Accessing third party photo editing apps from within Photos

I used to be able to access a couple third party apps that I purchased with two taps from within Photos.


After updating to 18 it took more than two taps, but I could still get to them. I used them just yesterday!


This morning, literally overnight, I’ve completely lost access! Yesterday after I tapped the edit bars at the bottom and the “…” at the top, there was a word on the menu under the APPEARANCE ‘tab’ that let me access the third party apps (think

It might have been ‘external’?). That word is now GONE! None of the entries on any of the ‘…’ menus give me access to my apps.


Have I misremembered how I found them? I use these apps frequently. I don’t want to lose their capabilities.

iPhone 14 Plus

Posted on Apr 11, 2025 11:29 AM

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Posted on Apr 11, 2025 4:47 PM

Thanks. Yep, that's exactly what happened! I don’t know why, but these two apps were evidently removed from my phone last night 🫤.


We changed carriers four days ago, but I'm not sure how that would affect previously installed apps that were working yesterday, but it was just as you said. When I looked more closely at the thumbnails, each had a ‘download from cloud’ symbol under it.


Thanks SO SO much!



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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 11, 2025 4:47 PM in response to Phil0124

Thanks. Yep, that's exactly what happened! I don’t know why, but these two apps were evidently removed from my phone last night 🫤.


We changed carriers four days ago, but I'm not sure how that would affect previously installed apps that were working yesterday, but it was just as you said. When I looked more closely at the thumbnails, each had a ‘download from cloud’ symbol under it.


Thanks SO SO much!



Apr 11, 2025 1:17 PM in response to Amita4ever

Amita4ever wrote:

I used to be able to access a couple third party apps that I purchased with two taps from within Photos.

After updating to 18 it took more than two taps, but I could still get to them. I used them just yesterday!

This morning, literally overnight, I’ve completely lost access! Yesterday after I tapped the edit bars at the bottom and the “…” at the top, there was a word on the menu under the APPEARANCE ‘tab’ that let me access the third party apps (think
It might have been ‘external’?). That word is now GONE! None of the entries on any of the ‘…’ menus give me access to my apps.

Have I misremembered how I found them? I use these apps frequently. I don’t want to lose their capabilities.

You may be referring to "Extensions". That menu option below "Appearance" should offer a list of installed Apps that can edit or access photos.


Make sure the apps you were using have not been offloaded or deleted.


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Accessing third party photo editing apps from within Photos

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