- Apple's iOS 18.4 update will add new features to the Photos app
- Some of the new features include new filtering options and a new privacy setting
- iOS 18.4 could arrive via an official release as soon as April
Apple’s next software update – iOS 18.4 – is currently being tested in developer and public betas, and according to 9to5Mac, you can expect a widespread rollout as early as April.
While we were originally expecting based on rumors that we'd get our first look at the AI-infused Siri, early betas of iOS 18.4 showed no signs, and Apple has since confirmed a delay in the feature set. Even so, we've noticed four big changes to the Apple Photos app that we can’t ignore.
Upgrades to Apple Photos’ filtering options are just one of the new features we guessed a few weeks back, and new images that have surfaced from its beta testing show that we guessed correctly. The four new features are relatively small but provide more flexibility in managing your privacy and finding and organizing photos in your gallery.
They're all set to be pretty helpful if you rely on the Photos app to manage all of your photography. So before Apple drops iOS 18.4 for the iPhone – alongside iPadOS and macOS – let's take a look at the latest additions to the Photos app.
Album privacy features
Over the past few years, Apple has doubled down on its privacy features within its Photos app, and iOS 18.4 will continue to do so with a new option to disable albums.
Once installed, you'll have the ability to disable your ‘Recently Viewed’ and ‘Recently Shared’ galleries by going into the Settings app and selecting ‘Apps’ and then ‘Photos.’ Once disabled, these albums will be able to be viewed in Utilities only.
New filtering features in your gallery
Instead of spending copious amounts of time scrolling through your gallery to find a specific image you want to edit or show your friends, Apple Photos has many filtering options to make this much more manageable.
The iOS 18.4 update packs two new filtering options, ‘Shared With You’ and ‘Not in an Album,’ which can be found under the two arrow icons on the bottom left.
This feature will make it easier to distinguish between photos that others have sent you and ones you haven’t yet sorted into albums. In addition, you’ll also find new sorting features when you go to Albums and tap the three dots in the top right corner, which will allow you to filter only to show albums or only show folders.
Album sorting just got easier
You can already sort your Photos albums into two categories, ‘Sort by Name’ and ‘Sort by Custom Order’, and a third one arrives with iOS 18.4. The new ‘Sort by Date Modified’ will arrange your albums and folders in an order that shows your most recently modified ones at the top.
Recover and delete photos all at once
This isn’t necessarily a new addition to the Photos app but more so a revamp of an existing feature that allows you to delete and recover all your photos at once.
In iOS 18.4, your ‘Recently Deleted’ photo album will feature a new trash bin icon that you can tap to remove all of your deleted photos permanently. Alternatively, the same works with recovering your photos when you tap the new ‘Recover All’ button.
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