Apple's Photos app is getting an overhaul that makes it much easier to see your photo collection organized by the day, month, or year.
In the new version of the app coming in iOS 13, the Photos tab will have four separate sections: Years, Months, Days, and All Photos. As their names imply, these sections divide up your photo library based on different periods of time. The current Photos app in iOS 12 displays your most recent images by default and requires you to tap an arrow near the top of the screen to zoom out and view photos and videos taken over longer periods of time in different locations.
Of all the new tabs in the refreshed Photos app, Years was my favorite. Each year gets its own batch of rotating cover photos, one for each month of the year, which it cycles through automatically. You can also scrub through these images by holding your finger down on the year and sliding your finger on the screen.
But I sometimes found myself questioning the photos the software chose to represent a given month. There were some instances in which it selected some of my favorite memories that I hadn't revisited in years, like a wedding from 2012 for example. But other times, it chose a seemingly random photo to represent a particular month, like a selfie instead of photos I had taken at a concert with friends.
Regardless, it still provides a much quicker way to browse through cherished photos you may have forgotten than what's currently available in iOS 12's Photos app or Google Photos. And since the software is still in beta, there's a chance it could improve by the time the final version launches later this year.