I finally found the fix that works, in fact once you get used to it I am finding it easier than the old setup although I do still wish they would sort new photos to the top and let you choose to put the From My Mac (PC users don't let that throw you, you'll still be using that section), and Pinned Collections at the top rather than the bottom but at least the phone remembers where you were as I will explain later. So things are back in folders and I can easily find things now...
Here are the steps;
- First off, VERY IMPORTANT Because this procedure will delete photos from your phone in a later step before putting them back in the correct folders so you need to back them up first. So with that said, Connect your phone to your PC or Mac, load iTunes and Sync so you have copies of everything on your phone. OR an Alternate way that I actually prefer is just connect the phone to my Windows PC and it appears under the File Explorer and I just go in and manually select them all (sometimes is multiple folders) and select Cut and then Paste them back on my hardrive in the folder(s) where I want them.
- Open Photos. Scroll to the Bottom and Select "Customize & Reorder".
- Once inside the Customize & Reorder Uncheck everything except "From My Mac" and "Pinned Collections"
- Use the three bars on the right side of the List to Drag them so From My Mac is at the top and Pinned Collections is the next one down. Both checked and everything else not checked.
- Hit the (X) in the upper right corner to exit and save.
- Now you should have two things showing below all the pictures in your Library, these two things may still be empty but that's OK we will fix that in a moment.
- Beside Pinned Collections press the "Modify" button which will open the options for Pinned Collections.
- Inside of the Pinned Collections selections Add "Recently Saved", "Videos", "Recently Deleted", and "Hidden" and use the three bars to drag them so they are in that same order top to bottom and nothing else is selected. Note that there are other things in this list which you may find useful for your particular prefences but for now just stick with these four and you can easily come back and experiment with the other options later once you get the hang of how the new system works and sorts stuff.
- Press the (X) in the top right corner to save and exit.
- Connect your phone to your computer and load iTunes.
- Inside of iTunes go to "Photos" on the left side and select it. The UNselect "Sync Photos", and tell your phone to Sync. This will remove all your photos from the phone (now you know why it was important to Sync it earlier so you don't loose anything.
- After it has finished Syncing all your photos should now be removed from the phone.
- If you need to this is the time to make sure your photos and videos on your PC or Mac are sorted into folders the way you want them.
- Now Re-Check the "Sync Photos" and Select the Folders you want to Sync and also check Include Videos and then press the Sync button and let it work.
- When it's finsihed Press the Done button and disconnect your phone.
Your photos and videos should now be arranged back in the folders the way you had them ordered on your PC or Mac when you load the photo app and scroll to the bottom. All your folders will appear under the From My Mac section, Videos should be in Videos in the Videos window under Pinned Collections, and when you take new photos on your phone they will appear in the Recently Saved window. As you delete things they will show up in the Recenely Deleted window and if you choose to hide any files they will be in the Hidden window which needs a Password or face ID to open, same as the recently deleted.
It seems odd they made new photos appear at the bottom of the Library and YES, That massive collection of photos will still appear when you open photos but I discovered iOS 18 does REMEMBER where you was in the collection, even if you closed photos by swiping up or have restarted the phone, So if you've scrolled all the way to the bottom where your new photos will appear, along with your From My Mac and Pinned Collections and leave it there, then the next time you open it then it will still be there and you will not have to scroll thrugh all of your photos to get back to the bottom of the list each time you open Photos.
Hope this helps!
