Many iPhone users are reporting that tapping a folder with albums causes the Photos app to freeze, making album navigation impossible. Restarting the phone doesn’t help, and reopening the app often results in a black screen before it finally loads. This is likely a bug introduced in iOS 18, but there are a few ways to get the Photos app working again. Here’s what you can do.
1. Change Region to United States
Although it might feel out of left field, users have reported that changing the device region to the United States fixes the issue for them. Now, I don’t know what goes on at the back end for this to work, but it might be worth a try.
Time needed: 1 minute
- Go to Settings > General.
- Tap Language & Region > Region.
- Select United States from the list.
2. Remove Additional Languages
Similar to the method above, removing any extra system languages has also been suggested as a potential solution.
- Go to Settings > General.
- Tap Language & Region.
- Tap Edit in the top right corner of the screen and use the minus icon to delete any additional languages.
3. Use the Albums Heading
Another temporary fix, as described on the Apple Discussion Forums, is as follows:
Open the Photos app and tap on Albums at the top; don’t select an individual album. This action brings up a new header with three options: Personal, Shared, and Activity. Once this appears, you can freely scroll through your albums without any freezing or malfunctioning. If you tap directly on an album instead of the Albums heading, the app may freeze or malfunction.
Now that you have fixed the Photos app learn how to edit photos like a pro on iOS 18 with our handy guide.