Can't See the OS for The Trees?
macOS Sequoia brings a whole new way of organizing to Apple Photos.
The cool thing about owning a Mac is that you get a new one for free every year about this time. Apple, always pushing the boundaries of tech awesomeness, has been upgrading the Mac operating system each Fall with new looks and features designed to make us want their stuff even more than we already do. The little scamps.
This year, the California themed upgrade on Mac is Sequoia. Available soon at a download near you. But unlike previous years, Apple has reimagined the Apple Photos experience in a big way.
Ever since Apple Photos replaced the venerable iPhoto app 10 years ago, Photos updates have been an incremental exercise. We got new features along the way, but the look and feel has remained pretty consistent. Year to year changes didn’t need much effort to understand.
Upgrading has generally meant some minor tool tweaks and changes in terminology. Even so, it’s been 5 years since the vague YEARS, MOMENTS, COLLECTIONS, and ALL PHOTOS tabs were replaced by YEARS, MONTHS, DAYS and ALL PHOTOS. Probably the most dramatic user interface change in the post-iPhoto era. By that time, of course, many people had already made Year/Month albums of their own so the transition was more welcome than shocking.
And Apple made sure that the updates were consistent across devices. If you got how Photos played on the iPhone you could work the Mac and vice-versa. As a trainer, I can say that the Apple Photos ecosystem is as good as it gets for basic photo management in an increasingly picture centric world.
But since 2021 the bar has been rising to the point that Apple Photos is a little crowded. Especially on the iPhone. “Shared With You” groups started the trend. Followed by iCloud Shared Photos Library and Duplicate Detection; each feature taking up a bit more screen real estate or requiring a deeper dive into the navigation.
After years of delivering a simple, elegant solution for personal photo management, Apple Photos has become somewhat less intuitive. To be clear, it still stands head and shoulders above other photo management apps if you are a typical Apple user and like the comfort of a well-integrated secure system, but it has started to feel ready for a . . . refresh.
And that is Apple’s specialty.
In macOS Sequoia and the related iOS upgrades, Apple Photos now sports a unified user interface. Basically, all tabs and collections are laid out on one long Photos Home Screen. Think of a web site with access to everything on the landing page and you get the idea.
Rather than launching the All Photos view and scrolling until you find the photo you want, Apple Photos opens to your most recent pictures and a choice of collections in multiple categories. Scrolling up reveals the All Photos view you’re used to, but scrolling down exposes virtually every collection, album, memory and Apple generated grouping. With a little practice you can get to any photo in about 3 clicks.
What’s even better is that the Apple Photos Home Screen is customizable. You never look at the Featured Photos that Apple finds? Or Memories? Just remove them from the Home Screen.
Maybe you want your Albums right after the All Photos collection. Just move them up there. Or lead with People & Pets. Being able to design the Apple Photos Home Screen layout will be hugely popular to both prioritize and declutter users’ photo experience.
One brilliant change is removing the Days view from the All Photos module. Days was always an awkward step between Months and the All Photos view. Now Days lives as its own navigation, offering both All and Summary views and defaults to the most recent days of photos.
Another great move is the creation of a Trips collection that groups pictures from any sessions that Apple Photos identifies as excursions away from home. Very cool and helpful.
So you may be asking, what’s it mean for me and all the work I’ve done to organize my pictures. Was that a waste of time? Do I have to start again from square one?
No you don’t. It’s all good. The Album setup and metadata you’ve added gets used by the new layout, but it is more accessible than ever. And to ease the transition, both the Mac and iPad versions let you show the familiar side bar if you prefer.
But I’m betting you won’t. Having all the categories with bigger labels and thumbnail previews is great.
Understand that I’m judging a pre-release beta version of the software and there will likely be some changes for the final release. But in my testing the new Apple Photos still seems to honor all the tasks we’ve done before. It’s about upgrading the photo experience by helping us find and manage our photos in more natural ways.
Next Monday, September 9th, Apple will announce the final release date for macOS Sequoia, iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. I can’t wait to get the final release in hand and share the new experience with you in detail.
If you want to work with me, there are 3 ways I can help you:
I help people who love their pictures but are confounded by Apple Photos. You get simple, patient guidance and encouragement to help you master and enjoy your photos. You can book a 1:1 online call here.
You can sign up for one of my DIY courses: Making Photo Books in Apple Photos walks you step by step through the process and teaches you how to make photo books in the easiest, quickest way possible. See all my DIY course offerings HERE.
You can sign up on the waiting list for my upcoming You’ve Got This: Make Your Own Photo Book group project.