Why they are in date order, like it or not
Stop hunting for a filing cabinet that was never there, and start using the one arrangement your phone actually has.
People arrive at the Photos app expecting drawers and labels, find neither, and conclude that they have somehow set it up wrongly. They have not. There is only ever one arrangement.
Every photograph is laid out by the date it was taken, in one unbroken run. On an iPhone the oldest sit at the top and the newest at the bottom; on a good many Android phones it is the other way up. Either way it is one list, in date order — and albums, favorites and searching are all extra doors into that same roll rather than places things get moved to.
Key points
- Know that there is one library, in date order, and nothing else
- Zoom out to years and back in to a single day in three presses
- Find the four doors along the bottom and say what each is for
- Expect a saved picture to land at today’s date, not its own
What to remember
- Years, Months, Days, All Photos. It is one roll seen from four distances.
- Anything you save today lands at today. If you have saved something and cannot see it, look at the very bottom of the library.
- Whatever you are looking for, it is behind one of four words at the bottom of the screen.
Try this
Open Photos and find the words along the very bottom of the screen. Press each of the four in turn and have a look. You cannot alter anything by looking, and it is the fastest way to learn where things are.
Practice: Why they are in date order, like it or not. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.