The fastest way to see your favorites
Your iPhone stores photos you've marked as favorites in a separate album that you can reach in three taps. Open the Photos app, tap the Albums tab at the bottom, scroll down to the Favorites album, and tap it. Every photo and video you've marked with a heart appears there, sorted by the date you took them — newest first.
This is faster than scrolling through thousands of photos in your Camera Roll, and it works across all your devices if you use iCloud Photos. When you mark a photo as a favorite on your iPhone, it shows up in Favorites on your iPad and Mac too.
Key Takeaways
- The Favorites album lives in the Albums tab of the Photos app and holds every photo you've marked with a heart.
- To mark a photo as a favorite, open it, tap the heart icon, and it moves to your Favorites album automatically.
- You can remove a photo from Favorites by opening it and tapping the heart again — the photo stays in your Camera Roll.
- If you use iCloud Photos, your favorites sync across your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and iCloud.com.
- The Favorites album shows photos in reverse date order, with the most recent ones at the top.
How to mark a photo as a favorite
Open any photo in the Photos app and look for the heart icon. On most iPhones, it's in the bottom toolbar — a hollow heart outline. Tap it once and the heart fills in solid, which means the photo is now marked as a favorite. The photo stays in your Camera Roll and in any album you've put it in; marking it as a favorite just adds it to the Favorites album as well.
You can mark photos as favorites one at a time, or you can select multiple photos at once. Tap Select in the top right, then tap each photo you want to mark. Once you've chosen them all, tap the heart icon at the bottom and they'll all move to Favorites together.
Finding your Favorites album
Open the Photos app and tap the Albums tab at the very bottom of your screen. Scroll down past your other albums — you'll see Camera Roll, Videos, Screenshots, and any albums you've created. The Favorites album appears below those, with a heart icon next to it. Tap it to see all your marked photos.
If you don't see a Favorites album, it means you haven't marked any photos as favorites yet. Once you mark your first photo with a heart, the album will appear automatically.
Removing photos from Favorites
Open the photo you want to remove and tap the solid heart icon. It will turn back to an outline, and the photo disappears from your Favorites album. The photo itself stays in your Camera Roll and in any other albums — you're only removing it from Favorites.
You can also remove multiple photos at once. Go to your Favorites album, tap Select, choose the photos you want to remove, and tap the heart icon at the bottom. All of them will be unfavorited at the same time.
Using Favorites across your devices
If you have iCloud Photos turned on, your Favorites sync automatically to your iPad, Mac, and iCloud.com. When you mark a photo as a favorite on your iPhone, it shows up in Favorites on your other devices within a few seconds. The same goes the other way — if you mark something as a favorite on your Mac, it appears in Favorites on your iPhone.
To check if iCloud Photos is on, open Settings, tap your name at the top, go to iCloud, and look for Photos. If it's toggled on, your favorites are syncing. If it's off, your Favorites album only exists on that one device.
Searching for specific photos in Favorites
Once you're in your Favorites album, you can search within it using the search bar at the top of the Photos app. Tap the search icon, type what you're looking for — a person's name, a location, or a date — and the Photos app will show you matching photos from your Favorites only.
You can also use the filter options at the top of your Favorites album to sort by type. Tap the three lines icon and choose Photos, Videos, or Screenshots to narrow down what you see. This is useful if you've marked a lot of videos as favorites and you want to find just the photos.
What happens to Favorites when you back up your iPhone
Your Favorites album is part of your Photos library, so it backs up automatically when you use iCloud or connect to a computer. If you restore your iPhone from a backup, all your marked favorites come back with it. The heart marks are stored as part of your photo metadata — the invisible information attached to each image.
If you delete a photo from your iPhone entirely, it disappears from your Favorites album too. But if you delete a photo from Favorites only (by tapping the heart again), the photo stays in your Camera Roll and your backups.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I create a separate album and move my favorite photos into it?
Yes. Open your Favorites album, tap Select, choose the photos you want, tap Share, and choose Add to Album. You can create a new album or add them to an existing one. This doesn't remove them from Favorites — they'll be in both places.
Why don't I see a heart icon when I open a photo?
The heart icon appears in the toolbar at the bottom of the photo. If you don't see it, swipe up or down on the photo to make the toolbar appear. On some older iPhones, you may need to tap the photo first to show the controls.
If I turn off iCloud Photos, do I lose my Favorites?
No. Your Favorites album stays on your iPhone. But if you turn off iCloud Photos, your favorites stop syncing to your other devices. Any favorites you marked before turning it off stay in the Favorites album on each device separately.
Can I sort my Favorites album by anything other than date?
The Favorites album always shows photos in reverse date order — newest first. You can't change the sort order within Favorites itself, but you can create a separate album and organize it however you want by moving photos around manually.