Apple’s Photos app received a major overhaul last year, and iOS 26 brings a handful of new changes. Here’s everything new coming to the Photos app in iOS 26.
New Liquid Glass design
One of the biggest changes impacting all Apple apps this year is iOS 26’s new ‘Liquid Glass’ design.
In the Photos app specifically, you’ll see Liquid Glass UI elements everywhere from the buttons and navigation tabs to popup menus and more.
Since your photos and videos remain the visual focus of the app, Photos’ use of Liquid Glass isn’t as extensive as some other apps—but it’s nonetheless a nice refresh that’s hard to miss.
Tab bar navigation returns
Last year when Apple overhauled the Photos app in iOS 18, the single biggest change involved navigation. Gone was the tried-and-true tab bar. Instead, Apple went with a single-screen UI.
After facing plenty of unhappy feedback from users, Apple has brought tab bar navigation back to Photos in iOS 26.
It’s not a full reversal to the exact setup pre-iOS 18, but Photos navigation now is much closer to what it was before with three tabs:
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