How to organize photos on your iPhone in 4 easy steps

If you’re like us, you take pictures of everything. And we don’t just mean your morning latte or a perfectly plated lunch. We take pictures of clothes we’re trying on, pictures of plants to track their growth, and even photos of our dogs sleeping. So that means the boring everyday photos we take tend to get mixed in with incredible travel pics or hilarious candid shots of friends.

The good news is that you can organize photos on your iPhone just as quickly as you can take them. This article is going to show you exactly how to do that. So, keep reading and get ready to start organizing your iPhone photo library.

1. Delete duplicates and other clutter 

The first step to organizing your photos is arguably the most important. You need to clean up the clutter. Get rid of any duplicates or the pics you don’t actually want anymore. Thankfully, you can use Gemini Photos to help you do all of that. You can download Gemini Photos from the App Store and run it entirely on your iPhone. In fact, you just need to follow these steps to get rid of duplicates, screenshots, and blurry images.

Duplicates

1. Open Gemini Photos and tap Duplicates.
2. Your pics are grouped together. Tap on each set to select the ones you want to delete.
3. When you’re done, tap Delete [X] Duplicates at the bottom.
4. Tap Delete to confirm.

Similar

1. From the main screen of Gemini Photos, tap Similar.
2. Select a month.
3. Gemini will auto-select photos to remove. Uncheck a pic to keep it.
4. Tap Move to Trash for each set.
5. Select Empty Trash and then tap Delete to confirm.

Videos

1. Tap Videos. You’ll see all of your videos and their file size.
2. Tap any video to go through the quick selection process.
3. If you want to keep a video, just swipe up on it. To delete it, swipe down.
4. After you’ve gone through your videos, tap Empty Trash.

Screenshots

1. Tap Screenshots. Gemini Photos will auto-select all of your screenshots.
2. If you want to keep a screenshot, tap to uncheck it.
3. Tap Delete All > Delete.

Notes

1. Tap Notes. This will include all your pics of whiteboards and notebooks.
2. Tap to select the photos you want to remove.
3. When you’re finished, tap Delete All at the bottom.

Blurred

1. Tap Blurred to review all of your photos that are out of focus.
2. Select the images you don’t want to save anymore.
3. Tap Delete All > Delete.

Other

1. Tap Other to review the pictures that don’t fit into the above categories.
2. Select one of the months.
3. Tap on any image to start the quick selection.
4. Like with your videos, you just swipe up to keep a picture or swipe down to remove it.

It’s important to remember that Gemini Photos doesn’t immediately delete pictures off of your phone. It simply moves them to your Recently Deleted album, which is great because you can always restore it if you accidentally delete an image. But pictures are only stored in that album for 30 days.

However, if you want to free up that storage space now, you can immediately remove them from your iPhone storage. All you need to do is open the Photos app and go to Albums > Recently Deleted > Select > Delete All.

2. Hide private photos

Everyone has a photo or three they’re embarrassed about. Or maybe you have pictures of sensitive documents like an ID card or a passport that you don’t want people to see. Well, that’s what the Hidden album is for, you know — to keep pictures hidden.

How to create a Hidden album

The photos app on your iPhone has a Hidden album feature built-in. But the downside is there’s only one Hidden album, and to create it, all you have to do is hide a photo. More on that later.

If you don’t see the Hidden album in your Photos app, that just means it’s been disabled. This is how you can make sure your Hidden album is turned on:

1. On your iPhone, open the Settings app.
2. Tap Photos.
3. Toggle on Hidden Album.

How to put photos in the Hidden album

Hiding one of your pictures or videos could not get any easier. Once you find the image you want to hide in the Photos app, this is all you need to do:

1. Tap the photo or video.
2. Hit the Share icon > Hide.

3. Organize photos on iPhone into albums

One of the most important features of the Photos app to help keep your library organized is Albums. It can act as a folder for your pictures and videos, so you can organize them all by whatever makes the most sense to you.

How to create a photo album on iPhone

You can create a new album directly on your iPhone. Just follow these steps to create a photo album:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap the Albums tab > + > New Album.
3. Give your album a title.
4. Select the pictures and videos you want to include in your album.
5. Tap Done.

If you accidentally forget to include a picture in your album, don’t worry. You can always add more photos later, and you can read the instructions for that below.

On the other hand, if you decide you don’t want a picture in a specific album, the good news is that you can remove the photo from the album without deleting it from your library.

How to rename an album on iPhone

After you create an album, you might decide you don’t like its name for whatever reason. This is how you rename an album on your iPhone:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap the Albums tab.
3. Under the My Albums section, tap See All > Edit.
4. Tap on the Album name that you want to rename.
5. When you’re finished, tap Done.

How to add photos to a photo album

If you come across a picture you want to add to an existing photo album, all you need to do is follow these steps:

1. In the Photos app, select the image you want to add.
2. Tap the Share icon > Add to Album.
3. Select the album.

How to organize photos on iPhone by date

By default, the Photos app will let you view and sort your pictures chronologically. But maybe you want to put your pics in albums according to their date. That’s really easy to do on your, iPhone too, and this is how you do it:

1. Open Photos and tap Library.
2. Using the slider, tap Days.
3. Choose Select next to one of the dates.
4. Tap Select All > Share icon > Add to Album.
5. Finally, select the album you want to add these pictures to.

How to organize your photos on iPhone by location

Thanks to your iPhone having GPS built-in, every picture you take will have the location tagged. So, when you’re using the Photos app later, you’re able to search based on where you took the pictures. This makes it easy to organize your photos into albums by location. Just follow these instructions:

1. In the Photos app, tap the Search tab.
2. Type a location into the search bar.
3. Choose See All > Select.
4. Tap on a photo to select it or drag your finger across a section of pictures.
5. Now, tap the Share icon > Add to Album.

4. Delete the albums you don’t want

Just like anything else in your photo library, you can accumulate albums over time. Or maybe you were overly ambitious about organizing your library and have a bunch of half-filled albums. Whatever your rationale, thankfully, there’s a way to get rid of albums you don’t need.

How to delete a photo album on iPhone

Deleting an album is just as simple as renaming one. In fact, most of the steps are the same. See for yourself:

1. Tap the Albums tab.
2. Under the My Albums section, tap See All > Edit.
3. Find the album you want to delete and tap the minus sign.
4. Tap Delete Album to confirm.

And that’s it! Deleting a photo album really is that simple.

Can you delete the Favorites album?

For every rule, there is always an exception. And when it comes to albums, the Favorites album is the exception.

The short answer is no. You cannot delete the Favorites album. But if you don’t have any favorites, it will disappear. That’s right — the Favorites album is only visible if you have a photo that has been marked as a favorite.

Staying on top of your photo library can be tedious. And that’s especially true if you’re trying to do it all from your iPhone. But if you get into the habit of keeping things organized, it can be a little easier to stay on top of it all.

The best part is that you can do it all from your iPhone, and the Photos app has many incredible features to help you out. Hopefully, after reading this article, you’re feeling a little more confident and inspired to take on such a big project.