Library View
The library view is where you browse, organize, and manage your photos and videos. Darkroom reads directly from your Apple Photos library, so everything you see here reflects what's already in your library — albums, favorites, shared albums, and all. There's nothing to import and nothing copied onto our servers; we simply show you your own photos from iCloud, and we never analyze them or do anything with them without your explicit consent.
The photo grid
If you've given Darkroom access to all your photos, they all appear in the grid with no importing needed — though you're free to grant access one photo at a time instead. The grid is the main way to browse, and it's worth shaping it to the task in front of you: pinch directly on the grid on iPhone and iPad, use the column controls on iPhone, or drag the zoom slider on Mac to change how many thumbnails fit per row. Zoom out to scan a whole shoot at once; zoom in when you want larger previews and a better read on each frame. On iPad and Mac, a filmstrip view is also available below the main photo view.
Thumbnails can be shown either as uniform squares or at each photo's original aspect ratio. Squares give you a tidy, even grid; original aspect makes it far easier to compare compositions and spot which frames are portrait or panoramic without opening them. Bear in mind that with square thumbnails a composition may look slightly different from the full frame.
Opening a photo is as simple as tapping it on iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro, or double-clicking on Mac (its native behavior). Once a photo is open, swipe left or right on iPhone, or use the arrow keys on iPad and Mac, to move between shots, and tap the back button or press Escape to return to the grid. You can sort the grid three ways: by date created — when the photo was taken — by date added, when it entered your library, or by date modified, which is the fastest way to surface what you've been working on most recently in a large shoot.
Quick actions live in the context menu: tap and hold a photo, or right-click on Mac, to Share it to other apps or people, Favorite or unfavorite it, Hide it from the library, or Delete it. To work on many photos at once, start a selection. On iPhone, tap Select at the top right of the grid. On iPad, turn on Batch. You can also swipe across thumbnails to grab a range. Once photos are selected, the batch actions bar appears at the bottom. On Mac you can multi-select by default, extending a selection with the ⌘ and ⇧ keys, with batch actions always present in the top-right toolbar.
You'll find Settings behind the gear icon at the top left on iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro, or under the Darkroom menu on Mac — it's worth a look around for the many options tucked there.
Album list
Your albums and folders live alongside the grid. On iPhone, the tab bar at the bottom is Library, Recents, Favorites, and Edited. Library opens the album list, so you can jump into an album and move to another without backing out through the grid. Recents, Favorites, and Edited open those collections directly. That matters most when you're reviewing a shoot, filing exports, or picking up a project again. On iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro, the album list is always present in the left-hand sidebar.
Darkroom mirrors the smart albums Apple Photos offers: Recents for your most recently added media, Favorites for anything you've hearted, and Edited for photos you've worked on in Darkroom, plus media-type collections like RAW, Videos, and Live Photos. Photos you bring in with Import collect in Imported, in the order you added them. Flag & Reject adds Flagged and Rejected albums so a culling pass has a place to land. Shared albums from iCloud sit in the list beside your own, fully browsable and editable, and your personal albums appear below the smart ones, where you can reorder them, sort them, or find one by name with the search field at the top.
Folders let you group related albums, nest folders inside folders, and drag albums between them — and that structure syncs across all your devices through iCloud. You can create, rename, and delete albums right in Darkroom: to fill an album, select photos in the grid and choose Add to Album; to clear one out, open it, select the photos, and choose Remove from Album, which takes them out of the album without deleting them from your library.
When you need photos from somewhere other than your iCloud library, the Import option brings them in through Apple's Files app, so anything connected there — a DSLR memory card, a USB drive — is reachable. On Mac you can also drag and drop photos into the library from your desktop, and on iPad you can drag photos from your library onto any album in the sidebar.
Platform differences
The library view adapts to each platform. On iPhone, the album list and the photo grid are separate screens, and the tab bar switches between them. Column count, thumbnail aspect, and sorting are adjustable from the grid. On iPad and Mac, the album list is a sidebar beside the grid, so you can switch albums without leaving the grid.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where are albums, Recents, and Favorites on iPhone?
On the tab bar at the bottom of the screen. Library opens the album list. Recents, Favorites, and Edited open those collections directly. On iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro the album list is the sidebar.
How do I select multiple photos on iPhone?
Tap Select at the top right of the grid, then tap the thumbnails you want, or swipe across several to grab a range. The batch actions bar appears at the bottom. On iPad, turn on Batch instead. On Mac, click with ⌘ and ⇧.
Related
- iCloud Library — what syncs, and what stays on the device
- Import — cameras, SD cards, Files, and drag-and-drop
- Flag & Reject — culling into Flagged and Rejected
- Batch Actions — edit or export a whole selection
- Interface Overview — how the Library fits with Edit and Export