Photo app not recognizing all people’s faces even when there’s clear are clear faces on the pictures

Apparently, faces that seem obvious and clear to us aren't always so clear to computers. Personally, I think it's a wonder that it works at all.

I see that you're discussing an iPhone, here, rather than a Mac. While it's true that on Macs we can manually add names to faces that Photos doesn't recognize, this isn't possible on an iPhone or an iPad.

When a picture is first added to Photos, the phone does a scan and identifies things in it that it thinks are faces. Sometimes it gets silly stuff, like my front lawn:

We can then identify the person, and the more we name, the more information Photos has to identify more. But, until a major OS update, the phone never again scans a picture for faces. If it didn't recognize that a pattern of pixels as a face, then it's done.

The thing is, Face IDs don't transfer with pictures, anyway, when you save them as files or when send them to friends. There's no standard for keeping Face IDs in the picture's metadata. But the Captions are included in the metadata of pictures, so that information can transfer.

Most of us enjoy scanned face IDs, but we don't rely only on them. We also include the name of the person in the picture's Caption, as well. (On the Mac, I also use keywords and titles for naming people.) We use the People & Pets albums to help us find people so we can add those names to the captions. But we also add the names to the captions for the folks whose faces didn't get recognized.

Searches can find names in captions, so you can make your own "Uncle Steve" album with all his pictures-- the ones from the People & Pets albums plus the ones it missed. And with a search, you can find all the "Uncle Steve" pictures any time.

So we use face recognition when we can, but we don't rely on that for our Library. Captions are the best bet.

Hi tariqueisso,

Welcome to this Apple (user-to-user) Community!

Re: "Photos app not recognizing all people’s faces on photos, even when there are clear faces on them, even when I long press on the subjects it identifies correctly. I have many photos with other people where the photos app only recognizes my face, it doesn’t even acknowledge there’s another face there, so I can’t click on the circle with the face and point the right person."

Keeping a Mac updated to the newest compatible MacOS version often helps avoid issues that can arise.

Wondering which version of MacOS 26 is installed on your Mac ?

What's new in the updates for macOS Tahoe - Apple Support says macOS Tahoe 26.2 is the newest version.

(NB: It is wise to back-up Mac first if you choose to update MacOS:)

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Re: "I’ve tried to restore faces and memory library, reset the phone, let it charging for a long time with the screen locked and got nothing…

Those were great ways to try troubleshooting the problem , thank you for sharing them.

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Re: What’s happening?"

Sometimes the method of doing things changes when apps or features are upgraded, or enhanced etc.

Using the "View" menu in Photos: Names can also be "shown" or "hidden" as you choose.

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Wondering if Apple Support's online article (link below) can help:

See how to: Find and name photos of people and pets on Mac - Apple Support

Eg: says:

"The Photos app sorts photos and videos of people, dogs and cats in the People & Pets collection (or the People collection if no pets appear). You can name a person, dog or cat directly from a photo or video in your photo library, or in People & Pets."

When you name a person or pet in a photo or video, they’re automatically added to People & Pets and their name attaches to other photos and videos in your library.

1. Go to the Photos app on your Mac.
2. Double-click a photo or video to open it, then do one of the following:

• Choose View > Show Face Names. Click the name (or click “unnamed”) under a person or pet, type a name, then press Return (or choose a name that appears as you type).
• Click in the toolbar. Click , drag the circle to position it over the person or pet if necessary, click the Name field and type a name, then press Return.
• You can click multiple times to name multiple people or pets in a photo or video. To remove a name that you added to a person or pet, Control-click the circle over the person or pet, then choose This is Not [name].

To stop showing names in photos and videos, choose View > Hide Face Names."

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There are lots more tips in that linked article above:

Eg: You can see how to : "Name a person or pet in the People & Pets collection" in the article.

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And above linked article also says:

"Change names or labels

1. Go to the Photos app on your Mac.
2. Click Collections in the sidebar, then click People & Pets (or People).
3. Control-click the photo or video with a person or pet whose name you want to change, then choose Rename.
4. Enter a name (or choose a name that appears as you type), click Next, then click Done".

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Useful Resource: Photos User Guide for macOS Tahoe : Photos User Guide for Mac - Apple Support

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More info. / support / contact options etc. : Photos - Official Apple Support

All the best :-)