Where is "Favorite" in iPhone Photos app in iOS 18?

Hi, I think the issue is not that you can sort the issue by having to read about the update but that it is very simple: The favourite folder is just that, no matter what changes there are to an app the favourite folder should be there, right in front of your nose… so why would a developer put its users through the hassle, look at the likes of posts on the OP and this thread to see the issue this caused! So, why would a developer not make their changes but then when the update is done, leave the folder that would be the most popular folder where it should be… right there where it was before, in front if the users eyes! If they did that and users didn’t want it there ‘then’ they can change it… common sense has been lost in everything we do today and practically ever year Apple ‘as many other developers’ create the same issues when just stopping and thinking about the changes might help avoid the hassle caused to many of their paying customers!

please don’t say ‘don’t buy Apple’ as a retort, that is not a solution!

thanks for your input!

yauretayisha wrote:

That’s still so unnecessary. Our favorites used to be at the top of the screen, now we have to do all these steps just to get it back to how it used to be?

Or you could just hold your finger on the Photos icon on the Home Screen and then tap Favorites.

What do you concur with? The fact that you can hold your finger on the Photos icon on the Home screen and then tap Favorites to get to it directly? Or that you can reconfigure the Photos app to put Favorites wherever you want it, and also put other folders where you want them?

My wife just updated to IOS 18 on her iPhone 11 Pro. Went very well. I helped her to customize the home photos screen by removing some options. Without me doing anything else, her 'Favourites' album is at the top of the "Utilities" section so very easy to access as soon as the app is opened. So, one click to open the app, and a second click to open the 'Favourites' album. Same as it has been with IOS 17. No other issues with the Photos app.

Having said that I am still nervous to update my iPhone 15 Pro because I don't want to lose my album organization of 300 plus albums. No one including Apple can reassure me that they will try transfer over in their current state.

Otherwise, my wife's Photos app is working well and easy to use. I have taken several online courses on the Photos app and have helped several friends set up theirs. But I am still holding off! Weird!

I have been resistant to update to IOS 18 because of alleged and posted Photos issues. I finally took the plunge yesterday, (Jan 28th/2025) and it transitioned perfectly on my iPhone 15 Pro. All of my folders, and over 300 albums were exactly how they appeared before. I used the Customize and Reorder button at the bottom and removed most options except for Albums, Media Types, Utilities, and Featured Photos. Because I refer to my albums a great deal they are at the top, followed by Media Types and Utilities. I won't make use of the 'Trips' option since I already organize all of my trips into albums, as I do for special events like weddings, fire calls, and each month for 'normal' every day activities. For those looking for 'Favourites' album, without me doing anything they are at the top of the Utilities section. (That also applied to when my wife updated her iPhone 11 Pro. So didn't have to do anything to the 'Favourites' album.). Now that it is set up it is very similar to the IOS 17 set up but more flexible. Some people forget that Camera Roll is long gone so now it is 'Recents' which is no different. You can customize 'Recents' if you want a different order, but I like it as before, simply seeing any photos you took or downloaded to appear at the bottom, or the end. There are videos online to teach you about the new Photos App so relax and view a couple. I am now a believer in the new Photos App., as it is better!

I am not sure why the answer for iOS 18 is having to make settings changes to resemble and function like the previous iOS 17. Does no one see the irony?

I find everything more complicated. When I swipe down I want to see what I’ve been conditioned to see (by Apple) and not 2 new pages and a whole lot of more options …. It’s supposed to be a shortcut not a different way of accessing all of what can already be accessed the regular way.

Apple won’t let me post anything that criticizes their products so I doubt this will even be able to be seen.

Do you work for Apple? Being able to customize is great! Driving the customization on people is not. Do you have able 75yo Mom and 80yo Dad? Do they have Apple phones? Do you think most tech troubled people would be able to easily navigate the iOS? So you give me a break pal - you’re probably an Apple employee anyway.

As far as warranties are concerned, Apple acknowledged the defect and gave people an incredibly small window to claim them - but if you owned them for more than 3 years you were not eligible. So: Apple only stands behind the quality of their products for 3 years … and yes I had AppleCare.

Thank you!! I managed to find favorites after the second to last update (which I hated but got used to) but hadn’t been able to locate it after the most recent one until I saw your comment. You’re a life saver.

And for Apple - as with others here, I really hate the latest update. So much harder to find what I need and more clicking around to get there..ggrr

Fooddevil1 wrote:

My favorite Photos are somewhere I can’t find.

I don’t like this new format

I want to separate them from regular photos,,,,PLEASE

The explanation for how to find favorites has been posted repeatedly in this forum. The easiest way is to hold your finger on the Photos icon on the Home screen and chose Favorites from the floating menu that appears.

Why did they burry favorites below the fold making them hard to find. Those are the most used every day. That’s how I find the photos I took that I need to come back to and look at. Not a good user experience. Adding additional work for the user to do something they do most instead of making it easier.

Is it just me or are there a lot of repeated posts in this thread? When reading through all 13 pages, I'm reading copies of the exact same posts for a bunch of them.

Let me just add that "Utilities" seems like a strange place for a Favorites album/folder (or is it "Pinned Collections", or is it both?). We'll see how it goes when I upgrade. I'll have to let my spouse know. She couldn't find her favorites a couple days about when we were out with friends. That's why I'm looking this up now.

I Googled "ios 18 photos app how to view favorites" and this thread is the 2nd result. 👍

I definitely read the helpful info in this thread. I have not yet updated my iphone to iOS 18. But now I'll be a bit more prepared when I eventually do. Once I do, I will try going to Photos one of the first things.

The holding down of the app icon for a menu is interesting. I guess they might as well add options there, as that was the way we either moved icons around or deleted apps.

Alright, I just read the Release Notes now too since I had a few minutes. Thanks.

I hope the Customize thing went away or is modified. I can't tell you how many times I accidentally long-press on my locked screen (just by holding my darn phone), and then it goes to Customize and I can't get out to do what I actually wanted without relocking my screen first. That has been frustrating.

I don't build in pre-planned time to my life to learn about Apple updates :) That's probably the case with lots of others here. When I have an update, I make sure to do it overnight on a weekend, or another time of day when I know I'm not going somewhere and I can check my phone is working ok afterward, particularly my alarms as my phone is my alarm clock. So I don't jump and do the update immediately as I know it can inconvenience me in some ways to have my phone inaccessible, and plugged into a cord, for a period. But when I do have this time, I may not read the release notes as I want to make sure the update goes! And most times the updates have not prevented me from figuring things out without too much trouble.

Cheers

Patsy1966 wrote: "What a dreadful update..."

Patsy ~ Consider letting Apple know. (We're all just users in these user-to-user communities.)

Product Feedback - Apple

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marissa_gonzalez wrote: "...Stop changing things that don’t need it Apple 🙄"

marissa ~ Apple isn't here in these user-to-user communities. Use this form:

Feedback - Photos - Apple

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I can find my favorites after I used the customization feature of the new Photos to put it where I want it. It is now the first thing I see when I launch the app: