Displayed above:  a new feature in ios 10…found via the Memories Tab discussed further down.

ios 10 Adds New Smart Albums

After reading the TechCrunch post  warning Apple users that ios 10 was bricking devices I decided to wait for a while and see if the problem would be readily addressed.  It was and Apple came out with 10.1 in record time.  So, I finally got up the courage to upgrade the first of my iPads to ios 10.  If you’re wondering what I mean by the first…I have a lot of iPads for 2 primary reasons:

1. 1. I do all my work on iPads and usually use 2 or 3 at a time the way others use multiple monitors…I can’t afford to be without at least 2 functioning iPads at any given time.
   2. I didn’t always have so many…ios 8 was the turning point.  When both my iPad Air and iPad mini ended up with corrupt versions of ios 8 I had to get new ones to keep working until I had time to copy all the content on them that wasn’t iCloud based therefore being backed up by iCloud.  You can read more about my problems with ios 8 here.

Upgrading to ios 10 the Right Way

The best way to upgrade to a new ios is via your computer using iTunes. But that takes more time and since I have one corrupt iPad which got that way from an ios 9 update, I decided to test the waters by using that one as my guinea pig for 10. Throwing all caution to the wind because frankly I’ve got nothing to lose since this device is already corrupt…I chose the riskier alternative of updating ‘over the air.’

I was secretly hoping of course that ios 10 might fix the corrupt problem too…the jury is still out…but I think it may have!

My Photo Albums Have All Disappeared!!!

Immediately following the upgrade I opened the Photo’s app to look for something.  I was surprised to see that ios 10 includes 2 new smart albums…people and places…as well as a new menu tab at the bottom entitled Memories. I was also pretty shocked to see that Apple appeared to have replaced all my photo albums with the new ones!  Below is a screenshot of what I found upon opening the Photo’s app.

I Found Them…Almost By Accident!!!

I tapped around everywhere while holding my breath in the hopes that Apple hadn’t done away with all of  my former Albums.

My photo albums are still there!

Initially, I couldn’t see them anywhere nor could I find some hidden area where they might be.  After searching Google I realized there weren’t a lot of other people asking about this in forums or writing about missing albums, so I decided to search within the Photo app again. I still didn’t find them.

I tried every single menu item yet again as well as swiping right and left anywhere and everywhere. Suddenly the new ios 10 albums slid up just a little bit…revealing my former albums (shown in the screenshot above.) Apparently,  I’d accidentally tapped or swiped somewhere on the screen to make this happen…probably I swiped up a little bit as I was swiping sideways. I don’t know why I hadn’t tried swiping up and down…it’s just not a very intuitive move on that particular screen.

But now I know…that the way to find the missing albums is by swiping up in the Photo app.

New Memories Tab

I was completely and utterly relieved (I really can’t emphasize this point enough!) because Apple had done some things in the past that had permanently messed up all of my  photos & photo albums…necessitating that I spend countless hours rebuilding & restoring my former organization. After breathing a huge sigh of relief and knowing that I didn’t have to worry anymore, I began exploring the new smart albums and the new Memories tab. All three new features are really great.  You can read more about them in CNET’S thorough post.

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