Apparently you can’t add keywords or discuss why it’s not there in this forum. If you can’t discuss it how will apple know it’s ridiculous that this feature isn’t available on a iPad or iPhone. Continuity is critical between Mac, iPad and iPhones and they need to know people want this feature.
You are right, not all features of the Photos Library on a Mac are supported on the mobile devices, particularly smart albums and keywords and titles. Most of the albums on my Mac are smart albums, based on keywords, and I have to double the important smart albums as standard albums to be able to see them on my iPhone and iPad and Apple Watch and Vision Pro. And I have to copy the titles to the captions to see them on my iPhone and iPad. A lot of extra work and a waste odf storage, and a source of inconsistent metadata across my devices.
Which system version is running on your iPhone and iPad?
Until iOS17 and iPadOS 17 the following has been working well for me:
For example, when I search on my iPhone for photos with my keyword "Lightvessel" on iOS 18, I am getting this search result:
All photos with the keyword Lightvessel are included in the search result for the Text "Lightvessel". Just the separate result category keyword is no longer shown.
On my iPhone and iPad I am using this workaround to add keywords to my new photos: I add the keyword I want to use at the beginning of the caption, just temporary. When I get back to my Mac I turn the keywords in the captions to real keywords. To avoid inconsistent information I am doing all metadata tagging mainly on my MacBook Air and let the metadata sync to my other devices. On my iPhone I am using the caption to add data right after taking the photo, just to keep notes, why and how I took the photo.
I agree with you, that the missing support for keywords on the mobile devices is very limiting.
You may want to send feedback directly to Apple. Here in the forums you cannot be sure, that the developer team will see your feedback. But they will see the feedback we send using the feedback form Photos for iOS - Feedback - Apple
You are right, not all features of the Photos Library on a Mac are supported on the mobile devices, particularly smart albums and keywords and titles. Most of the albums on my Mac are smart albums, based on keywords, and I have to double the important smart albums as standard albums to be able to see them on my iPhone and iPad and Apple Watch and Vision Pro. And I have to copy the titles to the captions to see them on my iPhone and iPad. A lot of extra work and a waste odf storage, and a source of inconsistent metadata across my devices.
Which system version is running on your iPhone and iPad?
Until iOS17 and iPadOS 17 the following has been working well for me:
For example, when I search on my iPhone for photos with my keyword "Lightvessel" on iOS 18, I am getting this search result:
All photos with the keyword Lightvessel are included in the search result for the Text "Lightvessel". Just the separate result category keyword is no longer shown.
On my iPhone and iPad I am using this workaround to add keywords to my new photos: I add the keyword I want to use at the beginning of the caption, just temporary. When I get back to my Mac I turn the keywords in the captions to real keywords. To avoid inconsistent information I am doing all metadata tagging mainly on my MacBook Air and let the metadata sync to my other devices. On my iPhone I am using the caption to add data right after taking the photo, just to keep notes, why and how I took the photo.
I agree with you, that the missing support for keywords on the mobile devices is very limiting.
You may want to send feedback directly to Apple. Here in the forums you cannot be sure, that the developer team will see your feedback. But they will see the feedback we send using the feedback form Photos for iOS - Feedback - Apple
Thanks for the in depth reply, much appreciated!
I think everyone needs to use the feedback form to apple. I have so many apple devices and when then make decisions that go against the community it’s very frustrating and you wonder who had that brilliant idea. 🤷♂️
Thanks for the link to apple, hopefully others will chime in. Here is the link again….i suggest we all include it when these type of comments come up in other forums.
Photos for iOS - Feedback - Apple
Adding Keywords not available in iOS?
