iOS 26 Photos — here's the biggest upgrades for your iPhone

Yahoo

2 days ago

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Much of the talk about the iPhone Photos app in iOS 26 has centered around the ongoing design tweaks to your photos library that Apple is offering up in its latest software. And while that's understandable, there are a couple of other changes coming to Photos in iOS 26 — and I think they really add a lot to the app.
But first, about that design update. As you may remember, iOS 18 introduced a sweeping new look to the app that essentially stacked your library on top of collections, albums and other organization tools in Photos. While I got used to the look over time, it clearly wasn't a universally popular change, as Apple is back at it with a Photos design update for iOS 26.
Now, there are Library and Collections tabs in iOS 26 Photos, and you tap them to toggle between the two sections of the app. It certainly saves you from the seemingly endless scrolling you had to do to navigate in iOS 18 Photos, and I appreciate how those tabs do shrink out of view with a downward scroll.
But that new design is only part of the story with iOS 26 Photos. The other big changes add new features and functionality to the app, and as a result, I think they'll be a whole lot less divisive.
The Collections view now has extended customization tools that lets you change the display size. And the Photos app is getting smart enough to recognize events like concerts and sports, pulling information about that event right into the app.
Let's talk about each of these iOS 26 Photos changes and where you can find them in the app.
Customize the collection layout in Photos
If you remember from iOS 18, you could already customize the layout of the Photos app, rearranging the order things like Memories, Trips, Recent Days and other various collections appeared in the app. All you had to do is scroll to the bottom of the Photos app on your iPhone and tap Customize & Reorder to rearrange things on the subsequent screen.
That's still possible in iOS 26 Photos, though now the button at the bottom of the Collections tab is called Reorder. But you gain other organizational skills in the new iPhone software, and you access them by tapping the More menu — those three dots — at the top of the screen.
When you do, a pop-up menu will appear with different options like Customize, which will take you to the same place as the Reorder option at the bottom of the screen. There are also controls for switching between personal and shared photo libraries and collapsing all your collections into a single list.
But it's the three icons at the top of that pop-up menu that have captured my attention. Because they're the ones that allow you to change the layout of your various collections.
The first option — represented by an icon with a block on top of three dots — is the default look for collections. It prioritizes the collection at the top of the screen — Memories in my case — while shrinking down the size of subsequent collections beneath it. It's a good look if there's a particular collection you like to highlight above all others.
The middle option features an icon with a 3x3 grid of dots. Tap that and all your collections will appear in the same size.
The final option, an icon with a 2x2 grid, looks a lot like the middle option, only with the collections appearing with larger thumbnails.
Admittedly, it's not an extensive list of layout options. I'd like to see one where you can alternate between a prominent box and a smaller line — or even better, squeezing more than one collection on the same line so there's not as much vertical scrolling. But as a proof of concept for changing up the look of Photos in iOS 26, it's a good start.
View event details in Photos
If you take photos at a concert or sporting event, the Photos app will now include extra information that you can access from within your photos library. For instance, last September, I chaperoned my daughter when she and a friend went to a Gracie Abrams concert. When I swipe up from a photo from that event to see information about the image — location, date and other metadata — there's now a link to the event itself.
In the instance of that Gracie Abrams concert, the link takes me to an info page with the date and location of the concert. But there's also links to Gracie Abrams' music, as well as a direct link to the Apple Music app on my phone if I want to play or purchase some of the songs. Further down the screen, there's a list of upcoming events — in this case additional Gracie Abrams performances.
The feature works for sporting events, too, though there's less to see at this point. I can jump to information pages about college football games and baseball games I've been, too, but there's no score data, and the listed upcoming games are either not there or not particularly relevant.
On the info screen for a Cal-UNLV football game I attended in December, the Upcoming Events section lists every college football game being played at the end of August, not just the ones featuring the two teams I watched.
It also looks like event information is limited to major sports leagues. I've attended matches for the Oakland Roots, a second-division soccer team near me, and there's no event info curated for photos from those outings.
I don't want this to come across like I'm complaining — just an acknowledgement that this is very much a feature still in beta, like the rest of iOS 26. I think the fact that Apple is building this feature into Photos adds value — especially since it involves no effort on my part.
Photos outlook
Whether you're a fan of the evolving look of Photos or not, you have to appreciate Apple's attempts to fine-tune the app and put more control in users' hands. It's definitely worth checking out once you install iOS 26 on your iPhone, whether that's via the public beta coming out this month or the full release arriving later this year.
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