Tips for Organizing Digital Photos on Your Phone

What do you do with all the photos you take with your phone? Chances are, your precious pictures are accumulating digital dust on your device and taking up too much space. Maybe you keep meaning to organize your photos or do something with them, but you’re not even sure where to begin.

As a New Jersey lifestyle photographer specializing in maternity, newborn, and family photography, clients often ask if I have any tips for organizing all of their digital photos.

Here are my top tips for organizing digital photos on your phone.

Declutter Your Photo Library

Most of us have probably snapped multiple frames of a similar scene, only to forget to delete the bloopers. Do you really need 10 pictures of little Jack Get eating a dripping ice cream cone, or 20 shots of your cat, no matter how cute he looks? Probably not. Instead of cluttering up your photo library with similar shots, delete duplicates. This will not only free up space on your phone, but it’ll make it easier to manage your photos.

Use Digital Albums

Most phone photo apps allow you to easily create digital albums to organize your photos. If you have an iPhone, here’s how you create a new album:

1. Open Photos.
2. Go to Albums and tap the Add button .
3. Tap New Album. Type an album name, tap Save, then choose the photos and videos that you want to add.
4. Tap Done.

You can create albums based on people, a vacation or event, or any other criteria. For example, I like to create an album for summer vacation photos. That way, I can easily add and keep track of images that I may want to use when I create a photo book of our trip.

Use the Heart Feature

Speaking of using albums for organizing your digital photos, I love the heart feature available on iPhones. “Hearting” only your very favorite photos will automatically create an album of your favorite images. This is a great way to help you choose which photos to print or use to create an annual book of your memories.

Sort Images By Date

Many phone photo apps automatically sort your photos by date. This is another useful way to organize (and search for) your photos.

Use Third-party Apps

There are many third-party apps available that can help you organize your photos. Some popular options include Apple Photos, Google Photos, and Adobe Lightroom. Some phone photo apps also use artificial intelligence to automatically organize your photos. For example, Google Photos can automatically sort your photos by people, places, or things.

Don’t Forget to Back-up Your Photos

Most important, make sure to back up your photos, ideally in more than one place. That way, if you lose or break your phone, you won’t also lose your precious pictures. Cloud storage services like Google Photos or iCloud allow you to automatically back up your photos. In addition to using cloud storage, I like to back-up my phone photos onto an external drive connected to my computer. I have another system I use to organize all the digital images I take with my big camera. You can read about that in an upcoming post.

By following these tips, you’ll be able to organize your photos on your phone and enjoy your memories anytime, anywhere.

Bonus Tip: Print Your Photos

Our kids are only little for such a short time, and our family evolves in so many beautiful ways through the years. As a family photographer, I believe in keeping tangible reminders of the moments that matter most. That’s why I offer high-quality prints, albums, and wall art to help you preserve your memories. Because your memories deserve to last, technology is always changing, and there’s no guarantee the digital formats of today will be around in the future. I promise, five years from now, you’ll be so happy that you took the time to print your favorite photos. Speaking of printed photos, you might enjoy Best Places to Print Your Photos.

If you’re looking for professional family photography in New Jersey, you might enjoy:

Tips for Your Family Photo Session

Best Parks for Family Photos Near Westfield, NJ

What to Wear for Family Photos

 Get in touch with me to schedule a relaxed and fun family session!