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 Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 23 #599

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 23, No. 599.

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

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle might be Halloween-themed, as the answers are all rather dangerous. Some of them are a bit tough to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Please don’t eat me!

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Remember Mr. Yuk?

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

POND, NOON, NODE, BALE, SOCK, LOVE, LOCK, MOCK, LEER, REEL, GLOVE, DAIS, LEAN, LEAD, REEL

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

AZALEA, HEMLOCK, FOXGLOVE, OLEANDER, BELLADONNA

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is POISONOUS. To find it, look for the P that is the first letter on the far left of the top row, and wind down and across.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Oct. 23, #395

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Oct. 23, No. 395.

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 has one of those crazy purple categories, where you wonder if anyone saw the connection, or if people just put that grouping together because only those four words were left. If you’re struggling 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 show up in the NYT Games app but appears 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: Fan noise.

Green group hint: Strategies for hoops.

Blue group hint: Minor league.

Purple group hint: Look for a connection to hoops.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Sounds from the crowd.

Green group: Basketball offenses.

Blue group: Triple-A baseball teams.

Purple group: Ends with a basketball stat.

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 sounds from the crowd. The four answers are boo, cheer, clap and whistle.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is basketball offenses. The four answers are motion, pick and roll, Princeton and triangle.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is triple-A baseball teams. The four answers are Aces, Jumbo Shrimp, Sounds and Storm Chasers.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ends with a basketball stat. The four answers are afoul, bassist, counterpoint and sunblock.

Technologies

Amazon’s Delivery Drivers Will Soon Wear AI Smart Glasses to Work

The goal is to streamline the delivery process while keeping drivers safe.

Amazon announced on Wednesday that it is developing new AI-powered smart glasses to simplify the delivery experience for its drivers. CNET smart glasses expert Scott Stein mentioned this wearable rollout last month, and now the plan is in its final testing stages.

The goal is to simplify package delivery by reducing the need for drivers to look at their phones, the label on the package they’re delivering and their surroundings to find the correct address.

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

A heads-up display will activate as soon as the driver parks, pointing out potential hazards and tasks that must be completed. From there, drivers can locate and scan packages, follow turn-by-turn directions and snap a photograph to prove delivery completion without needing to take out their phone.

The company is testing the glasses in select North American markets.

Watch: See our Instagram post with a video showing the glasses

A representative for Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

To fight battery drain, the glasses pair with a controller attached to the employee’s delivery vest, allowing them to replace depleted batteries and access operational controls. The glasses will support an employee’s eyeglass prescription. An emergency button will be within reach to ensure the driver’s safety.

Amazon is already planning future versions of the glasses, which will feature «real-time defect detection,» notifying the driver if a package was delivered to the incorrect address. They plan to add features to the glasses to detect if pets are in the yard and adjust to low light.