How to manage albums in iPhone 12 Photos app?

When I open Photos, this is what I see:

I don't have to flip a switch or whatever to get from a "Home" window to an "Albums" window-- "Albums" is just right there. I'm not sure how that could be easier.

As Phil0124 and Yer_Man have each said, you can make whatever you want appear right up front. You just go to Customize at the bottom of the Photos window

and click that to get the Customize menu

to move Pets or Albums or whatever you like to be the first thing you see. You can un-check all the things you don't want to see.

I've just got to say, all you had to do was ask how to do this-- something you never did. Including statements about how annoyed you are or threatening to buy a different brand just doesn't help. We are not Apple; folks who read these posts are just users like you. Some of us hang around here from time to time in case our experience may help someone. We don't get paid and we don't have a schedule, and the Apple engineers don’t read the stuff, here. Most importantly, we do not have to respond to posts that put us off.

If you would like to make suggestions to Apple, go here:

Feedback - Photos - Apple

Here's a hint: Remember that the person who reads your post probably is in no way connected with the cause of your rant, and on this site we only answer the questions we want to. And it does no good to threaten to dump Apple--you'll just attract more angry people who won't and can't help, and you'll turn off the people who can. I'm sure that everyone thinks that, really, you should use whatever platform works best for you, so it makes a pretty empty gesture, anyway.

I'm not entirely sure what you are referring to. The Photos App has an entire section devoted to Albums (not a switch). You can place that section anywhere you want to even at the very top of the Photos App so its the first thing you see, so you can quickly select an Album if that is what you want.

click here ➜ Customize the Photos app on iPhone - Apple Support

Outside of that, your best course of action is to pre-select an album you want to show before being with a client so it's ready to go when you open the Photos App.

Also, threats don't work here. If you need to buy different phone that meets your needs better than an iPhone, then by all means do so. We have no vested interest in your choice of phone.

To quote a movie. "you keep using that word, [switch], I don't think it means what you think it means".

A switch is something you flip on or off. Albums on iOS have never been a switch. They've always been a section you enter.

They still are. As has already been mentioned, you can set albums to the very top of the screen or just under the gallery if you want to. You can customize the Photos app anyway you want to and place the albums section anywhere you want to. Please read the support document linked in my previous response.

here it is again. click here ➜ Customize the Photos app on iPhone - Apple Support

Don't keep embarrassing pictures in your iPhone you don't want clients to see them.

apavitt wrote: You asked to see scree shots f photo app

But what you show is not the opening screen of Photos! You're showing the Library, just like if you had tapped the Library button in the old style. The Library view shows, well, the whole Library! Again, just like the old version!

The opening screen is named Photos, like I showed earlier.

In the opening screen, the most recent pictures from the Library are at the top, and the other collections, like Albums, are at the bottom. You have to scroll up to get to the Library.

You have 5 pictures across, but I've zoomed mine for 3 across. For the Library, zoom is at the bottom

as a sub menu of the sort button, in View Options.,

This is the same in Albums.

The Home screen is exactly like the old version but, instead of a button for Library and a button for Albums, you scroll up for Library and down for Photos. Easier than ever!

You have a square grid view rather than one showing the aspect ratio. Square fits more pictures on a page. The choice is in the View Options menu. Since mine is already in Aspect Ratio Grid, the choice is to change to Square:

This is the same as in previous versions.

As explained in the terms of use you agreed to when you signed up, you’re not talking to Apple here. The people responding are Apple users like yourself. That's what this forum is - users reaching out for assistance, assistance being given by other Apple users.

So if you want to ask Apple a question you'll need to contact them directly.

In the meantime have you considered creating your own Albums Shortcut? Scroll to the very bottom of the Window and select Customise & Reorder. Then check the box for albums and drag it to the top the list. Now back to the very top of the window, and when you open Photos note the little 'x' button at the bottom the screen Tap that and where does it bring you?

"I don't have to flip a switch or whatever to get from a "Home" window to an "Albums" window-- "Albums" is just right there. I'm not sure how that could be easier."

If I understood apart correctly, the problem is not to find the albums, but to avoid the "Photos" section with the most recent photos being displayed above the albums.

Previously we had nice button, where we could toggle between the albums tab and the library views - days, months, years, albums. Now the "Albums" item will appear right in the middle of the display and the most recents items from the library are always revealed. This can be embarrassing, if someone is looking at our iPhone, while we try to find the album we want to show. And when we finally manage to find the album, where we want to select a photo to show to someone, there will be an irritating slideshow of all photos in the album, until we finally discover the menu, where we can stop the nonsense.

The new design has some nice new features - but there are too many gimmicks turned on by default. So we have to waste our time trying to find out how to disable irritating new features, to make Photos usable again, instead of exploring the iPhone to discover and enjoy new features and turning on the features we want.

léonie wrote: … Previously we had nice button, where we could toggle between the albums tab and the library views - days, months, years, albums. Now the "Albums" item will appear right in the middle of the display and the most recents items from the library are always revealed. This can be embarrassing, if someone is looking at our iPhone, while we try to find the album we want to show.

I see that-- but didn't the previous versions open in Library, anyway? I doubt that anyone has a solution for people looking over your shoulder while hunting through embarrassing pictures. I think of my phone as a personal device. (An iPad is not so personal, though.) Of course, you can open Photos to Albums, and close it that way, and it will re-open in Albums next time. However, you have to go through that again after a shutdown.

But what about those embarrassing pictures that front each Album?

The new design has some nice new features - but there are too many gimmicks turned on by default. So we have to waste our time trying to find out how to disable irritating new features, to make Photos usable again, instead of exploring the iPhone to discover and enjoy new features and turning on the features we want.

Nicely said! I've thought about this, too, and I don't see an obvious solution. Maybe a section all to itself of "New Features" rather than having them turned on all over the place. I sure would like to keep the crazy stuff, but keep it out of the way!

This new version is the first one that allows us to turn stuff off at all, so maybe it will get more customizable. Should we make our own phone?

apavitt wrote: I would not mind if it was just a few pictures showing at the top of the photo first screen, more so not care if they were only recent taken pictures, but the top of my screen show lots of (about 60) pictures from my albums

I don't get it-- how does your screen differ from mine that I showed earlier? My screen showed 9 pictures. Another difference may be that my albums are in folders, and I have 6 folders showing. Can you include a screenshot?