Chapter in this post:
The Photos app on iOS on the Apple iPhone offers various options for organizing images, photos and videos so that you don't always have to search through the entire media library. But what is the difference between a folder and an album? What is the best way to create folders and albums and how can you edit them? You can find answers to these questions in this guide. If you still have a question or do you want to contribute your own tips and tricks, please leave a comment;)
Further instructions: Hide photos and hide "Hidden" folder
iPhone Photos App: You can find the difference between album and folder here. There are also instructions for creating and editing folders and albums on iOS.
The difference between a folder and an album in the Photos app is really easy to explain: albums contain photos, and folders contain albums. To make it a bit more complicated, however, folders can also contain other folders: D In general, however, you can remember the following structure for organizing your pictures and videos on the iPhone:
Folders -> Albums -> Files
For example, you can create a folder with the title “Family” and store various albums in it such as “Child 1 from birth to now”, “Family celebration ABC”, “Wedding XYZ” and so on. Or you can create a folder called "Memes" and sort your memes into albums such as "Animal Pictures", "Videos", "Movie Scenes", "GIFs" and so on. There are no limits to creativity here.
If you have different photo and video recordings on your iPhone that you want to organize, then albums are a good option. To create an album for certain files, simply follow the step-by-step instructions below:
After this process, you will see your media overview, from which you can choose photos, pictures and videos that you want to include in the new album. If you have selected it and confirmed the selection, then you are done. The album has been created, the content has been recorded and you can now quickly select it via the album overview.
In order to manage your albums in the Photos app on the Apple iPhone, the path leads you again via the "Albums" tab. Tap on this and then proceed as follows:
You cannot delete a few albums that are available by default in the Photos app. In addition, the “last” album (the overview of all content, so to speak) and the favorites cannot be moved. Renaming these albums is also not possible.
If you now have several albums and these are slowly becoming confusing, you can manage them in folders. Tip: It is advisable to first create folders and then create the albums in them. A folder can contain several albums. Folders can also contain other folders (e.g. “Vacations” folder -> “Balcony 2021” folder -> “Living room bar” and “Barbecue on the balcony” albums). To create a folder, proceed as follows:
In the created folder you can now create albums and folders via “Edit” and the plus symbol “+” in order to store photos and videos.
The instructions here are aimed primarily at those of you who use iOS 14. You can find more information on using the Photos app on iOS 14 and the option to view instructions for older systems in this Apple guide. There you can also access the album and folder instructions for iOS 13 and iOS 12 if you are using an older iPhone, that doesn't support iOS 14.
After graduating from high school, Johannes completed an apprenticeship as a business assistant specializing in foreign languages. But then he decided to research and write, which resulted in his independence. For several years he has been working for Sir Apfelot, among others. His articles include product introductions, news, manuals, video games, consoles, and more. He follows Apple keynotes live via stream.
14 comments
Can I also move an existing album on the iPhone to a folder?
Hello Oliver! I can't say it straight away. But you could just try that out. If there is no option for it, it will not work.
Hi Oliver,
To the best of my knowledge, this is currently not directly possible. But there is a workaround that you can use:
1. Create and open a new folder (or open an existing folder)
2. Create a new album in it (Edit -> + -> New Album)
3. Now when adding photos, tap on "Albums" at the bottom
4. Select the desired, existing album
5. Select the photos you want to transfer and tap "Done"
Admittedly, this is quite complex, especially if the album to be transferred contains a lot of photos. But it seems to me to be the only solution at the moment.
Best regards
John
Hey,
here is a possibility:
* go to the album you want to move
* [Choose]
* [All]
* [Hand off]
* [add to album]
* [Select target folder]
* [Select target album] or previously target album via [Create new album]
—
Now delete the original album
* [All albums]
* [To edit]
* Delete source album [-]
Hi,
I have created a vacation folder with albums from various vacations in it. Is it normal for a folder not to show a preview image?
LG
Manual
hi how do I get everything back in last on my i phone from my mac
Hello Jeannette! Unfortunately I don't understand the question ... sorry. I guess you'll have to go back a bit if you want to explain it to me.
Good afternoon,
Recently, when I want to transfer photos to the Windows PC, folders with consecutive numbers in DCIM no longer appear as before, newly created when the previous folder was full. Monthly folders now appear (20 2107_, 20 2108_…). Can that be changed again? It is annoying to look for pictures on the PC, every folder has to be opened and looked through.
Thanks in advance.
Hello Alexander! Regarding PCs, unfortunately, I can't help you. I don't have one in use. As a rule, you cannot change the folder structure that the Photos app creates.
I don't really manage to transfer my annual photo folder to the photo app. Actually, I just want to copy the neatly sorted pictures (folders from 1950-2021 and then in each case folder with the months and then the corresponding pictures) from OneDrive via drag and drop. Should I put this in folders or in albums? For a few years it worked out the way I imagined it, for others not, a folder (or album?) With the name “new folder” is created which then contains the images again….
Thanks for the good explanation album vs. folder 👍
Thank you for your explanation. I couldn't explain it to my father-in-law right away... he's really overwhelmed with the Apple structure, because it's not intuitive and certainly not cross-system.
Since different worlds are used across the board here (PCs, iPhone, iPad, aTV and Shield), a missing folder structure at Apple is a real obstacle.
But now he knows how the rabbit hops... a real challenge with >10.000 photos.
Is it possible to reduce the size of the photo album grid? Do you mean that several key photos can be seen? So simply reduce the images optically in the album grid
Hi Alex,
As far as I know, the preview graphics in the album overview cannot be reduced. But you can tap on "Show all" under "Albums", then at least the division into "My albums", "Shared albums" and other categories does not apply. Instead, all albums are then displayed in a list (for me there are two next to each other).
In an album itself, the display of the thumbnails can be enlarged and reduced using the familiar two-finger gestures.
Best regards
John