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You've probably shot thousands of photos with your iPhone over the years, but if you don't take the time to organize all those pictures, you'll likely have a hard time tracking down specific images. One way to arrange your photos is to create albums for them. After you've added your photos to specific albums, you can sort and filter them, build slideshows, and share them with others. And by syncing your photos via iCloud, the albums will appear on all your Apple devices. With iOS 26 and iPadOS 26, Apple has revamped the Photos app with a new layout. The general process remains the same, but some of the steps differ.
How to Create an Album on an iPhone
To create a photo album, open the Apple Photos app on your phone. Swipe up on the screen and tap the Library icon on the toolbar to view all your photos in chronological order. Swipe down to view your photos by years or months. Tap the Collections icon to view your photos by Memories, People, Featured Photos, and Recent Days. Now take a moment to consider how you’d like to organize your photos into albums. For instance, you can create albums for specific events, people, or places. You can also group photos by type, such as clipart or paintings.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)At the Collections screen, select Albums. If you already have at least one album, tap the plus (+) icon and select New Album from the pop-up menu. If you don’t have any albums, tap Create. Enter a name for the album and tap the Add Photos button. Select the images you want to add by tapping each individual photo or swiping your finger across multiple images.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)When done, tap the checkmark at the upper right and then tap Create. To view your new photo album, head to Albums and tap it to view the photos inside. You can then create additional photo albums if you wish.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)How to Edit an Album
After creating an album, you can add or remove specific photos. Open the album you wish to edit. To remove a photo, tap Select, choose the images, then hit the trash icon and select Remove from Album. Note that the photos you remove remain on your iPhone, just not in the album.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)To add a photo to an album, tap the ellipsis icon at the top and select Add Photos. Browse your photo library and select the photos you wish to add. Tap the checkmark in the upper right to add your selections to the album.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)You can change the title of an album and replace the key photo that appears at the top. To do this, open the album, tap the ellipsis icon, and select Edit Title and Photos. You can then replace the existing title with a new one. Tap Edit Key Photo and choose a different one as the top image. When finished, tap the checkmark. To delete an entire album, press down on it and select Delete Album, then confirm the deletion.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)Sort and Filter Albums
Open one of your albums, and you can play around with different ways to view the photos. Widen or pinch your fingers to make the photos bigger or smaller. Alternatively, tap the three-lined icon at the bottom left, select View Options, and then tap Zoom In or Zoom Out to change the view. From the menu, select View Options again. Choose Aspect Ratio Grid or Square Photo Grid to switch each photo between its original aspect ratio and a square.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)Tap the three-lined icon again and choose one of the sort options to sort by oldest first, newest first, or custom order. With the custom order enabled, you can then manually drag and drop photos around the grid to sort them based on your own preferences. Tap Filter to display favorites, edited photos, photos, or videos. From the filters menu, select All items to view all your photos again.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)View an Album as a Video Slideshow
You can view an album as a video slideshow. The video is automatically generated, but you’re able to modify the look by selecting a specific filter and the background music by picking a different song. To try this, simply open an album and then tap the Play button on the top photo. The video will kick off by displaying one photo after another with the default song playing.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)To modify the video, tap it and then select the Pause button. Tap the six-squared icon in the lower right to change the order of the photos in the video by dragging and dropping them.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)Return to the previous screen and tap the musical note icon in the lower left. At the next screen, tap the icon with the overlapping circles. You can then choose a specific filter to apply to the video. When done, tap the checkmark. Back at the previous screen, you can also swipe to the left and right to set a specific filter.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)To swap out the music, tap the name of the musical note icon with the plus sign. Browse through the different musical categories and suggestions. Tap See All to view all the music in a specific category. Tap a song that interests you to hear how it sounds. When you’ve found a song you like, tap the checkmark to add it to your video.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)You can then play your video with the new look and music. When done, tap the left arrow at the top. You’ll be asked if you want to save your changes to Memories or discard them. Choose Save to Memories to keep your video intact and save it as a Memory.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)How to Share an Album
You can share the photos in a specific album using a few different methods. At the Albums screen, press down on an album and choose Share Photos to share the photos in that album via AirDrop, text message, email, or other methods
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)If you sync your albums via iCloud, other sharing options are available. You can create a shared album that other people can access and modify in iCloud. To do this, press down on an album and select Share Photos > Add to Shared Album.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)To manage a shared album, return to the Albums screen, press down on the album, and select Shared Album Details from the menu. You can then invite others to view it, add photos, make it accessible on a public iCloud website, and receive notifications when others like the album or add photos and videos.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)How to Sync Albums
Another bonus to using iCloud Photos is that your photos and albums are accessible on other Apple devices, including your iPad and Mac. To check this on an iPad, go to Settings and tap your name. Go to iCloud > Photos and make sure Sync this iPad is enabled, then allow time for the photos to sync. Synced albums will be listed under Albums in the Photos app.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)