Sync people and faces between devices is still a problem

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Level 1

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Sync people and faces between devices is still a problem

Background:

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I use iCloud photos and have 25000 photos och 3000 videos. I have an iMac Big Sur 11.3.1, Macbook Big Sur 11.3.1, iPad 14.5.1, iPhone 14.5.1.

The iMac is my master where I sync new photos from my camera. It's also where I add faces to people when Photos doesn't find them automatically. Everything its stored in a single photos library file. No outside folders. The iMac has been my master since the days own iPhoto and it has been converted first to Photos then to iCloud Photos.

All photos and videos are kept in sync between devices, when I comes to numbers.

Problem:

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My master i Mac have 200 named people and all outer devices have I few less, so that's almost correct, but the number of recognized faces is different on every device. It's 9000 faces on my iMac, 5000 on my Macbook, 7000 on iPhone, 6000 on my iPad.

I have read that this was a known issue up to OS 10 but that it should work after that, but It does't. It's still like every device makes it's own face recognition and comes to different results. One thing that support that theory is that when I sync a new device (like may new MacBook Air M1) all pictures syncs in in a few hours, but the faces takes some extra days before it says it ready.

I have talked to Apple support and they say it should work. Any ideas?

Posted on May 9, 2021 1:12 AM

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Answer 1

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Top-ranking reply

léonie

Level 10

198,789 points

May 9, 2021 2:57 AM in response to cahw

Have you opened all People albums on your Mac in turn and used the command "Confirm additional faces"?

The number of recognised faces can differ on each device, because each device id doing its own scan for faces. Depending on the system version this can give different results. Some faces may be missed, some found in a slightly different location. The syncing of the synced faces is syncing the named faces. If the face is found in slightly different position, you may need to confirm the name for a shifted face with the "confirm additional faces" dialog for each person.

It is normal, that the number of named people or the number of faces in the albums are not identical, if the algorithms to detect faces and to compare them are different on all devices. I am only naming faces on my newest Mac with the newest system version. The syncing to the other devices is never perfect, but it suffices to find photos of people on the other devices. I am restricting the naming to one device, to avoid to create inconsistencies when naming.

After a system upgrade the number of named faces may change, until the new faces scan has finished. Are there still people albums with the notification "Updating ..." at the bottom?

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Answer 2

cahw Author

Level 1

15 points

May 9, 2021 10:48 PM in response to léonie

Big thanks for your answer!

If each device makes it own recognition it definitely explains my problem. I wonder why that is? Maybe some kind of privacy restriction not to sync face data together with all other photo information?

No, the updating of faces is ready. The big difference between my master iMac and my other devices could be all manually added faces on the Mac. I guess I will have to redo the work on my new Macbook that should replace my old one as master.

Still, Apple support says this should work (I have been sending in logs to their technicians) but as far as I can tell, your explanations seams right.

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