iPhone's Photos app gets new features with iOS 18.4 update: What's new

In addition to Apple Intelligence features, the iOS 18.4 update has added new features to the iPhone's Photos app, such as new sorting options, categories, and more.

Earlier this week, Apple released the iOS 18.4 update for compatible iPhones, expanding support for Apple Intelligence to more regions, including India. Besides, Apple has made some changes to its built-in applications, including the Photos app. This includes new categories, sorting options, and more.   

iOS 18.4: What’s new in Photos app

New filtering options

 

Apple has added two new options in the Filter menu:

• Shared with you: Users can filter to see pictures that others have shared with them.
• Not in an Album: Filter that lets users view pictures not stored in an album.   

New album sorting option

 

 

A new “sort by Date Modification” sorting option has been added to the Photos app with the iOS 18.4 update. This will rearrange the user's albums and folders to move the most recently changed ones to the top. This is in addition to the existing options - Sort by Name and Sort by custom Order.   

 

Additionally, the Albums screen has some minor changes without any functional difference. Grid and List have been renamed to “List View” and “Key Photo.”

 

Disabling albums for privacy

  Focusing on privacy, Apple has included a couple of albums by default in the Photos app that can be hidden or be visible as per users' preference. This is in addition to the existing ‘Hidden’ Album. The two new Albums are:   

• Recently Viewed
• Recently Shared

  Reorder collections of Utilities and Media Types

 

With iOS 18.4, Apple has added a new ‘Edit’ button that lets users reorder the Utilities and Media Types list as they like.

Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.4

With the iOS 18.4 update, the following Apple Intelligence features are available on compatible iPhones in India:

• Writing Tools: It helps users rewrite, proofread, and summarise text across apps, offering grammar check and tone adjustment ability.   
• Clean Up in Photos: It allows users to remove unwanted objects or people from photos while maintaining the authenticity of the image.   
• Smart Search in Photos: Users can search for specific moments in photos and videos using natural language descriptions.   
• Memories in Photos: Apple Intelligence helps users create memory films by adding photos and videos based on a text description and storyline with a theme.   
• Image Playground: It allows users to generate images based on themes, costumes, and settings in different styles, including Animation, Illustration, and Sketch.   
• Genmoji: A new feature that allows users to generate unique and personalised emoji.   
• Image Wand in Notes: Apple AI-enhanced tool in the Notes app that transforms rough sketches into polished images or generates images based on surrounding text.   
• Priority Messages in Mail: A new section in Mail highlights important emails at the top of the inbox. Users can also view email summaries without opening messages.   
• Priority Notifications: Helps users focus on important alerts by summarising long notifications and prioritising time-sensitive messages, such as urgent meeting invites.   
• Audio transcription and summarisation: The Notes and Phone apps now allow recording, transcribing, and summarising audio and phone calls automatically, to recall key points from conversations.   
• Smarter Siri: Siri now has a more natural, conversational interface and supports voice and text switching.   
• Visual Intelligence: This feature helps users identify objects, translate text, and create calendar events from posters or flyers.   
• ChatGPT integration: Siri and Writing Tools access ChatGPT for detailed responses and image generation.