RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
January 31, 2023
Summary: The simplest way to search your Photos library is to use the Search tab at the top. However, you can also find specific photos and videos by filtering images by app name, camera or device, and even location. Using iPhone’s Live Text feature, you can also search for text within images.
This is for the iPhone. Screenshots are from iPhone 14 Pro running iOS 16+
Finding that favorite photo you took can be frustrating when you have thousands to sift through. Fortunately, there are plenty of useful tips for searching and filtering your media, including photos, videos, imports, and more. Let’s discover some of these tips.
Find Specific People and Objects
Using the Search tab, you can search for people, animals, and objects in the Photos app. The Search function works well for finding animals like cats and dogs, objects like cars and boats, clothing like hats and sunglasses, or natural features like rivers and mountains.
First, launch Photos and select Search from the Toolbar at the bottom. Then type your criteria into the Search bar. Refer to the below image:
Next, you can get as descriptive as you like. For example, you can look for food items like steak or rooms in your house like the bedroom. Start typing “at the concert” and see what you find.
Now, for the search to work with people, you will need to link their likeness to a contact. Tap on the Albums tab. Scroll down to People and Places and tap on the selection of faces that Photos have generated. See the below image:
Next, you can tap on individual people, then tap Add Name at the top to link the likeness to a contact. See the following image:
Now, tap Next in the upper right-hand corner to see the tagged person, then click Done in the upper right-hand corner. Refer to the below image:
Next, to train Photos to recognize people better, click each photo and look for the Review button. You can then confirm or deny likenesses. You may find some people have multiple entries due to changes in appearance, like a new haircut. Just tag them with the same name. See the below image:
Now, return to your Albums tab and tap on People. Here, you will see your tagged entries. See the following image:
Find Text and Captions
Next, thanks to the iPhone’s Live Text feature, you can search for text within images. For example, you can search for words on a page, titles of books, road signs, or notices. You may even be able to pick up handwriting if it’s legible enough for the iPhone to recognize. Refer to the below image:
Now, you can give yourself a chance at finding something specific later by attaching a caption to it. To do so, find the photo in your library, then swipe up to reveal more information about it. Then tap the Add a Caption field and type your description.
Find Old Objects
Your iPhone can surface images from this time last year, three years ago, or even ten years ago if your media files go back that far. These sometimes appear on the For You tab or as Memories Notifications, but you can also search for them manually.
Next, the key is to type the phrase exactly to see the relevant entry. For example, you can type Three Years Ago and then tap on the event that shows up. Also, you can do this for Last Month or Last Week. Head to the Albums tab and tap on Search at the bottom of the Toolbar. See the below image:
Now, you can even filter by images taken in a particular month and year by searching for it, like July 2022. Also, you could search by scrolling down to the date range in your Library tab and selecting a date, but doing the above is much quicker. See the following image:
Find Hidden or Deleted
Next, in iOS 16, the Hidden and Recently Deleted albums are protected by Face ID or Touch ID. You can still find them in the usual place on the Albums tab by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and tapping on the Hidden or Recently Deleted album label in the Utility section.
Note: Recently Deleted photos will be removed after 30 days.
Refer to the below image:
Find Duplicates and Delete Them
Now, the Photos app can also find and merge duplicate photos and videos to save space. Scroll to the bottom of your Albums tab and tap Duplicates in the Utility section to see a list of duplicate photos or videos. See the below image:
Next, you can review each entry and then tap Merge. Your iPhone will then keep the highest quality version of any duplicates. See the following image:
You can also merge all of your duplicates at once by tapping:
Select > Select All > Merge (###)
Where “###” is the number of duplicates you are going to merge shown at the bottom of your screen. Refer to the below image:
The iPhone Photos app is both useful and powerful. These tips are just some of what you can do.
Disclaimer
Technology is always changing, and rarely is their static tech for smartphones and desktops. Thus, the contents of this post are only valid at the time of writing. Blog posts older than six months may have directions incompatible with your device or OS. Hopefully, older post content will continue to work as advertised. Thank you for reading TechSavvy.Life for Technology at Work For You.
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