Apple’s Photos app underwent major changes last year in iOS 18. But this year in iOS 26, Photos has reversed course on the single biggest aspect of that overhaul: the tab bar is back.
iOS 18 removed Photos’ tab bar, but iOS 26 brings it back
iOS 26 brings redesigns to many Apple apps, such as the new, simplified Camera interface.
For some users, major iPhone design changes are more scary than exciting. And the most recent evidence they might use is iOS 18’s Photos overhaul.
Apple’s Photos app made huge design changes last year, the largest of which was a big navigation revamp.
Photos ditched its familiar tab bar interface for navigation in favor of a single-screen interface.
Essentially, where once you had multiple tabs at the bottom of the screen to bounce between, in iOS 18 everything was thrown together into a single page.
But Apple just released its first iOS 26 beta, and the tab bar is back.
Open Photos in iOS 16 and you’ll see that the single-screen interface has been split into two tabs:
Library
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