Changing Default Photos Behavior for Attachments from “Photos” to “Recently Added”

When I am adding a Photo to an iMessage or Mail message, and I bring up Photos as part of that process, the default behavior is to bring up “Photos”, which supposedly is all photos, but never includes my most recent photos, screen captures, etc. I then have to swipe up to get to “Collections”, then go into “Recently Added” to attach those most recent items. For example, I see something I want to share in a message, so I do a screen grab, go into Messaging, bring up Photos but it doesn’t come up unless I go into “Recently Added”. Seems like a lot of unnecessary steps, it’s a real PITA, and a recent change in behavior from a previous update to Photos and the way I used to attach photos etc. to messages. Is there anyway that I can set my default behavior in Photos to just bring up “Recently Added” vs. “Photos”?

iPhone 15 Pro

Posted on Jan 28, 2026 7:07 AM

Reply
1 reply

Jan 29, 2026 10:18 AM in response to mlb32704

mlb32704 wrote: Is there anyway that I can set my default behavior in Photos to just bring up “Recently Added” vs. “Photos”?

Try this-- in Messages, looking in Photos, tap the More (•••) button to bring up the menu:

And pick "Sort by Recently Added." I'm not sure if what you want is included, but for me it seems to get everything.


Of course, this isn't a default thing-- it's a standard setting.


Does this work for you?

Changing Default Photos Behavior for Attachments from “Photos” to “Recently Added”

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