Latest iOS 9 beta includes separate Photos folders for selfies, screenshots

Posted:
in iPhone edited September 2019
With its latest iOS 9 beta, Apple introduced separate Photos folders for selfies and screenshots, a small but useful addition that could go a long way in cleaning up users' libraries.




As seen above, Photos in iOS 9 parses out pictures taken with an iPhone's front-facing camera into a folder called "Selfies," while placing screenshots in another self-named folder. It is not yet clear if the feature will make it into the shipping product set to launch this fall, but the auto-collation feature is a blessing for many.

The "Selfie" folder acts much like a Smart Folder on Mac by collecting all snaps taken with an iOS device's front-facing shooter. A quick test shows iOS is not using computer vision algorithms to detect faces -- specifically the face of an iPhone's user -- for the feature, suggesting the folder's trigger is hardware-based.

As for the
screenshot gallery, iOS 9 beta simply compiles onscreen images captured by simultaneously depressing a device's power and home buttons. The screenshot mechanism has been around since the dawn of iOS, but was initially used for diagnostics and not touted as a user-facing feature. With the rise of fast, reliable mobile Internet services, screenshot sharing has for many become a quick and easy alternative to copying and pasting rich content.

Alongside new folders in Photos, today's iOS 9 beta marked the introduction of Apple's News app, a cloud-based content aggregator designed for on-the-go access to popular Internet articles, custom feeds and more. In addition, home screen folders feature a four-by-four design, allowing users to hold up to 16 apps per page.

Developers can access iOS 9 beta 3 as an over-the-air update or through Apple's Developer Portal.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    I hope it makes it I wouldn't mind having separate folders like that
  • Reply 2 of 8
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    How about a mechanism for creating smart folders that follow user defined rules for organizing photos? I could imagine a few rules that would be useful.

    The two new folders described in this article would simply be canned examples users would get by default but could hide or modify.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    heliahelia Posts: 170member

    This one is less buggy than beta 2, but there are still lots of crashes here and there. (By LOT I mean 1-2 an hour)

     

    Not only it has a separate folder for Selfies, it also has one for Screenshots too, even one for Whatsapp and Viber!

  • Reply 4 of 8
    am8449am8449 Posts: 392member

    The screenshots folder would be helpful for me.

     

    I sometimes take screenshots of transit directions so that I can view them while in New York City subways, where there is often no reception.

  • Reply 5 of 8
    td241td241 Posts: 2member

    Yes! I've wanted this for a while as well. Especially for GIFs.

  • Reply 6 of 8
    The picture was taken on September 11th
  • Reply 7 of 8
    ddawson100ddawson100 Posts: 513member

    And shows up in the Screenshots folder. Are these images just sloppy concepts/mock-ups?

     

    [edit] And the Selfies folder includes an image of the keyboard. Either the keyboard has established sentience or these are indeed sloppy illustrations.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Iphone 3gs View Post



    The picture was taken on September 11th

  • Reply 8 of 8
    pigybankpigybank Posts: 178member
    How about a memes folder too? That would be the perfect trifecta.
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