The short answer
The Screenshots album in Photos keeps your screenshots together but does not sort them by purpose. You have two options. For a small number, make a few albums by hand. For hundreds or thousands, ScreenStack sorts them into Important, Saved, Casual and To sort based on the text inside each one. You can use both: ScreenStack does not change your Photos albums.
Find all your screenshots first
Open Photos, go to Collections, tap Media Types, then tap Screenshots. That is the path on Apple's support page. Check how many you have before you pick a method.
Option 1: sort them into albums by hand
This works when you have a few dozen, or you only want to pull out one kind, such as expense receipts.
- Open Photos, tap Collections, then tap Albums.
- Tap the add button, choose New Album, and name it, for example "Receipts" or "Recipes".
- Add the screenshots that belong there, then tap Create.
Once you have several albums you can group them into folders, as Apple's album guide explains. To go faster, search Photos for a word first, then select the results and add them to an album. Apple's search guide lists text as something you can search for, and covers selecting results to add to an album.
Apple's Utilities guide also covers finding receipts and QR codes, so if that is what you are after, look there first.
The cost of this route: every new screenshot has to be filed by you. We did not see anything on these Apple pages about screenshots moving into albums by purpose on their own.
Option 2: let ScreenStack sort them automatically
This suits a library of hundreds or thousands, or anyone who does not want to file each new screenshot. After you grant photo access, ScreenStack imports the images the system marks as screenshots, reads their text on the device, and files each one into one of four groups:
| Group | What lands there |
|---|---|
| Important | Verification codes, card numbers, tracking numbers and amounts, or words like order, invoice, receipt, ticket and booking |
| Saved | Words like article, tutorial, recipe and tips, or screenshots with a lot of text |
| Casual | Chat signals such as "lol", "thanks" or "typing..." |
| To sort | Anything it is unsure about. It waits here instead of being guessed at |
Open a screenshot and the detail page shows why it landed there, so a wrong call is easy to spot. Tap a group at the top of Library to see only that group.
What to do when it gets one wrong
- Fix one: on the detail page, tap Reclassify and choose the right group.
- Fix several: select them in Library, then tap Reclassify.
- Fix it for good: on the detail page, tap Save as rule and enter a keyword. From then on, any screenshot whose text contains that word goes to the group you chose. Rules stay on your device, and you can delete them under Local rule dictionary in Settings.
Reclassify on its own does not create a rule. If you want it remembered, take the extra step of Save as rule.
Once they are sorted
Sorting pays off when you need to find something or free up space. To find things, see how full-text search works. To clear space, sort first, then clean up, so you can see the fields pulled from a screenshot before you delete it.
What this sorting cannot do
- You cannot add your own groups. There are four fixed groups, and rules can only send a screenshot to one of them. For narrow topics like "Tax 2026", albums in Photos fit better.
- It reads text, not pictures. A screenshot with no text usually ends up in To sort.
- It does not sort by source app for now. A chat screenshot that mentions an order goes to Important.
- iPhone only, and it needs iOS 17 or later.
Common questions
Does ScreenStack change my Photos albums?
No. The groups live inside ScreenStack. It does not create albums in Photos or move your originals.
Does automatic sorting cost anything?
No. Import, sorting, search and basic cleanup are free for good. Pro is a one-time purchase that unlocks smart cleanup and the credential wallet.
Are my screenshots uploaded?
Text recognition, search and sorting all run on the device, and original screenshots stay there. Only if you turn on AI and enter your own API key is the recognized text sent to the provider you picked. Automatic sorting works without a key.
Can the groups sync back to Photos?
No. If you need to see a category inside Photos, use the manual albums above.
Sources
System behavior comes from Apple's own pages, checked on 2026-11-04: Take a screenshot on your iPhone, Create and work with photo albums, Search for photos and videos, Find receipts and QR codes. ScreenStack details were checked against version 1.8.0 on the App Store.
