Finding specific photos in your iPhone photo library can sometimes feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. With years of memories captured, scrolling endlessly to find photos of loved ones is time-consuming. Thankfully, the iPhone Photos app has a smart feature called People & Pets (or People if you don’t have pet photos) that uses facial recognition to automatically organize your photos, making it incredibly easy to find photos of people you care about. This guide will show you exactly how to leverage this feature to quickly and efficiently find photos of people on your iPhone.
Naming People in Photos for Easy Searching
The first step to effortlessly finding photos of people is to name them within the Photos app. Once you name someone, the app recognizes them in other photos and videos across your library, grouping them together for easy access. Here’s how to name individuals directly from a photo or video:
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Launch the Photos app on your iPhone.
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Open any photo or video containing the person you want to name. Then, swipe up on the photo to reveal details.
People or pets detected in the photo will appear in the bottom-left corner. Unidentified faces will have a question mark indicating they need naming.
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Tap on the face with the question mark that you want to identify. Then, tap Name This Person (or Name This Pet if it’s a furry friend).
Naming a person from a photo detail view on iPhone Photos app. A photo is open, and in the bottom left corner, a question mark is selected next to a detected face, prompting the "Name This Person" option. -
Enter the name of the person and tap Done. The Photos app will now associate this name with that face and begin identifying them in other photos.
Finding People Through the People & Pets Album
Alternatively, you can name people and find photos of them directly through the People & Pets album, which provides a consolidated view of all recognized faces. Here’s how:
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Open the Photos app on your iPhone.
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Tap on the Albums tab at the bottom. Scroll down to find People & Pets under the People category and tap it. If you only have photos of people, it might just be labeled People.
This section displays groups of faces recognized in your photo library.
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Tap on the unnamed face (labeled “Name This Person” or “Name This Pet”) you wish to identify.
The People & Pets album in iPhone Photos app, showing recognized faces grouped together. Some faces prompt to "Name This Person", indicating they are yet to be identified. -
Tap Name This Person or Name This Pet, type in their name, and then tap Done.
If the person you are looking for isn’t immediately visible, tap Add People at the bottom of the People & Pets album to see more faces that the app has detected but not yet grouped.
Customizing the Key Photo for People
To personalize your People & Pets album and make it even easier to visually find individuals, you can change the key photo that represents each person. This key photo is what you see in the People & Pets album and helps you quickly identify the right person.
- Go to the Photos app on your iPhone.
- Tap Albums, then People & Pets, and select the person whose key photo you want to change.
- Tap the More button (represented by three dots) and then tap Show Faces. This displays all photos where the person is recognized, focusing only on their face.
- Touch and hold the photo you want to use as the new key photo, then tap Make Key Photo. This photo will now represent that person in your People & Pets album.
Favoriting People for Quick Access
For those people you frequently search for, marking them as favorites provides even faster access. Favorite people appear at the top of your People & Pets album, saving you scrolling time.
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Open the Photos app and go to People & Pets.
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Touch and hold the photo of the person you want to favorite.
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Tap Favorite.
To unfavorite someone, simply touch and hold their key photo again and tap Unfavorite.
Correcting Misidentified People
The facial recognition is generally accurate, but sometimes the Photos app might misidentify someone. It’s easy to correct these mistakes to ensure your People & Pets album is accurate and finding photos of people remains straightforward.
- Navigate to People & Pets in the Photos app.
- Tap on the person with the incorrect name.
- To correct the name across all photos: Tap the More button, tap the name, edit it, and tap Done.
- To correct a specific photo: Open the photo, tap the More button, then tap This is Not [Name]. This will remove the incorrect name tag from that specific photo. You can also correct names while viewing a photo by swiping up for photo information and tapping the incorrectly named person at the bottom left, then selecting “This is Not [Name]”.
Sorting Your People Album
For larger People & Pets albums, sorting can help you find people more efficiently. You can sort alphabetically by name or manually customize the order.
- Go to People & Pets in the Photos app.
- Tap Sort.
- Choose Name to sort alphabetically, or Custom to manually rearrange the order by dragging and dropping key photos.
Removing People from the People Album
If you wish to remove a person from your People & Pets album, perhaps to declutter or remove someone you no longer need to find photos of, you can easily hide them.
- In the Photos app, go to People & Pets.
- Touch and hold the person you want to remove.
- Tap Hide [Name]. This removes them from the main People & Pets view.
Tip: If you prefer not to remove someone entirely but want to see them less frequently, you can use the “Feature This Person Less” option instead of hiding them.
By utilizing the People & Pets feature on your iPhone, finding photos of specific individuals becomes a breeze. Naming people, customizing key photos, and using favorites are all effective ways to streamline your photo searching experience and quickly access cherished memories of people in your life. With iCloud Photos enabled, these person albums stay synchronized across all your Apple devices, ensuring you can easily find photos of people no matter which device you are using.
