How to use search filters in the Photos app on iPhone and iPad

Tired of endlessly scrolling through your library in search of that one photo? In this guide, we will show you how to use search filters in the Photos app on your iPhone and iPad, and start effortlessly locating the photos you are looking for.

Apply Filter in Photos iPad

The Photos app offers a decent search feature for finding specific photos and videos. But when you’re inside an album, that search option isn’t very helpful.

Thankfully, with filters in Photos, you can narrow down the items you see by media type or if they’ve been edited or added to your favorites. You can use filters in premade collections, Shared Albums, and albums that you create. Here’s how to use filters in Photos on your iPhone and iPad.

Locations where you can use filters

The easiest way to find out if you can use a filter in a particular Photos app location is to see if the option is there. But to give you a helping hand, here is a summary of where you can apply filters.

You can use filters in premade collections such as the All Photos section of Library, Places, Favorites, and Recents. You’ll also see the filter feature in the Imports folder, each Media Types folder, Shared Albums, and My Albums. Additionally, you can apply a filter to Search results when looking for a photo or video.

Basically, the only spots in Photos where you cannot currently use filters are For You, People, and Recently Deleted.

Types of filters

There are four filters you can use, depending on the location you’re in, in Photos. These include Favorites, Edited, Photos, and Videos.

Filter Types Photos iPad

With this in mind, the filter options will vary depending on the location you’re applying the filter. For example, if you’re viewing your Favorites, then Favorites obviously isn’t going to be a filter option. And if you’re in a Media Types folder, you’ll only see Edited and Favorites for your filter options.

How to use filters in Photos to find pictures quickly

1) Pick a collection or album that you’d like to apply a filter to in Photos and tap the three dots in the top right corner of the location.

2) Choose Filter.

3) Select your filter type(s), and you will see the photos that match the selected filter. When you receive your results, you’ll also see the number of items you received using the filter and the filter type you selected at the bottom.

Using Filters in iPhone Photos app

4) You can add more filters to your criteria by tapping the three dots icon > Filters and picking one. Alternatively, you can also tap the current filter name, pick another, and tap Done. Finally, you can tap the blue filters icon, select another filter, and tap Done.

Note: The screen here also lets you include or exclude items shared with you in Messages.

5) To remove the filter and view all items within that collection or album, follow step 4 and choose All Items.

Other Filter settings in iPhone Photos

Note: In addition to removing the filter, you can use this process and change the filter to add or remove filter types.

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