Technologies

Unwanted Photos Keep Showing Up On My iPhone. What Gives?

There are some memories that I’d rather forget. Deleting everything I don’t want to see is a lot of work. There’s an easier way to prevent certain photos from showing up on iOS.

I’ve definitely opened my iPhone just to be hit in the face with photos of people or times that I’d just rather forget.

Apple wants to remind you of the good times you’ve had with featured photos and memories but this trip down nostalgia lane can backfire. These two iPhone features work together to create «featured content,» to highlight the moments you want to remember. Unfortunately, along with your favorite vacation with friends, you might also end up looking at photos of your ex.

The worst part is that featured content isn’t exclusive to the Photos app. Featured content appears across your device, like in the search page and on widgets on your home screen.

Don’t miss: How to Download iOS 26 Right Now

Having these unexpected photos randomly show up on your iPhone, especially if you’re showing something on your phone to someone, or someone else is using your phone, can become a headache … that you can luckily avoid.

If you want to stop unwanted photos from randomly appearing across your iPhone, here’s how to stop it.

While you’re here, check out all the new features coming on iOS 26 and how to disable the most annoying Apple Intelligence feature.

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You can show a person less frequently or not at all

If someone is featured pretty prominently across your photo library, iOS will consider them an important person in your life. That person will definitely show up in your memories and featured photos across your device. For most, it’s a joyous experience, reliving precious memories with your favorite people.

If things are not so precious anymore and you no longer talk to that person, you probably don’t want to see their face randomly pop up on your phone. Sure, you could go through your camera roll and scrub every photo and video with that person in it but that’s a lot of work. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to hide photos with a specific person.

To feature a person less frequently or not at all in memories, features photos and widgets, open the Photos app, find a photo or video with the person you want to show less often, tap the three-dot menu button in the top-right and then hit Feature This Person Less.

You can now choose from two options:

Feature This Person Less: You won’t see any individual photos or videos of this person in memories or featured photos, but if this person is in a group photo, those may still appear.
Never Feature This Person: You won’t see any photos or videos with this person, including group photos.

You can also completely disable memories and featured photos

Now, not everyone’s unexpected photo is going to be of an ex-spouse or former friend. An embarrassing photo of yourself or something borderline inappropriate might pop up on your phone somewhere, and if you’re worried about that happening, you might just want to get rid of memories and feature photos completely.

In the Settings app, go to Apps > Photos and toggle off Show Featured Content. This will stop all featured content across your device, including albums in the Photos app, widgets on your home screen and photos in search.

Other tips you can follow to prevent unexpected photos from showing up

What I’ve detailed above is a great start to prevent certain photos from appearing across your device, but you can do more, especially if the two tips don’t really do it for you.

Remove photos widgets from your lock and home screen. There is a photos widget that only shows featured photos, and that may end up being embarrassing or unwanted photos. Simply remove them from your phone, or choose a photo widget that isn’t a «featured» one.
Hide collections in the Photos app. Starting with iOS 18, you can now hide certain collections that may preview photos you don’t want to necessarily see. In Photos, go to Customize & Reorder and check off the collections you want to hide. These collections include Recent Days, People & Pets, Trips and more. If you have featured content disabled, you’ll notice that some collections are grayed out.
Turn off holiday memories. If you don’t want to see memories of recent holiday events, like Christmas or Thanksgiving, you can go to Settings > Apps > Photos and toggle off Show Holiday Events.
Stop photos from appearing in search. If you type something into search, you may see photos appear. You can stop this from happening by going to Settings > Apps > Photos and toggling off Show App in Search and Show Content in Search.
Don’t choose a featured wallpaper on your lock screen. On iOS 18, you can have featured photos appear as your lock screen, changing through the day. Choose any other wallpaper than the featured photos wallpaper to avoid unwanted photos from appearing on your lock screen.

If you want to learn more about iOS, check out how to get more iPhone storage with these two tips and why the iPhone 16 camera control button is also a secret action button.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Dec. 26

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 26.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Some of the clues are tough today — I thought maybe 1-Across was referring to the Grinch, or even Oscar the Grouch, but was I ever wrong! Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Furry and green, say
Answer: MOSSY

6A clue: State known for its potatoes
Answer: IDAHO

7A clue: Like a faithful friend
Answer: LOYAL

8A clue: Had a beverage
Answer: DRANK

9A clue: Pronoun frequently paired with «her»
Answer: SHE

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Not spicy, as salsa
Answer: MILD

2D clue: Reasons for wrinkled noses
Answer: ODORS

3D clue: Words from a doctor checking your tonsils
Answer: SAYAH

4D clue: Comedian Gillis
Answer: SHANE

5D clue: Part of an egg used to make hollandaise sauce
Answer: YOLK

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Dec. 26, #459

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Dec. 26, No. 459.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. That purple category once again has players looking for a different, but related, hidden word in four of the clues. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Big Apple jock.

Green group hint: College football fun.

Blue group hint: On the road.

Purple group hint: Hunt down a word in other words.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: A New York athlete.

Green group: Bowl games.

Blue group: Associated with a team road trip.

Purple group: Ends in a movement verb.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is a New York athlete. The four answers are Islander, Net, Ranger and Yankee.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is bowl games. The four answers are Alamo, Gator, Liberty and Pinstripe.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is associated with a team road trip. The four answers are bus, flight, hotel and visiting locker room.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ends in a movement verb. The four answers are foxtrot (trot), newsprint (sprint), terrace (race) and thunderbolt (bolt).

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Dec. 26, #929

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Dec. 26 #929

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is full of fun pop-culture references. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Golden state cliches.

Green group hint: Funny films.

Blue group hint: Rock on.

Purple group hint: Not white.