You’ve probably taken thousands of photos with your iPhone over the years, but if you don’t take the time to organize those pictures, it will be difficult to find specific shots. One way to arrange photos on your iPhone is to create albums for them.
Once photos have been added to an album, you can sort and filter the images, build slideshows, and share with others. And if you sync your photos via iCloud, your albums appear on all your Apple devices. Here’s how it works.
How to Create an Album on iPhone
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To create a photo album, open the Apple Photos app on your iPhone. To view all your photos, select the Library option at the bottom or choose Albums > Recents.
Take a look through your photos to get a sense of how you’d want to organize your folders into albums. For instance, you can create albums for specific events, people, or places. You can also group photos by type, such as clipart or paintings.
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From the Recents album, tap the plus (+) icon and select New Album from the pop-up menu. Create a name for your album, tap Save, then select the images you want added to the album.
You can either tap each individual photo or swipe your finger across multiple images to select them. When done, tap Add at the top. You can now head to Albums > My Albums to see your new photo album. Choose a specific album to see the photos inside.
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You can then create additional photo albums for your other pictures.
How to Edit or Delete an Album on iPhone
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After creating an album, you can edit it if you want to add or remove specific photos. Open the album you wish to edit. If you need to remove something, tap Select and choose the images. Tap the trash icon, then choose Remove from Album to take the photos out of the album.
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If you need to add photos to an album, tap the ellipsis icon at the top and select Add Photos. Browse your photo library and select the photos you wish to add, then tap Add in the upper right to add your selections to the album.
If you need to rename an album, press down on it and select Rename Album from the pop-up menu. Type the new name and tap Done to change the name.
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To delete an entire album, press down on it and select Delete Album. Or tap the Edit command at the top of the screen, then choose the minus sign for the album you wish to remove.
How to Sort Albums and Create Slideshows
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You can also play around with different ways to view an album. Open one of your albums and tap the ellipsis icon at the top of the screen. Tap Zoom In or Zoom Out to change the view.
You can also select Aspect Ratio Grid or Square Photo Grid to switch between displaying each photo in its original aspect ratio or as a square.
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Tap the ellipsis icon and choose Sort to sort your photos from oldest to newest, newest to oldest, or in a custom order. With the custom order enabled, you then manually drag and drop photos around the grid to sort them based on your own preferences.
You can also tap Filter to display only favorites, only edited photos, only photos, or only videos.
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To create a memory video or slideshow, open the ellipsis menu and select Play Memory Video or Slideshow to have the app generate a slideshow of images with background music.
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If you choose memory video, you can modify the overall theme to tweak the font, music, and length. With a slideshow, you’re able to change the theme, music, and duration.
How to Share an Album on iPhone
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You can also share entire albums with other people. From either the Albums or My Albums screen in the Photos app, press down on an album and choose Share Photos from the menu. You can then opt to share with AirDrop, text message, or email.
For those running iOS 16.1 or higher, you’re able to create a shared album that other people can access and even modify in iCloud.
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To do this, press down on an existing album that you want to share and select Share Photos > Add to Shared Album. Create a name for the shared album and enter the name, phone number, or email address for the person with whom you want to share the album.
Tap Create, then add a comment to highlight the album. When finished, tap Post.
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To manage a shared album, return to the Albums screen, press down on the album, and select Shared Album Details from the menu. You can then invite others to view it, add photos, make it accessible on a public iCloud website, and receive notifications when others like the album or add photos and videos.
How to Sync Albums
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Another bonus to using iCloud Photos is that your photos and albums are accessible on other Apple devices, including an iPad and a Mac. To check this on an iPad, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos. Make sure the switch is turned on for Sync this iPad. Allow time for your photos to sync, then open the Photos app to see the synced albums under My Albums.
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On a Mac, go to System Settings and select Apple ID > iCloud. Enable Photos, then open Photos and select My Albums to see your synced albums.
This article originally appeared on PCMag.com, Mashable’s sibling site. PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services.
