iOS 18.4 Photos App: New Features (2026)

New Photo Filters

iOS 18.0 introduced a redesigned Photos app with a customizable layout, but filtering options were limited. iOS 18.4 adds two new filters that help you find specific photos faster:

Shared Items Filter

The new Shared filter lets you view only photos that have been shared with you or that you have shared with others. This includes photos from Shared Albums, Shared Photo Library, and items received through Messages or AirDrop that were saved to your library.

To use it: open the Photos app, go to your Library view, and tap the filter icon (three horizontal lines). Select Shared to see only shared content. This is useful for finding photos someone sent you without scrolling through your entire timeline.

Not in Any Album Filter

The Not in Any Album filter shows only photos that have not been added to any album. This is a powerful organization tool — it surfaces the "loose" photos in your library that may need to be sorted or deleted.

To use it: tap the filter icon in Library view and select Not in Any Album. Review the results to identify photos worth organizing into albums or removing entirely. If you have thousands of unorganized photos, this filter combined with Swype Photo Cleaner can dramatically speed up the cleanup process.

Album Sorting by Date Modified

Prior to iOS 18.4, albums could only be sorted by Custom Order (manual drag) or Sort by Name. iOS 18.4 adds a third option: Sort by Date Modified.

This sorts albums by when they were last changed — whether a photo was added, edited, or removed. It is particularly useful if you have many albums and want to quickly find the one you were working on recently.

To access it: go to the Albums tab, tap the three-dot menu (or the sort icon), and select Sort by Date Modified. Your most recently updated albums will appear at the top.

This was a commonly requested feature since the iOS 18 Photos redesign, where the new scrollable layout made it harder to find recently used albums in large collections.

Collection Reordering

The iOS 18 Photos app organizes content into collections: Utilities (Duplicates, Hidden, Recently Deleted, Imports, etc.) and Media Types (Videos, Live Photos, Screenshots, Screen Recordings, etc.). In iOS 18.0 through 18.3, the order of items within these collections was fixed by Apple.

iOS 18.4 adds an Edit button to both Utilities and Media Types sections, letting you reorder the items to match how you actually use them.

How to Reorder Collections

1. Open the Photos app and scroll down to the Utilities or Media Types section.
2. Tap the Edit button in the section header.
3. Drag items into your preferred order using the handle on the right side.
4. You can also hide items you never use by tapping the minus icon.
5. Tap Done to save your layout.

For example, if you frequently check Duplicates and rarely use Imports, you can move Duplicates to the top and hide Imports entirely. This customization carries over to all your Apple devices via iCloud sync.

Clean Up Tool Improvements

The Clean Up tool is one of Apple Intelligence's most practical features in Photos. It uses generative AI to remove unwanted objects, people, and distractions from photos. iOS 18.4 brings notable improvements to its accuracy and speed.

What Clean Up Does

Clean Up analyzes your photo and identifies elements that can be removed — photobombers, stray objects, power lines, trash cans, signs, and more. When you activate the tool, removable elements are automatically highlighted. Tap on a highlight or brush over any area to erase it. The AI fills in the background based on surrounding context.

How to Use Clean Up in iOS 18.4

What Improved in iOS 18.4

• Better handling of reflections and shadows — removing a person also removes their shadow and any reflections on nearby surfaces
• Improved edge detection — fewer artifacts around removed areas, especially against complex backgrounds like foliage or textured walls
• Faster processing — results appear noticeably quicker, especially on iPhone 16 Pro models with the A18 Pro chip
• Better background reconstruction — the AI-generated fill blends more naturally with surrounding textures and lighting

Privacy: Hide Recently Viewed and Shared

One of the most requested privacy features since iOS 18 launched is the ability to hide the Recently Viewed section in the Photos app. This section shows thumbnails of photos you recently looked at — which can be embarrassing or revealing if someone else picks up your phone.

iOS 18.4 adds a new toggle to hide both Recently Viewed and Shared sections:

1. Open Settings.
2. Scroll down and tap Apps.
3. Tap Photos.
4. Toggle off Show Recently Viewed and/or Show Shared with You.

When toggled off, the Recently Viewed section disappears from the Photos app entirely. Your viewing history is not deleted — it is simply hidden from the interface. If you turn it back on, the section reappears with your history intact.

The Shared with You toggle controls whether photos shared via Messages appear in your Photos app. Turning it off removes the "Shared with You" section without deleting the actual shared content from your Messages conversations.

iOS 18 to 18.4: The Full Photos Timeline

To understand how iOS 18.4 fits into the bigger picture, here is a summary of every significant Photos change since the iOS 18 redesign launched:

The iOS 18.0 redesign was controversial — many users found the new layout disorienting compared to the tab-based design in iOS 17. Each subsequent update has refined the experience, and iOS 18.4 addresses some of the most common complaints about finding and organizing photos in the new layout.

Clean Up Tool: Before and After Comparison

To understand the practical improvement in iOS 18.4's Clean Up tool, here is how the same scenarios perform across versions:

The biggest improvement is shadow and reflection handling. In earlier versions, removing a person from a beach photo would leave their shadow clearly visible on the sand. In iOS 18.4, the tool identifies associated shadows and reflections and removes them as part of the same operation.

How These Changes Help with Photo Organization

The iOS 18.4 updates are individually small but collectively meaningful for anyone trying to keep a large photo library organized:

• Not in Any Album filter surfaces photos you have never organized — the low-hanging fruit for cleanup or categorization
• Shared items filter helps you find photos others have sent you, which are often duplicates of photos you already have
• Date Modified sorting for albums means your most active albums are always at the top
• Collection reordering puts your most-used tools (like Duplicates or Screenshots) front and center
• Clean Up improvements mean you can rescue more "almost great" photos by removing distractions rather than deleting them

Recommended Settings After Updating

After installing iOS 18.4, here are the settings worth configuring immediately:

1. Reorder your Utilities collection. Move Duplicates and Recently Deleted to the top since these are the most frequently accessed items for storage management.
2. Hide unused Media Types. If you never use Panoramas or Time-lapse, hide them to reduce visual clutter.
3. Set album sorting to Date Modified. This ensures your most recently used albums are always at the top of the list.
4. Turn off Recently Viewed in Settings > Apps > Photos if you share your phone with family members or prefer privacy.
5. Try the Not in Any Album filter to discover how many unorganized photos are in your library — the number may surprise you.

For a complete overview of how the Photos app has changed since the iOS 18 redesign, see our iOS 18 photo management guide. And for the original iOS 18 changes that set the foundation for these updates, see what changed in iOS 18 Photos.

Should You Update to iOS 18.4?

If you use the Photos app regularly — which most iPhone users do — iOS 18.4 is a worthwhile update. The new filters and sorting options address real friction points in the redesigned Photos app. The Clean Up improvements are meaningful for anyone who uses Apple Intelligence features. And the Recently Viewed privacy toggle is a simple but important quality-of-life improvement.

To update: go to Settings > General > Software Update and install iOS 18.4. The update is free and compatible with all iPhones that run iOS 18 (iPhone XS and later).