How to Organize Photos on iPhone

There are a few smartphones that offer better photo quality than the iPhone. However, when it comes to high resolution and the ability to sync photos between devices, the iPhone is the top choice.

But taking good photos means you'll take a lot of them, so organizing your photos on your camera requires a few tricks.

Table of Contents

• Before we get started, here are some general space-saving tips!
• How to organize photos on iPhone into albums
• How to sort photos on iPhone by name
• How to sort photos on iPhone by location
• Filter photos on iPhone
• Categorize photos on iPhone

Before we get started, here are some general space-saving tips!

While this article will break down specific ways you can organize your photos, we also want to give you some space-saving tips before we get started:

1. Always review your photos . It's easy to take a few photos and then forget about them, but that many photos add up to take up some storage space. To avoid future backlogs, get in the habit of reviewing your photos after you've taken them and quickly deciding what to delete.
2. Don't keep near-duplicates . Taking lots of the same photo can give you a lot of options — but if the photos are similar, you don't need them all. Get in the habit of deleting duplicate iPhone photos to reduce storage clutter.
3. Optimize your iPhone storage : If you go to Settings > Apps > Photos on your iPhone, you'll see an option called iCloud Photos . Once you turn this on, your iPhone will automatically upload and store your full-size photos on iCloud.

Now that you know how to save space on your iPhone, let's take a closer look at how to organize your photos.

How to organize photos on iPhone into albums

Let's say you want to organize your photos into albums. This is the simplest way to organize your photos because you can group photos that span multiple locations, dates, people, or events.

Here's how you can create a new photo album:

1. Launch the Photos app, scroll through your photo library, and tap Albums . If you don't find Albums here, scroll to the bottom and tap Customize & Rearrange . Now, select Albums .
2. In the top left corner of the screen, tap Create and select New Album .
3. Name your album and tap the plus (+) icon to start adding photos to the album. When you're finished, tap Done .
4. If you want to choose one image to represent your entire album, tap Edit main photo . Then, select an image and tap Done .

To better organize your albums, you can also group multiple albums into folders. For example, if you take photos of different projects for your job, you might want to create a "Work" folder to organize all of your work-related albums.

1. Go back to the Albums section and tap Create in the top left corner.
2. Select New Folder and then name your new folder.
3. Then, tap the plus sign (+), select all the albums you want to add to your folder, and select Add .
4. Finally, tap Done .

If you have photos on your phone that you forgot to add to an album:

1. Go to the main photo grid and tap Select in the top right corner.
2. Select the photo you want to add.
3. Tap the three dots (...) button in the bottom right corner of the screen.
4. Select Add to Album and select the album where you want to place the photo.

Alternatively, you can scroll through your photo library, tap Albums , and select the album you want to add the photo to. Then, just tap the plus sign (+), select the image you want to add, and tap Add .

From now on, whenever you need to find photos from a multi-day event, you'll be able to go into your Photos app and see the appropriate album!

How to sort photos on iPhone by name

The next best way to organize photos on your iPhone is by people. This makes it easy to find photos of yourself, your friends, or your family.

Modern versions of iOS can recognize faces, allowing the iPhone to automatically detect and organize photos by person. These unique faces are recognized as individuals, allowing the iPhone to group photos of that person together, regardless of date or event, or even if they are in a group photo.

However, sorting photos by name or person requires some setup. Here's how to do it:

1. Scroll through your photo library and tap People (or People & Pets , if you find a pet in your library).
2. You'll see thumbnails for each person your iPhone recognizes. Select one of those faces and you'll see all the photos that person has.
3. You'll also notice that some people's faces don't have names. To name them, select the face and tap Name this person. Then, type in their name and tap Done .

Once a person is named, all future photos that include their face will be tagged and searchable by their name, making it easy to find them at any time.

If you want to create an album for a specific person, you can do so by selecting their face and tapping Select in the upper right corner. Then, select Select All and tap the ellipses (...) button in the lower right corner of the screen. Finally, select Add to Album and tap the plus sign (+) to create an album for them.

How to sort photos on iPhone by location

The Photos app on your iPhone will also organize your photos by location if you travel a lot. But like the previous method, you have to set this up first.

When you take a photo with iPhone, the photo's metadata automatically records the photo's location—as long as you have Location Services turned on for the Camera app.

Here's how to manage Location Services on iPhone:

1. Open the Settings app .
2. Go to Privacy & Security > Location Services . Make sure the toggle at the top is turned on.
3. Now scroll down and select the Camera app .
4. Make sure that While Using the App is selected.

Now with this setting enabled, your iPhone will automatically geotag new photos. It will then organize those photos based on that location into a pre-made album.

To view your photos:

1. Scroll through your photo library and find Pinned Collections . Then, tap Maps . If you don't see it, you may need to edit your Pinned Collections . To do this, just tap Edit  and select the plus sign (+) next to Maps under the Suggestions heading .
2. On the map, tap the thumbnail of the location you want to view. You'll see all the photos from that location.

Filter photos on iPhone

Sometimes you just want to see screenshots in an album, or just the images you've edited. Instead of manually scrolling through each photo, you can use the Photos app's built-in filtering options. Just swipe through your photo library, tap Albums , and open the album you want to filter.

Next, tap the sort icon and select Filter . A context menu will appear with six options: All items, Favorites, Photos, Edited, Videos , and Screenshots . All you need to do is select the type of photos you want to view.

When you're done and want to remove the filter, tap the icon that replaces the sort icon, select Filters , and select All Items . This isn't limited to albums—you can also filter your entire library by following the same steps as above. Just make sure you're in your main photo grid!

Categorize photos on iPhone

By default, the Photos app sorts photos by the date they were taken. This basically means that photos are sorted based on their original timestamp, even if you receive a photo via AirDrop or save it from an app.

While this can be useful in some cases, it can make it difficult to find photos you’ve taken recently, especially if you tend to save a lot of them. Luckily, you can choose to sort your photo library by original timestamp or choose to display them at the bottom of your timeline.

To do this, scroll through your library and tap the sort icon as soon as it appears. A context menu will immediately appear with two options: Sort by Recently Added and Sort by Date Taken . Choose the former if you want your newest photos to appear at the bottom of your library. On the other hand, choose the latter if you want your library to be sorted by the date you took the respective photos instead of when you saved them to your library.

When it comes to albums, you can also sort your photos by Oldest First, Newest First , or by Custom Order . To do this, go to the album you want to sort and simply follow the same steps outlined above. Then, select your preferred sorting option.

With the quick tips and tricks mentioned above, you'll be organizing your iPhone photos with ease! Not only will this help clean up your photo library, but it will also help you find photos much faster in the Photos app.

• See also: how to arrange apps on iPhone .