Quickly jump to the bottom of lists with this secret iPhone gesture

Scrolling through long lists quickly becomes tiresome. With this secret iPhone gesture, however, you can jump to the most recent item in any list with a single tap.

A good example is the Photos app on your iPhone, iPad and Mac. Finding that needle in the haystack can be frustrating if you have an extensive library filled with hundreds or thousands of photographs. And when you finally do see what you’re looking for, there’s no need to swipe like an animal just to return to the most recent photo.

For years, iOS has included a little-known shortcut gesture for quickly reaching the most recent item, whether it’s located at the top or the bottom of a list.

How to jump to the most recent item in a list on iPhone

Two iPhone screenshots showing that touching a tab takes the user to the most recent item in the list
Hit a tab to jump to the most recent item | Image: Christian Zibreg/iDB

To quickly jump to the bottom of any list on your iPhone, simply touch the corresponding tab in the corresponding app. If using the Photos app, hitting the Library instantly takes you to the bottom where your most recent photos are.

Suppose you’re viewing an album and want to select a few images but mistakenly touch the iOS status bar instead, which instantly takes you to the top. No worries, quickly return to the bottom of the list by hitting the Albums tab.

And if you’re already at the bottom, touching the Albums tab will take you to the album list. This works in any list-based app, like WhatsApp, Viber, Instagram, etc.

Some tabs, like For You, may behave differently because they list the most recent item at the top. Touching such tabs will take you to the top instead of the bottom. Regardless of sort order, touching a tab will always take you to the most recent entry.

Your iPhone has another not-so-secret gesture where touching the top of the screen takes you to the top of the page in apps like Safari, Mail, Photos, Messages, etc.

Summing up, the next time you get lost in an app like Photos app because you’ve scrolled through countless screens of content, don’t get frustrated—remember that you can quickly get to the most recent item with a touch of a button.

Tips for navigating the Photos app’s tabs

Here’s all you need to know about tapping the tabs in the Photos app:

  • Photos tab: Touch it to jump to the bottom with your most recent images.
  • For You tab: Because the For You tab is sorted in chronological order, touching it scrolls the view to the top, where you’ll find the most recent items.
  • Albums tab: Touch it once to jump to your most recent albums at the top.
  • Search tab: Touch it once to scroll to the search field at the top.

Although this nifty gesture is not mentioned in Apple’s support documents and manuals, it has existed in iOS for years. The fact that it’s still undocumented is probably why you haven’t seen many people using it in the wild.

Do yourself a favor, memorize this gesture and save this tutorial for later. The next time you get lost in a mountain of content, you’ll know how to quickly jump to the most recent item—whether it’s located at the top or the bottom of the list.

Apple Photos tutorials you might like

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