The Photos app on your iPhone and iPad offers you a handy way to view, manage, and edit your photos and videos. The app has always provided basic features and functionality, but with iOS 13 and iPadOS come new and improved ways to work with your photos and videos.

You can now more easily view and sort your photos and videos by years, months, and days. Photos are displayed as thumbnails, with those considered important shown larger than the rest. The For You section displays your photos based on specific events and memories. You can also search for photos with keywords.

The built-in photo editor now comes with tools for adjusting vibrancy, white balance, sharpness, saturation, warmth, and more. You can more easily crop and auto straighten your photos. After applying a filter, you can fine-tune its intensity with a new slider tool. And the new video editor offers the same features, including advanced lighting control, cropping, and orientation control.

First, confirm that you've updated to iOS 13 or higher on your iPhone and iPadOS 13.1 or higher on your iPad. In order to take advantage of the new editing features, you must first take pictures and videos that you can edit. Then open the Photos app on your iPhone or iPad.


View Your Photos and Videos Before we check out how to edit your photos and videos, let’s look at how to view them. On the bottom toolbar, tap the icon for Photos. On the bottom toolbar, tap the icon for Photos. Instead of separating your photos by date, the app displays all your photo thumbnails one row after another. Swipe up and down your photos, and the date at the top changes based on the ones being displayed.

Adjust Thumbnail Size Tap the plus/minus symbol in the upper right. Tap the plus sign to zoom in on your photos; tap the minus sign to zoom out. Tap the X next to the plus and minus sign when the view is set the way you'd like.

Select Photos and Video You can select specific photos and videos in Days View or All Photos View. Tap the Select icon at the top and tap each entry you want to select. You can also tap Select All in Days View to select all the photos for that day. Another way to select photos and video is to tap the Select icon, then drag your finger across the thumbnails you want to include. Once you have selected the media you want, tap the Delete icon to remove them or the Share icon to share them via email, messaging, or other app.

View For You Page Tap the For You icon on the bottom navigation bar to see featured photos and photographic memories generated by the app. Tap a specific memory and then tap play to see an automated slideshow (with music) of all the photos for that memory.

View Albums Page Tap Albums on the bottom navigation bar to see the albums of media you have created. Scroll down the screen to view different media categories, including photos in Portrait Mode, videos using Slo-mo, and more.



Search for Photos and Video Tap the Search icon on the bottom navigation bar to view photos based on specific people, categories, and groups. Type a name or phrase in the search field to find photos based on your criteria.



How to Edit Photos and Video To edit a photo, tap the Edit link in the upper right. The Adjustment option will be selected by default, which is the first icon on the bottom toolbar. Tap the Auto button in the center to automatically adjust your photo's exposure, brilliance, and other attributes. You can then adjust everything at once by moving the slider bar to the right or left. If you prefer to adjust each attribute separately, tap the appropriate icon to edit exposure, brilliance, highlights, shadows, contrast, brightness, black point, saturation, vibrancy, warmth, tint, sharpness, definition, noise reduction, and vignette. When you pick an attribute, move the slider bar left or right to make adjustments.

Add Filters Next to the Adjustment icon on the bottom toolbar is the Filter icon. Tap Filter and try out several different options, including Vivid, Dramatic, Mono, Silvertone, Noir, and more. You can adjust the slider bar for each filter in order to increase or decrease its intensity.

Crop Photos Tap the Crop icon, the last option on the bottom toolbar. Crop the image by dragging the highlighted corners until only what you want to keep is visible. Directly below the image are three icons with a slider bar underneath. Tap the first icon to tilt the image, the second to change the vertical perspective, and the last icon to change the horizontal perspective. After making a selection, drag the slider bar to the left or right.



Change Image Orientation Flip the image horizontally by tapping the first icon in the top-left corner. Tap the second icon over to rotate the image. Tap the square icon in the top-left corner to change the aspect ratio of the image. You can then choose a specific ratio below the image. Tap Done to make the changes stick or Cancel to undo. Even if you tap Done and later change your mind, you can still fix your mistake. Tap the Edit link then tap Revert to restore the photo back to its original form.

Trim Video To edit a video, tap the Edit link in the upper right. The first task you can tackle is to trim your video. Drag the first marker on the timeline right or left to change the start of the clip; drag the second marker right or left to change the end of the clip.



Adjust Video Attributes Once the trimming is out of the way, the editing process for video works the same as it does with photos. Select the Adjustment icon on the bottom toolbar to adjust the attributes of the clip. Tap the Filter icon to add color filters over the video.



Crop Video You can crop video like you crop photos. Drag the guidelines to crop the footage, then tap the icons below to adjust the orientation. Tap the three icons at the top to flip the image and tweak the aspect ratio. Tap Done to save your changes or Cancel to discard them.



The Best Mobile Photo Editing Apps Smartphone cameras have never been better, but a capable app can take your snapshots to the next level. Here are our picks for the best Android and iPhone photo editing apps

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