How we test

The numbers in each guide’s “What we measured” block come from our own analysis, run on our test iPhone and its photo library. Every block names the device, the iOS version and the date we measured.

Counts and totals that iOS reports exactly are written plain, like “1,240 photos”. Sizes iOS doesn’t report exactly are estimates, and they always start with “≈”, like “≈ 6.2 GB”.

We publish totals, shares and timings. Never a photo, a file name, a date from the library or a screenshot of it.

When a guide says how iOS works, it links to Apple’s own documentation, or says which iOS version we checked it on.

A new iOS version can change an answer. We check our guides again after major iOS updates, and the date at the top of a guide changes when its content does.