iOS 18 Photos App Adds New Utilities Categories for Finding QR Codes, Receipts, Illustrations and More

Apple introduced a new design for the iOS 18 Photos app that replaces the Library and For You sections with a more integrated all-in-one view, and part of that redesign includes an overhauled Utilities section that makes it easier to find different types of images.

ios 18 photos utilities
Rather than being limited to Imports, Duplicates, Hidden, and Recently Deleted as in iOS 17, the Utilities section of the app has all of the following categories:

  • Hidden
  • Recently Deleted
  • Duplicates
  • Receipts
  • Handwriting
  • Illustrations
  • QR Codes
  • Recently Saved
  • Recently Viewed
  • Recently Edited
  • Documents
  • Imports
  • Maps

You've been able to search for things like receipts in prior versions of iOS, and still can, but having them in a dedicated Utilities section makes them quicker to locate.

Along with Utilities, the ‌Photos‌ app also features Media Types, and while this section is largely the same, there is a new Animated category. The Animated category and the Illustrations utility section may be aimed at the image generation tools that are coming to ‌iOS 18‌ as part of the Apple Intelligence feature set.

Apple also added a "Pinned Collections" section to ‌Photos‌, which houses things that you might want quick access to like Videos, Favorites, Screenshots, and Selfies. Collections are a repeat of content that can be found elsewhere in ‌Photos‌, but you can customize it to your liking so you see your preferred content at the top of the app. These changes to ‌Photos‌ are in iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia as well as ‌iOS 18‌.

Related Roundups: iOS 18, iPadOS 18
Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...

Top Rated Comments

stiligFox Avatar
7 months ago
I mostly just want the option to filter out the photos I’ve taken with the device from everything and keep them from getting synced to my larger photo library. Apple always shows off the Photos with libraries full of beautiful photos and never shows off the screenshots, memes, saved videos, discord snippets and quick clips form websites that fill up the majority of my library, making it a pain to scroll through my library and look back at the memories of JUST the photos I TOOK with the device - what the “camera roll” should really have been. Everything else should go into a hard secondary folder, in my opinion. It’s kept me from using iCloud Photos because I know the second I do, my 160GB of 15 years of photos is going to get mixed in with thousands of memes and saved furry art…
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
7 months ago

Rather than being limited to Imports, Duplicates, Hidden, and Recently Deleted as in iOS 17, the Utilities section of the app has all of the following categories:

* Hidden
* Recently Deleted
* . . . .

No Deleted Years Ago ('https://www.macrumors.com/2024/05/21/update-to-ios-17-5-1-fix-deleted-photos-bug/') section? :confused:
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple Mac Daz Avatar
27 weeks ago

There should definitely be a 'screenshots' category so if you take a snap of train times, etc, you can easily get to them all and delete them. Or does that exist?
There is ?‍♂️



Attachment Image
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SoldOnApple Avatar
27 weeks ago
The image to text detection in Photos is already very handy for searching for random stuff from years ago.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bruno7 Avatar
27 weeks ago
Please tell me that there is a screen within this app where I can just quickly swipe all the way to the bottom to see my recent photos - like the present Albums behave.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SebCohen Avatar
27 weeks ago
Can we just get folders? I want folders…and yes I know we have albums and one hidden. I just need a place to store my memes and stuff.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)