It seems like with every new update, Apple alienates its users further—at least, if the myriad articles guiding you on how to fix the features are anything to go by. When Apple released its iOS 18 in September, there was an outpouring of outrage online. “Why fix what isn’t broken?” was the cacophony among iPhone users.
One of the customers’ main gripes was the change in the layout of the Photos app.
It was confusing, cluttered, and inspired several articles teaching users how to fix it. Luckily, the app did allow users to customize and reorder the categories, but even that was annoying. People just wanted to look at their photos like they used to, not a bunch of folders with random memories.
Now, another user has gone viral after calling out an aspect of the Photos app that missed the first wave of hate back in September.
What’s wrong with the Photos app?
In a viral TikTok, user @thedivinedadd demanded answers from the phone manufacturer after trying to save some photos to his camera roll.
“Who thought it was a good idea that when someone texts you photos, and you click the save button, those photos get saved in your album backdated to whenever that person took the photo,” he asks. “It doesn’t go as your newest photo.”
He says that users having to guess when the photo was taken and search through their album is frustrating. This writer has experienced this “buried photos” phenomenon as well, making editing photos and re-saving them a nightmare. It’s no wonder @divinedadd’s TikTok earned more than 1.6 million views as of writing.
“Steve Jobs would never have approved this,” he added in the caption.
Viewers were quick to dog-pile on Apple
Several viewers commiserated with the TikToker, knowing all too well the headache of dealing with the Photos app.
“The photos app is hostile design,” one comment with over 60,000 likes read. Another wrote, “I hateeee the photos update.”
One user simply stated, “All the new Apple updates have ruined my life.”
However, some shared a way to quickly fix this issue
“Scroll up a little bit, then two little arrows will appear on the bottom left, tap that and select Sort by Recently Added,” one user advised.
This writer followed the instructions and found that the photo album indeed went back to the way it was.
Still, many used the opportunity to call out other features they found problematic.
“I also need to know why I have AI summarizing my messages for me, like they’re not that long I can read them,” one user said.
“They also save photos I’ve been sent in messages against my will,” another wrote.
For the former, you can change this in Settings by turning off Apple Intelligence & Siri. As for the latter, you can turn of the “Shared with you” option under the Messages app settings.
Turning off settings isn’t enough for some folks. Many downright refuse to update because of all these features.
“That’s why I’m still running iOS 17 bc I REFUSE to catapult into a downward spiral over photos,” one said.
But is that wise? Over time, it may backfire.
@thedivinedaddy Steve Jobs would not have approved this #appleupdate #apple #iphone #iphoneupdate ♬ original sound – DIVINE DADDY?
You may be able to get away with skipping a few updates, but Apple is notorious for allegedly lagging your phone or making things incompatible if you don’t update. In 2017, a class=action lawsuit was filed against Apple for allegedly deliberately slowing down phones as they got older.
“[Apple] was accused of throttling the performance of certain iPhones without telling its customers, and the uproar resulted in Apple offering a cut-price battery replacement to fix the problem,” BBC reported.
In the end, Apple settled with a payout of $500 million.
The Mary Sue reached out to the TikToker and Apple’s media relations team via email.
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