Apple Photos undergoing major changes in iOS 18, but some you'll never see

Apple's latest beta version of iOS 18 just removed some of the changes made to the Photos app.

The app had been made a lot more complicated, with AI features, but might not be so radical now.

Apple's beta versions of iOS 18 are heating up as we get closer to the release window for the next batch of iPhones, which will ship with the new software already installed.

Particular discussion was flying around about the changes that Apple had made to the Photos app, which was the recipient of a pretty new user interface and a slathering of Apple Intelligence features. Some of these, it turns out, have been trimmed away completely in the latest beta version.

In particular, the Carousel, a feature that Apple boasted about prominently when it unveiled iOS 18, has been deleted, at least for now. This was going to be a chunky viewpoint where your phone would showcase your best photos, according to its machine intelligence, but users had complained that it took up way too much real estate.

In fact, canvassing social media and comments threads, you'll find a lot of beta users complaining about the app more widely – in particular, that it has been taken from a simple but useful experience where you can fairly quickly find your photos, to one with a lot more bloat.

As well as removing the Carousel, Apple has also seemingly tweaked the app's layout to make sure that you can see more of your photo grid (or camera roll) when you open it, which could make it simpler to get straight into a list of your recent photos if that's all you're looking for.

There are still a heap of new collection-style groupings though, such as Recent Days, People & Pets and more, which different users might find more or less useful depending on their tastes and photos.

What hasn't changed, though, is the removal of the navigation bar at the bottom of the current Photos app, something that has been relied upon for a long time now – it'll be curious to see how people adapt, and whether Apple sticks with the changes at iOS 18's release or past that point.