suel309

Q: how to turn off faces

How do I turn off Faces in iPhoto? I have no use for this function and it slows my computer down trying to access all the photos every time I open iPhoto.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Jan 30, 2014 12:13 PM

Close

Q: how to turn off faces

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Page 1 Next
  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Jan 30, 2014 12:16 PM in response to suel309
    Level 10 (140,908 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jan 30, 2014 12:16 PM in response to suel309

    You can't turn off Faces in iPhoto.  Just let it complete it's first scan and then ignore.

     

    OT

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Jan 30, 2014 12:30 PM in response to suel309
    Level 10 (139,475 points)
    iLife
    Jan 30, 2014 12:30 PM in response to suel309

    A poster called lopezio claims the following will do the job:

     

    This is how you can disable (turn off) Face detection, without deleting faces found so far (just in case you want to restart processing at another time):

     

    1. Quit iPhoto

    2. Open Terminal Application (Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app)

    3. Type the following (exactly as is):

     

    defaults write com.apple.iPhoto PKFaceDetectionEnabled 0

     

    (then return)

     

    4. - Start iPhoto - Faces stops getting on your nerves...

     

    If you ever need to re-enable faces, just do the same again and replace the 0 with 1.

     

    I've not tested this so I'd offer a significant warning to back up first and even if it does work then to be wary if you're updating or upgrading as it may have an impact there too.

     

    What definitely works, and safely, is to upgrade to Aperture as that has an option to disable faces. Pay more get more options.

  • by Sryalie,

    Sryalie Sryalie May 3, 2014 7:07 AM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 3, 2014 7:07 AM in response to Terence Devlin

    Tried the terminal command and it works like a charm. No photos lost, No crashes.

    Go ahead give it a try.

  • by megone1,

    megone1 megone1 May 27, 2014 6:51 AM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 27, 2014 6:51 AM in response to Terence Devlin

    This worked for me. Thank you!

  • by Carlo Blackmore,

    Carlo Blackmore Carlo Blackmore Jul 3, 2014 7:59 AM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    Jul 3, 2014 7:59 AM in response to Terence Devlin

    Is it just me, when I attempted that Terminal command and instructions, now my Faces feature in iPhoto is showing its refresh icon constantly spinning instead of the intermittent spinning it was doing before? And it's bogging down my computer even more!

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Jul 3, 2014 8:11 AM in response to Carlo Blackmore
    Level 10 (84,185 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 3, 2014 8:11 AM in response to Carlo Blackmore

    unfortunately when you do unsupported things the results are not predictable

     

    undo what you did and see if that resolves it  --  turning faces off is not a feature of iPhoto and any hack to do it involves risk of problems

     

     

    You can't turn off Faces in iPhoto.  Just let it complete it's first scan and then ignore.

     

     

    I've not tested this so I'd offer a significant warning to back up first and even if it does work then to be wary if you're updating or upgrading as it may have an impact there too.

     

    What definitely works, and safely, is to upgrade to Aperture as that has an option to disable faces. Pay more get more options.

    LN

  • by Carlo Blackmore,

    Carlo Blackmore Carlo Blackmore Jul 3, 2014 8:21 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    Jul 3, 2014 8:21 AM in response to LarryHN

    Thank you LarryHN.

    I frequently upload hundreds of photos that might have dozens of new people in them and Faces insists on doing a scan every single time I try to use iPhoto and I'm never in iPhoto long enough for it to complete a scan. It's unfortunate Apple created such a slow feature that isn't optional. And I dread to think how long it would take me to upgrade my library to Aperture.

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Jul 3, 2014 8:43 AM in response to Carlo Blackmore
    Level 10 (140,908 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 3, 2014 8:43 AM in response to Carlo Blackmore

    Download and run Pref Setter to view the com.apple.iPhoto.plist file. Launch Pref Setter and search for iPhoto:

    Screen Shot 2014-07-03 at 8.38.40 AM.jpg

     

    Double click on com.apple.iPhoto and search for PKFaceDetection.

    Pref Setter001.jpg

    There you will see what it is set to.  If it's True change it to False, save and try again.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jul 3, 2014 8:45 AM in response to Carlo Blackmore
    Level 10 (105,680 points)
    iLife
    Jul 3, 2014 8:45 AM in response to Carlo Blackmore
    And I dread to think how long it would take me to upgrade my library to Aperture.

    There is no upgrading involved. iPhoto and Aperture are sharing the same library format. Aperture can open your iPhoto library just as it is, if your versions of Aperture and iPhoto are compatible, iPhoto 9.5.1 and Aperture 3.5.1. Only Aperture is a professional applications with more features than iPhoto, and you would have to learn to use it. And it is not cheap. And Apple announced that the upgrade to the new system Yosemity will bring the last update to Aperture and iPhoto. After that, a new Photos.app will be the new application to manage photos on a Mac. So you may want to wait and see, if the new Photos application will solve your problem.

  • by Carlo Blackmore,

    Carlo Blackmore Carlo Blackmore Jul 3, 2014 9:51 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    Jul 3, 2014 9:51 AM in response to léonie

    And this is why all of you are Level 9 and 10 and I'm just a 1. Thanks for all the awesome input. Good to know Aperture leverages iPhoto's existing library! Better to know that they both are at the end of their road in the upcoming OSX Yosemite release before I invest effort in Aperture.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jul 3, 2014 10:05 AM in response to Carlo Blackmore
    Level 10 (105,680 points)
    iLife
    Jul 3, 2014 10:05 AM in response to Carlo Blackmore
  • by Ziatron,

    Ziatron Ziatron Mar 13, 2015 10:35 PM in response to suel309
    Level 4 (3,924 points)
    Apple Watch
    Mar 13, 2015 10:35 PM in response to suel309

    My solution was to switch to Aperture.

     

    With Aperture, one check-box disables faces.  Moreover, Keywords can be displayed under each thumbnail !

     

    Love it.

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Mar 13, 2015 11:30 PM in response to Ziatron
    Level 10 (139,475 points)
    iLife
    Mar 13, 2015 11:30 PM in response to Ziatron

    Perhaps you need to explain that this 'solution' costs $80 and Aperture, like iPhoto, is EOL'd.

  • by TheGriz,

    TheGriz TheGriz Oct 1, 2015 12:36 PM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 1, 2015 12:36 PM in response to Terence Devlin

    I tries the terminal command with out success.  I made one change and it now works for me.

     

    defaults write com.apple.iPhoto PKFaceDetectionEnabled false

     

    I do not want it because of all the processing and disk space it takes up.  You can find the files it uses for faces if you view the Photos package contents resources\model resources.  Just delete everything in that folder and recover the disk space.

     



Page 1 Next