Apple Photos has been a very capable Gallery app on the iPhone since its launch on iOS. The whole concept of the Gallery app has changed with the launch of Google Photos on Android. That said, Apple continues to add features and improvements to Photos. That’s why you should stay up to date with Apple Photos tips and tricks to get the most out of it.
An AI-powered Gallery app with cloud support is very important these days. And Apple is quietly adding this to Photos with recent iOS updates. It’s no surprise that many prefer Apple Photos over all third-party photo apps.
At first glance, the Photos app may seem simple, but under the hood it’s full of surprises. In this article, we’re going to talk about the nine most important Apple Photos tips and tricks you need to know.
1. Long Tap to View Photos
Of course, there is a basic way to view and close photos in a Gallery app. Tap the photo and scroll down to return to the menu.
With iOS 13, Apple abandoned 3D Touch in favor of the long press functionality. Now every iPhone running iOS 13 can take advantage of long tap functionality throughout the UI.
Apple Photos is one such example of the app. You can long tap on any photo to preview the image and the menu will display options such as delete, share and favorites.
A nifty little trick to quickly browse through a particular photo.
2. Use the Media Type Filter
Apple’s default camera has many shooting modes. There are multiple ways to capture moments using iPhone camera.
Fortunately, Apple Photos provides an organized organization for different shooting modes. Users can find an image/video fairly easily compared to a long list of media items in the recent menu.
Go to Apple Photos > Albums and navigate to media types. Here you can view content by type such as Selfies, Live Photos, Portrait, Panorama, Slow motion and more.
3. Hide Photos
As with any gallery app, Apple Photos lets you hide sensitive images. Open an image, tap on share and select hide.
You can access hidden images from the Photos > Albums > Hidden images menu. It has one big flaw. There is no extra authentication to view hidden images. This means that anyone with access to your iPhone can view and change the hidden pictures.
Apple should add biometric protection to view hidden pictures.
4. Restore Deleted Photos
Apple allows you to recover deleted photos up to 30 days from the app. If you accidentally deleted any of the images, you can go to Photos > Albums > scroll down to deleted photos and restore memories from there.
From the menu you will see how many days are left for a photo to be permanently deleted.
It can also recover/delete all photos at once. Tap on Select and choose either recover all or delete all to take action.
5. Search Using People, Place or Categories
As stated in the introduction, Apple Photos offers a handful of AI functions to rival Google Photos. When you tap on the search menu, you can search for people, places and sea, sky, food etc. You can search for an image using different categories, including
Similar to Google Photos, you can tag people by name in the search menu.
To enable AI magic, you need to upload photos to iCloud platform.
6. Explore Editing Functions
With iOS 13, Apple nailed the image editor in the Photos app. It’s gotten to a point where the majority won’t need a third-party photo editor from the App Store.
Tap the edit button and discover the many editing functions. They include filters, crop and rotate, the ability to change highlights, saturation, white balance, shadows, contrast, and more. You can also play with the intensity of each option.
If this is confusing, use the automatic option, which makes changes based on the image.
7. Use Markup Edit
Apple has packed a handy format editor in the Photos app. You can use it to add shapes, signatures, do some doodles and more.
Open an image, tap on edit, select a three-dot menu to open markup functions.
The default menu shows brushes and tools. Tap the ‘+’ icon to add text, arrows, signature and comment.
8. Disable iCloud Photo Backup
By default, Apple Photos tightly integrates the iCloud platform. Uploads all images and videos to the cloud. It could be a good or a bad thing depending on your workflow.
If you have already invested in another cloud platform, you should disable iCloud backup as the current behavior can quickly fill up the base 5GB storage.
For this you need to go to Settings > Profile > iCloud > Photos and turn off the backup option.
Note: If you’re running out of iCloud storage, check our guide for ways to clear iCloud storage.
9. Rename Images
While Apple Photos offers a plethora of features, it also lacks the basics like displaying the name and renaming a picture.
There is no way to view the photo name or size. However, Apple provides a lengthy workaround.
You need to open > share an image and save it in the Files app.
Now open the Files app and tap and hold the photo and choose from a range of options like info, rename, markup and more.
Handle Apple Photos Like a Pro
Apple Photos strikes a perfect balance between artificial intelligence and core functionality. Not too prone to AI plugins like Google Photos. It also integrates plenty of organization and editing capabilities with cloud backup.
Next: Speaking of Apple apps, the Reminders app is also full of surprises. Read the post below to find more details.
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