iOS 18’s divisive Photos app redesign

It's a mess...

“As our features, users and libraries have grown, so has the density of the [Photos] app. So rather than hunt and peck throughout, we’ve created a simple streamlined single view photos experience based on deep intelligence,” Sorrentino explained. “Ultimately, we wanted to remove friction.”

The new Photos app design focuses a lot on customization, giving users more control over the layout of the interface… More here.

The one area of iOS 18 that I don’t like is the new Photos design. For me, it gets in the way of viewing old photos and makes discoverability much more difficult. It feels like aesthetic design above practical use which is unlike Apple.