Where did the Camera roll go in iOS 8? And how to find your Photos

BY Jason

Published 20 Sep 2014

Following the iOS 8 update, many users were confused after they found that the Camera Roll in the Photos app had disappeared, and had instead been replaced by a Recently Added Photos album.

The Recently Added Photos album contained just photos taken in the past 30 days, leading many to incorrectly believe that they had lost all the other photos from their device.

Where did Camera Roll Go

Camera Roll, the album that earlier showed you a grid of all photos taken from your phone, has been removed from iOS 8, but the photos inside the album are still intact. They can be accessed from the Photos tab, where all photos are organised by year, month and location. The feature was introduced in iOS 7, and Apple seems to think this is a better photo organisation strategy than having a simple list of photos.

photos tab camera roll

What’s Recently Added?

iOS 8 adds a new album called Recently Added, that many people mistakenly assume to be the same as Camera Roll. It’s not their fault — apps like Facebook and Whatsapp that let you upload photos only show this album, and do not show photos from the Collections view.

Recently Added is a new album that shows you photos taken in the last 30 days from all your devices. It is like a replacement for Photo Stream.

recently added

Wrap Up

Apps that let you upload photos currently only show the Recently Added album, but updates to these apps should incorporate iOS 8 changes, and pick up photos from the Collections View as well. Till then, as a work around, you can create a new album, and add photos you don’t see in those apps into that album.

What do you think of Apple’s decision to remove Camera Roll? Let us know in the comments below.

Update (September 29, 2014):

It looks like Apple is certainly paying attention to user complaints. Camera roll is back in iOS 8.1, which has been seeded to developers.