Search Photos by Date or Year in iOS 12

Apple’s iOS 12 significantly improved the search capabilities in the native Photos app, allowing users to quickly locate images using specific timeframes. You can search directly for a specific year, a month combined with a year, or seasons to find your memories without endless scrolling. While iOS 12 handles specific years and standard calendar periods effortlessly, searching for arbitrary, custom day-to-day date ranges has some limitations that require specific search techniques.

How to Search by Specific Year

To find photos taken in a particular year, open the Photos app and tap the Search tab located in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Tap the search bar at the top and type the four-digit year (for example, "2017" or "2018"). The app will display a category under the search bar labeled with that year and the number of matching photos. Tap the result to view all photos and videos taken during that calendar year.

Searching by Month, Season, and Relative Dates

iOS 12 allows you to narrow down your timeline beyond just the year:

  • Month and Year: Type a month followed by a year, such as "October 2018" or "July 2016," to view images captured during that specific thirty-day window.
  • Seasons: You can use seasonal terms combined with years, such as "Summer 2017" or "Winter 2018," to filter your library by approximate three-month ranges.
  • Holidays: Searching for holiday names like "Christmas 2017" or "Halloween 2018" will automatically pull photos taken on and around those specific calendar dates.

Searching for Custom Date Ranges

iOS 12 does not support a custom day-to-day date range query (such as "March 3 to March 12, 2018") within the search text field. To browse photos within a tight custom range, search for the specific month and year first, then scroll through the chronological results for that period. Alternatively, you can navigate to the Photos tab (the timeline view) and pinch out to browse by Years, Months, or Days to manually inspect a specific sequence of dates.