After a number of complaints about the Photos app redesign in iOS 18, Apple is changing the look of the app in the new version of the operating system, now called iOS 26.
These changes were briefly mentioned on Monday during a keynote at Apple‘s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 25); Apple noted that it is bringing back the tabbed Photos interface, although it won’t look the same.
“Many of you missed using tabs in the Photos app,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, meaning that Apple will never be able to admit that it made a mistake when it revamped the app last year. “Photos now has separate tabs for Library and Collections,” he added, demonstrating the update.
“In Collections, you’ll find your favorite photos, albums, and be able to search the entire library.
Meanwhile, the Library tab makes it easy to scroll through recent photos, a user interface that many people prefer.
The changes to the Photos app in iOS 18 have led to some backlash, as they centralized all the ways to interact with and organize photos on one page. Some developers even took advantage of this by offering third-party photo apps that promised to bring back the old user interface for a fee.
Also in the iOS 26 update, the Photos app can turn your 2D photos into spatial 3D photos. This feature appears on the iPhone’s redesigned lock screen and is inspired by Apple’s Vision Pro spatial computing headset.
The photo-related Camera app for iPhone and iPad has been updated to make its many features easier to access. The home screen now displays the two shooting modes you use most often: photo and video. To open additional modes, you can swipe left or right. Here you can switch to modes such as portrait, cinematic, and others. To access other settings – such as flash, timer, aperture, etc. – you’ll now need to swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
You can also change formats with a single tap, which is useful for switching between HD and 4K resolutions or adjusting the frame rate in a video.
