How to use Photos on iPhone, iPad, Mac

Apple’s Photos holds every image you make with your phone. Here’s everything you need to know to get started using the Photos app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

Arguably one of the most highly-used apps on an iPhone or iPad, the Photos app is where all of your photographs and videos get stored. A treasure trove of memories, it is also made to help you manage your visual history, as well as to edit it to perfection.

Due to the number of features available, not many people will use the app to its full potential. It can handle everything from adjusting photographs how you want them, to managing collections, and even the synchronization of your content across multiple devices.

What follows is an essential guide to the main ways you can use Photos on Apple’s mobile devices, or on a Mac or MacBook.

Photos: Basic navigation and the grid

Once you select the Photos app, denoted by a circular fan of rainbow color feathers, you’re greeted with an immediate view of your latest images added to the app, along with a few navigation options. The exact way you navigate the app varies between devices, but they all boil down to the same sort of activities.

The iPhone is the most straightforward. The new interface in iOS 18 greets users with a tiled screen showing all of their photographs and videos, with the newest at the bottom of the list.

You can swipe that grid downward to scroll backward in time, as well as some more options for searching through the images. This includes a main selector at the bottom of the screen where you can choose between all images or group them by months or years.

If you choose Months, you can tap on one of the representative images to shift to the grid viewpoint for that timeframe.

Selecting Years instead will show a list of years. Select one of the years to enter the Months view for that year.

Photos in iOS and iPadOS

To the bottom left is a filter button, which lets you choose a few ways to sort the images. You can also filter images by type, such as if they’ve been set as a favorite, have been edited, or if they are a photo or video.

A View Options element here also allows you to make the images in the grid larger or smaller, and to either retain each image’s aspect ratio or crop them to the grid’s cells.

At the top right corner, you can tap the magnifying glass icon to search images. This is where the first element of Apple Intelligence steps in, as you can search for images based on natural language. For example, “black cats outside” or “Self-portraits on a sunny day.”

This general interface is the same on the iPad, but the iPad takes advantage of the extra screen estate. A sidebar can be summoned on the left, giving a more instant view of all the different types of images or various ways to view images in the collection.

Photos in macOS

On Mac, the interface for the grid is broadly similar but designed with the mouse and keyboard in mind. You get a sidebar, and the All, Years, and Months option is at the top of the screen.

At the top left, you can adjust the size of the grid’s cells. The top right has the Filter By dropdown, which lets you narrow the list by content types.

In all cases, you can take a closer view of an image simply by selecting it within the grid.

Photos: Per-image options

When you select an image, it is brought into a full-screen view, complete with a row of images of the camera roll or whatever grouping of images you have chosen to view.

At the top of the screen, you’re offered the time and date of when the image was taken, as well as the location.

This screen also includes a set of extra icons at the bottom for iOS and iPadOS, the top for macOS. These icons include a heart icon to tag images as a favorite, which helps you to search for the image in the future.

There is also a Share button, which brings up the usual sharing interface. This allows you to share the image with others, use it in apps, print images, and to save an export in various ways.

On iOS and iPadOS, it also presents options to add the image to different albums, which we will get to later on.

If the image is of a particular type, such as a Portrait, you’ll also see a notification for that type of image, which can let you make other changes. For example, in a Portrait image, you can be given the option to turn the Portrait blurring effect on and off.

Viewing a single image in iOS and iPadOS, along with details shown under the Information icon. Viewing a single image in iOS and iPadOS, along with details shown under the Information icon. Viewing a single image in iOS and iPadOS, along with details shown under the Information icon.

You will also see an information icon represented by a lowercase “I”. Selecting it will bring up more detailed metadata about the image, including the camera, file type, resolution, ISO, and a map.

In some cases, the “I” will be replaced by a symbol, such as a “pet,” or there are stars on one side of the icon. This is an indicator that the app has detected a type of subject, such as cats or dogs.

Selecting the information button will also offer the opportunity to use Visual Look Up on the item on the Internet and provide Siri Knowledge results. For example, it could display cat breeds.

You may also see that people’s faces are selectable and can be captioned by a name. You can add the caption to identify people, and then the app will make an automatic collection of images where that person’s face appears.

On iOS and iPadOS, you can select the trashcan icon to delete the image. This will delete the image from your device, or if you have iCloud Photos enabled, all your devices.

It will remain in Recently Deleted for 30 days, in case you want to retain it.

Photos: Editing

With the fullscreen view of the image selected, you can select the sliders on iOS and iPadOS to enter the editing interface. On macOS, there’s a button in the top right called Edit.

The interface offers a wide selection of things you can change in the image Naturally, you can select Auto to allow Photos to make its adjustments to what it thinks is an ideal image.

The editing interface in Photos for iPhone and iPad

The editing is split into three or four sections. For example, if you’re doing Portraits, you’ll have a fourth section to adjust the amount of background focus in play.

The four main edit sections are called Adjust, Filters, Crop, and Clean Up, and they each have their uses.

Adjust

Adjust is used to make changes to the main settings of an image, including:

• Exposure,
• Brilliance,
• Highlights,
• Shadows,
• Contrast,
• Brightness,
• Black point,
• Saturation,
• Vibrance,
• Warmth,
• Tint,
• Sharpness,
• Definition,
• Noise reduction,
• and Vignette.

On iOS and iPadOS, these are adjusted by a single slider for each item.

On macOS, the Adjust menu adds more options, including if you want to turn it into a black-and-white image. There are also more advanced controls, including Retouch for editing small parts of the image, color curves and level graphs, and even selective color controls.

This does mean you should manage the image on macOS if you want even more control over how an image appears, far more than what iOS and iPadOS offer.

Filters

Under Filters, users can select from a selection of different filters that provide distinct alterations to color, contrast, and other elements.

Each of the filters can have their intensity adjusted using a sliding control. If you like a filter’s effect but want it to be less intense, you can turn the filter’s percentage down to lessen its impact.

Crop

Despite sounding like just one control, Crop actually encompasses multiple things at once. As the name suggests, you can change the framing of the image, cropping out edges or sides to better compose the picture.

However, you can select multiple options, including changing the image’s dimensions to a different aspect ratio, selecting smaller areas of an image, and even adjusting the rotation to keep it level.

You can also adjust the vertical and horizontal widths of the image, in case the shot is skewed differently to how you’d prefer it to be seen.

Clean Up

New as part of Apple Intelligence, Clean Up is an option to make smart edits to a picture, If there’s an annoying bit of an image that you want to remove, such as passers by, an unwanted street sign, or anything else that detracts from the picture, you can remove it.

Clean Up will automatically identify things it believes you will want to remove from the image, highlighting them for you. A simple tap or click will remove them, with Apple Intelligence filling in the gap by using the surrounding image elements to generate the missing section.

Alternately, you can also drag with your mouse or draw with your finger or Apple Pencil, depending on your device, to highlight an area where an object is that you want removed. Apple Intelligence will then try to remove it from view.

If the item isn’t removed to your satisfaction, you can select Reset to go back to the pre-edited state, and try again.

Other edit elements

There are many opportunities to allow Photos to make the most appropriate changes. Settings for Auto in Adjust and Crop, as well as a general Auto option in macOS, lets Photos have a crack at improving the picture for you.

You’ll also see a black box next to a white box as one icon. This is used to instantly switch between the original image and your current edit, so you can compare the changes you’ve made.

Making annotations to an image with Mark Up on an iPad

You can also make annotations to the image using the Markup menu in the top right corner, using the Pen icon. This uses the usual Markup screen and tools, making it easy for you to doodle over any of your images.

Do bear in mind that any changes you make in an edit are not finalized until you select Done in the top-right corner. If you exit an edit before selecting Done, the edits will not be applied.

Also, the edits are not permanent. You can quickly revert edits, even after you’ve made them, returning images to their original state without damaging the file.

If you edit an image and then export it, the new image file will include all of the changes, but they cannot be reverted back to the original image.

Video

While most of the editing elements apply to still images, you can also edit video in the app.

Selecting a video then going to the edit controls as before, there’s a fourth section that appears marked Video for iOS and iPadOS. This lets you trim the ends of a video, shortening it and allowing you to leave off bits from the start or the end.

Users of macOS will instead see the trim bar at the bottom of the screen on the Adjust screen.

This is a great way to cut down a clip to size, but it is a simple form of editing. If you want to make a more advanced edit involving several clips, you could use the video in an iMovie project, or a third-party video editing app.

Photos: Memories, collections, and albums

Apple provides a few ways to organize the different photos in your collection, to make it easier to find the images you want to see.

On iOS and iPadOS, Photos has sections below the grid that offer images divided up by Recent Days, People & Pets, Featured Photos, Trips, and even wallpaper suggestions. The way the premade groups are shown can be adjusted in the Customize & Reorder section at the bottom of the page.

In iPadOS and macOS, you can also use the sidebar to narrow down the content, as it will display similar options to choose from. As it’s a list in a sidebar, it can be easier to navigate to collections quickly than using the entire page.

Albums

If you want to have a tightly managed group of images, your best choice is to create an album. This will generate a space where you can add images, and they will stay there unless you remove or delete them.

To add an image to an album, long-press the image on iOS and iPadOS and select Add to Album. Then, select the album you want to add it to.

You can also add an image by seeing it in full-screen view then tapping the three-dot icon in the top right followed by Add to Album.

Viewing extra functions you can do to an image, including the Add to Album option.

If you want to add multiple images at once to an album, use the Select button in the top right and select multiple images, then long-press and select Add to Album.

If you want to make a new album, tap the plus in the bottom left, then enter a name and select Save.

The process on macOS is similar, in that you can right-click on an image, select Add To, then either an existing album or New Album.

To select multiple images, hold down Shift and click multiple images, before right-clicking.

Memories

Rather than just offering a catalog of images, Photos offers a more interesting way of showing connected moments via Memories.

A Memory is an automated and curated collection that is presented as a slide show. Introducing zooms, transition effects, and occasional video clips, it produces a slick presentation that you can enjoy and share with others.

Memories are found in a section below the grid in iOS and iPadOS, and in the sidebar on iPadOS and macOS.

Changing Memories settings in Photos for iOS

Photos will automatically generate memories based on a theme, such as what happened in a month, trip recaps, destinations and people over the years, and food and pets.

Thanks to Apple Intelligence, it is also possible to generate a memory movie based on more granular topics, thanks to its extensive analysis of the content inside images and other metadata. For example, “Food photographs I took during Summer 2024, to a rock song.”

While a memory is playing, you can tap the iPhone or iPad screen, or click the memory in macOS, to bring up the photos and videos that make up the memory, as well as options to change the music, filters, and general appearance of the memory.

On macOS, you’re given more direct control over the filters, music, and the order of images that appear.

While you can enjoy the premade memories, you can also create your own in iOS and iPadOS. Select the album, month, or whatever collection you want a memory built from, then move the slider at the bottom of the display from Photos to Movie to see an automated display.

Removing Photos from albums

To remove an image or video from an album, you can long-press on iOS and iPadOS before selecting Remove from Album. You can select Delete, but that will remove the image permanently from Photos.

You can also view the image in full-screen and tap the trashcan before selecting Remove from Album.

On macOS, right-click the image in the album and select Remove Photo from Album.

Again, you can select multiple photos at a time and remove them as a group, similar to adding them to the album.

Photos: Adding and sharing images

Adding photographs can be straightforward on iOS and iPadOS, as most users will be familiar with taking photos and having them automatically ingested into the Photos app.

If you have a separate camera that you can hook up directly or use a card reader with, you can ingest those images into Photos on iOS and iPadOS.

With Photos open and the camera or card reader connected, Photos should bring up the Import tab, which allows you to select all or specific items to import. Once imported, you’ll be asked if you want to keep or delete the media on the camera or memory card.

On macOS, you can import images in a few ways, including dragging and dropping from the desktop directly into folders. Again, you can import from a connected camera or card reader, select the images to keep and then click Import Selected.

Sharing and exporting

If you want to share an album of images with someone, Apple offers a few ways to do that across its devices, with the most obvious way being the Share button.

With one or more images selected, tap the Share button to be brought a number of different options, including AirDrop, Messages contacts, inserting the images into various other apps, iCloud Link sharing, and other save options and even printing.

Exporting original images in Photos for macOS

On iOS and iPadOS, there’s also an option to export unmodified originals, which strips out any editing you may have done and simply allows you to save the original image files.

In macOS, you can also right-click a group of images and select Share to bring up the sharing options. If you want to export original images, you can use the menu bar and select File followed by Export, then Export Unmodified Originals.

Photos: Storage and iCloud

One of the constant problems of photography and videography is storage, which can quickly become an issue for your iPhone or iPad. Every photo or video takes space away from your onboard storage.

Since the storage on an iPhone or iPad can be quite limiting, you have a few options to offload that storage to elsewhere.

The free option is to import your images to your Mac or a Windows PC running the Apple Devices app. Once you connect your iPad or iPhone to your computer, you can then import them to the computer’s image storage app, such as Photos on macOS or Microsoft Photos on Windows.

The iCloud settings for Photos on iOS

There is a secondary option, and that’s to take advantage of iCloud. Apple has built-in mechanisms to automatically synchronize your images from your devices to its online storage facility.

As well as storing your media, iCloud also enables it to synchronize across your devices, so you can see your iPhone photos on your Mac.

The big benefit to this is that you can set your devices to automatically upload your photos and videos to iCloud, and to store optimized versions on your devices to save space. You’ll still be able to view full-resolution images when it’s required, such as editing or printing them.

Be aware that your media collection will almost always exceed the free 5 gigabytes of iCloud storage all Apple Accounts have, and that you will instead need to invest in some extra iCloud+ storage.

You can enable iCloud Photos on iPhone and iPad in the Settings app under Apps, followed by Photos, under a toggle marked iCloud Photos.

Below that is a choice of tickboxes offering to either download and keep original files on your device, or to optimize the storage. The latter retains images with lower file sizes while offloading the originals to iCloud.

In macOS, this is managed by selecting Photos and then Settings in the menu bar. The window that then comes up will have an iCloud section so you can enable iCloud Photos and choose to Optimize Mac Storage or Download Originals to this Mac.

Using iCloud also means you can access your photo library in a web browser, simply by visiting iCloud.com and authenticating, then selecting Photos.

Local Mac storage

While you may want your entire library to be stored on your Mac, you may not necessarily want to keep it stored on your local storage capacity. Indeed, if you have a network drive or an external drive capacity, you may even want to store it on that instead.

The settings of Photos in macOS will tell you where the Photo Library is located.

To do so, you must first locate your Photos Library. An easy way to do that is to select Photos the Settings in the menu bar. In the pop-up window, the General section includes a listing for Library Location, including a button to Show in Finder.

You can then drag that Photos library to a different storage location. Then, double-click it to open it up again in Photos, which also tells the app where the library has been moved to on your Mac.

Photos: Even more to learn

While this guide is already quite long, it just covers the main things you’ll want to do with the Photos app on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. There is a lot more you can do with the app.

For example, the options in the Settings app allow you to enable or disable Shared Albums, which you can use to share your images with others and for you to view other shared albums too.

You can also use a Hidden Album, which will let you keep images hidden from view. You can also enable Face ID to view hidden albums and to access recently-deleted images.

This guide also doesn’t cover unreleased Apple Intelligence features, which will slowly be introduced by Apple from iOS 18.1 onwards. The headline feature of that will be editing-related, with users able to select items to be removed from a photo.