Where did the Camera Roll go in iOS 18

Completely agree, it’s awful. I need to be able to see my camera roll I use it for all sorts of stuff like screenshots and photos that I don’t necessarily need to keep. I sort through it monthly delete the crap then sync my photos I want to keep on my Mac to folders.

My mum had a brain haemorrhage 3 years ago and is just starting to use her phone again, just as she’s getting to grips apple do this NOT HAPPY 😡

I need this back ASAP. The way I use photos is completely broken now. I need a place to see all photos that are on my iphone and have not yet been transferred off my device.

*** EVERYONE Request it to come back here Feedback - Photos - Apple ***

That is not correct! I move pictures off my phone to my laptop and then sync them back into folders. The camera roll/recents contained everything I have not synced back. The library is now just EVERYTHING, there isn't a way to differentiate between what is on the phone and what has been synced back, it's all together. Many of need the functionality of the old camera roll/recent for the way we organize things.

They are the same thing only if you never sync your photos to your computer, otherwise they are most definitely not. For us who do sync our pictures to the computer, the "camera roll" or "recents" folder only kept the pictures taken on your phone that had not yet been synced. For people who sync not being able to have those pics separate can be a real issue.

Well said.

Lots of people are reporting here that the Recents (aka Camera Roll) functionality has disappeared from the Photos app with iOS 18. Others are stating that it has not. Assuming that we are all rational beings, there must be an explanation for these different perceptions. I think that the most likely explanation lies in the different ways people use the Photos app. For example, some people sync their photos to iCloud, while others (including me) do not. This would result in differing user experiences. Similarly, some people sync some of their photos from their Macs (or other devices) to their phones and others do not. That too would result in differing user experiences. There may be yet other differences in the use of the Photos app which would affect this issue.

The bottom line, however, is that for a sizeable number of users iOS 18 (including me) has introduced a catastrophic change. Some people on this forum report that they have found a workaround, using the Camera app. Unfortunately, this does not work on my phone (as I have mentioned earlier). I have no idea why.

I could not disagree more. The "Library" is the dumping ground of both photos in the "camera roll" and pictures synced from my Mac. The only way I have found so far to only see the photos on my iPhone's "camera roll" is to look at them via the Camera application (lower right hand corner). Apple, you task me!!!!

khuba wrote:

I could not disagree more. The "Library" is the dumping ground of both photos in the "camera roll" and pictures synced from my Mac. The only way I have found so far to only see the photos on my iPhone's "camera roll" is to look at them via the Camera application (lower right hand corner). Apple, you task me!!!!

Very strange. I use the Camera app as suggested, and I see photos that were taken, but also that were imported from other sources.

khuba wrote:

Apple, you task me!!!!

Other than the fact that you're demanding something from Apple, I have no idea what that means.

Apple doesn't read here for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

True they stopped calling it the Camera Roll long ago then started to call it "Recents" within the "My Albums" area and it would always be at the top left when you launched the Photos app. Now in iOS18 the first thing presented is a useless blast of photos. To get past that to the organized stuff you need to scroll down but no longer is there a "My Album" area with all the photos taken/stored on the phone, instead there is an "Albums" area with nothing in it (on my phone at least). There is a "Recent Days" area, but again that is a mix of pictures taken on the phone and pictures synced from my Mac/PC separated by day. Also, I notice as I take new photos with my iPhone they are not being added to the "Recent Days" view. That is odd.

Bottom line is, I think a lot of people complaining like me have a workflow that has been up-ended by the new Photos app. As usual Apple has optimized their photos app to serve lemmings that upload their photos to iCloud and trust Apple to organize everything on their iPhone. Not me. My photos mean too much to me.

wynford wrote:

With 5 pages on this controversy, in 3 days, how many of you have sent feedback to Apple complaining to bring back Camera Roll or the most recent (Recents) or saying how great Photos is in iOS 18? The more complaining people do about this, the better the chances are of having it come back. I have sent in mine. I wonder what the best way to keep track would be?

There really isn't any way to keep track of it. I know I've seem some online articles complaining about the changes in Photos. Find those folks (if they're real people and not AIs) and drop them a line or comment on their articles.

It's a lot of work to turn an aircraft carrier.

And this is what I've submitted via Feedback - Camera - Apple:

Prior to iOS 18, the Photos app provided a folder called "Recents" where a user could review the photos they'd taken using that phone (as well as photos saved from messages, screenshots, etc) in order to decide which to keep, which to upload to their Mac, etc. In iOS 18, the Photos app lost that functionality. The photos described above are shown mixed up with photos synced from other sources.

At https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255760698, I see that there's a clumsy workaround in the Camera app but on my iPhone the Camera app displays the text “No Photos or Videos".

I had turned on the "Use Face ID” setting in Settings > Photos as an experiment. Though I've turned it off, the Photos app still says “Face ID Required to open Photos”. Could this be causing the Camera app problem?

dominikfrommeilen wrote:

I have same issue: back up fotos on my PC and sync back. The camera roll is used for non-synced photos only. I guess most people are not that organized and don't get any use out of the camera roll folder. But why do those who have order in their photos have to be disorganized? The new photo app is not organized, it's chaos! Apple, please bring back the camera roll!

Posting to this discussion forum is good for exploring issues but to get something fixed, please report the problem to Apple via Feedback - Photos - Apple (as I have done). Thanks

If you scroll right to the bottom, click “customise and reorder”. You can select and deselect as you want to see and can reorder. It still shows the photos above, but if you scroll down you’ll see your albums again :)

sorry, just realised it still doesn’t separate camera roll, but at least it might help someone to find their albums again (I was looking for mine)

Please put Camera Roll back in next push. I can't accept this new ugly design.

Have you bothered to read ANYTHING in the 7 page thread you posted to? From your post it sounds like you didn’t bother.

And the camera roll has been gone for 5 years. Where have you been for the past 5 years?

And NO, I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE to put the camera roll back!