Photo “Albums” disappeared after updating to IOS 18

I don't usually have issue with regular IOS update or whatsoever and never comment in community. But this update really messes up user experience especially photo album features. Hope Apple team could bring back older format/template for photo album or do similar one again. The update should be user friendly especially for app/features with heavy user usage. I'm baffled by how this has been approved and pushed out publicly when general public prefers the old format.

I found that the only way to get an album to reappear, is to search for its name, change the sort order, change the sort order back to what it was and then the missing album appears at the end of the list of albums.

Sadly, nobody at Apple is paying attention to us or this site. If they were, they would have fixed this mess a month and a half ago when they installed iOS 18. I’ve been to the Apple Store a few times and also have called AppleCare to no avail. This was the WORST Apple update ever to which there appears to be no adequate solution to retrieve our albums. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Unfortunately you have misunderstood the problem. “Folders” have disappeared along with all the photos that were in them. They have been replaced by “Albums” which, in my case, only have a handful of photos in them.

I have tried all the fixes suggested here but to no avail.

pwreese, your phone is working in a different way from most of ours, so you need to find out why. Maybe we can help you, or maybe you need to seek help from the professionals at an Apple Store, your local equivalent, or online Apple Support link at the lower left corner of this page.

If you do see the "Customize & Reorder" option at the bottom of your Photos, can you click on it and see if the options in it are checked or unchecked on your phone? My guess is that somehow all of the options got unchecked on your phone.

On my phone, all eleven options are checked, including "Albums", so they all display for me. If I UNcheck all of them, my phone behaves like yours. I can also press on the stack of three lines right of "Albums" and drag it higher or lower in the list to make it appear in a different position.

margo m. wrote:

This is RIDICULOUS. Fix this album issue!!!! Why do you have to ruin things in updates!

What album issue? The major "issue" seems to be that people haven't explored the app to see how things have be rearranged. Or having swiped to the bottom to "Customize & Reorder" to arrange things more to their liking.

Customize the Photos app on iPhone - Apple Support

If you have some other issue, please explain what it is.

Mhcookie1 wrote:

Omg I hate the iOS 18 update my pics are all over the place when I open my pics all my pics show up I hate it I was trying to uninstall but it will not give me the option I hate it I hate it😡

Omg, have you read any of the instructions for Photos? Have you swiped down to the bottom of the screen in Photos and made use of "Customize & Reorder?"

Customize the Photos app on iPhone - Apple Support

allecia128 wrote:

FIX IT APPLE, I am furious! Most users have multiple devices, meaning we are loyal to the brand for a reason….this is not it. I made careful curated albums over the years. Now they are all gone and no solid answers on how to get them back… FIX IT!

Apple doesn't read here in this user-to-user forum for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

Meanwhile, if there is an Apple Store near you, I suggest you make an appointment to have someone there show you how to use Photos. It's the sort of thing that's probably easier to do in person. Almost everyone I've interacted with who thought their albums are gone has discovered they weren't.

oana135 wrote: "Yes the albums are there but mine most of them are empty . My pictures from the albums disappeared 😡😡😡I have been using iPhone for years . My next phone will be android . I am so p… off"

oana ~ We're all just users here, so:

Feedback - Photos - Apple

Contact Apple for support and service

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siumip wrote:

APPLE needs to bring back the previous Photos app!!!!! PLEASE!!!!

Apple doesn't read here in this user-to-user forum for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

This new Update is an inconvenience.

I find this update to be a significant improvement and have told Apple so using the appropriate channel. So, as of this moment, Apple has heard my opinion but not yours.

No! Those are the albums from my MacBook- VERY Different from the ones I had in my phone! Any ideas?

Yes, a terrible update. But, if you remembrer the name of your folder, you can search for it.

For me- grouping pictures by date when browsing in map was very usefull.

Used it to fill my farms field history later by fields. Now all pictures are together…

Exactly

why have a photo section if it is now totally useless!

I want to be able to have a folder on my screen that says Photos with the subfolders that I originally set up. It’s so darn frustrating now.