How to find your best photos on your iPhone
Thousands of photos on your phone? Here are small tricks in the Photos app to quickly find the good ones for your photo book or calendar.
Most of us have thousands of photos on our phones. Often the hard part isn’t making the book, it’s finding the photos that should go in it. Here are some small tricks that make it much easier.
1. Give the good ones a heart
When you see a photo you like, tap the heart. Then it lands in the Favorites album. Do this now and then through the year, and your book is half made before you start. In FamilyPrint, you can pick Favorites when you choose photos.
2. Search for what you’re looking for
The Photos app knows where and when your photos were taken, and it can see what’s in them. Tap search and type, for example, “Skagen”, “July 2026”, “beach” or “birthday”. It’s quicker than scrolling.
3. Find every photo of Grandma
Photos gathers the people and pets who appear again and again under People & Pets. Give them a name, and you can search for them too. It’s a great help for a book for Grandma or a calendar of the grandchildren.
4. Let your phone give you a head start
Photos makes memories and gathers your trips by itself. They aren’t always the right photos, but they’re a good first pile to choose from.
5. Make an album for the book
Create an album in Photos, such as “Photo book 2026”, and add photos to it as you find them. The album shows up in FamilyPrint when you choose photos.
6. Tidy up a little
If you took ten photos of the same thing, keep the best one. Photos can also find duplicates for you and merge them. And screenshots rarely belong in a photo book.
7. Do a little at a time
It’s easier to look through one month than a whole year at once. Sit on the sofa with a cup of tea and do one month an evening. First go through quickly and keep whatever makes you smile. Then remove the ones that look alike.
How many photos you need is in How many photos do you need for a photo book?
