about it if they read these discussions.

I've got a work round, I can live with it, but I suspect that Photos is going to get worse for people like me, not better.

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.

Just remember that upgrading to iOS 18 upgraded the Library for Photos. Do you know if iOS 17 will be able to read that? On Macs, older versions of Photos cannot read newer versions of the Photos library. I'm not sure that is the same on iOS but it's worth checking out before you do anything.

Apple does not officially support them because they can’t fathom the idea that not all of their ideas or updates are preferred or liked by a majority of users,

Could be, or maybe they're just moving forward and find it cost effective not to have to support people rolling backwards. This strikes me an excellent example of someone upgrading without ensuring that the new version met their needs and desires, rather than anything Apple has done.

How do we remove items from the sidebar? Like Trips or Pets.

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.