Using Face recognition in Photos for Mac (Sierra)

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Level 2

182 points

Using Face recognition in Photos for Mac (Sierra)

Looks like iOS doesn't sync face recognition with Photos for Mac, nor between iOS devices, which is disappointing.

However the face recognition function appears to be a vast improvement in identifying faces (might be wrong, but it does not appear to use the faces generated by manual recognition).

I'm trying to work out how this happens when I leave the Mac overnight. It states that faces are scanned when the Photos app is not in use and the Mac is plugged in.

Does this mean that the Photos app needs to be closed and the Mac plugged in and open? Or can the app be open (but not in use) and the Mac shut?

Thank you

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5), + iPhone 6 Plus & iPad Air 2

Posted on Sep 22, 2016 6:49 AM

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Answer 1

LarryHN

Level 10

106,116 points

Jun 14, 2017 8:55 AM in response to atthecshore

BTW - you provide no information other than a problem but having an optimized library does not stop face recognition - it does significantly slow it down

It would be good for you to read this article and start a new thread for your specific issue rather than ThreadJack an existing thread on different software with different details

Writing an effective Apple Support Communities question

LN

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Answer 2

LarryHN

Level 10

106,116 points

Jun 14, 2017 8:20 AM in response to atthecshore

It is not a flag - it is a Photos Preference - Photos preferences ==> iCloud - uncheck optimize photos under iCloud Photo Library - if you uncheck optimized photos you must have adequate disk space on your Mac to hold all full sized originals

LN

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

195,323 points

Jun 14, 2017 8:22 AM in response to atthecshore

atthecshore wrote:

How did you turn off that flag? I want to do the something because my MacBook is not recognizing faces in photos - the same problem you had.

Turn off "Photos > Preferences > iCloud: Optimize Mac Storage", but only, if your full iCloud photos library will fit onto your system drive.

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Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

195,323 points

Jun 14, 2017 8:24 AM in response to Jerry Dammers

Looks like iOS doesn't sync face recognition with Photos for Mac, nor between iOS devices, which is disappointing.

It will, in macOS 10.13 High Sierra, finally:
macOS High Sierra Preview - Apple

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Answer 5

LarryHN

Level 10

106,116 points

Sep 22, 2016 7:08 AM in response to Jerry Dammers

The Photos App not running is my understanding

LN

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Answer 6

TJF1973

Level 1

14 points

Sep 22, 2016 8:54 AM in response to Jerry Dammers

I'm doing this at the moment and I can confirm that having the app open but minimised in the dock will work. People are quietly being scanned in the background while I work on other things.

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Answer 7

Jerry Dammers Author

Level 2

182 points

Sep 22, 2016 9:14 AM in response to TJF1973

Contrary to my earlier suggestion, it appears that maybe the Photos app does use faces logged from previous manual face recognition - my Mac that had no faces previously recognised has very few identified, whereas a different library on a different Mac that did have faces previously identified has significantly more faces.

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Answer 8

léonie

Level 10

195,323 points

Sep 22, 2016 1:12 PM in response to Jerry Dammers

Does this mean that the Photos app needs to be closed and the Mac plugged in and open? Or can the app be open (but not in use) and the Mac shut?

That is a bit ambiguous,

I tested it both ways, and as long as I have not been using Photos I found a few more people in the "Add People" section of the Peoples album, whether Photos had been quit or not. It seems to suffice that we are not actively using Photos.

It seems to suffice that photosanalysisd (photo analysis Damon) is running. You can check this in the Activity Monitor.app. search for "photosanalysisd".

.

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Answer 9

Jerry Dammers Author

Level 2

182 points

Sep 23, 2016 2:55 AM in response to Jerry Dammers

Jerry Dammers wrote:

However the face recognition function appears to be a vast improvement in identifying faces (might be wrong, but it does not appear to use the faces generated by manual recognition).

Looks like I might possibly be wrong on both counts here.

In addition to my main library of 30,000 photos to which I've added faces, locations, keywords etc over many years, I have two additional Photo libraries on a different Mac with approx 2,500 photos each (with no metadata added by me).

The two other libraries have now completed their scan and the results are poor - e.g. one family member who is on about 25% of the photos has only been identified in 3 photos.

The 30,000 library where I had previously manually added faces has scanned better (presumably due to the existing faces that had been recognised) but I still can't scan for any of the generic terms that I understand should now be available (e.g. dog).

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Answer 10

léonie

Level 10

195,323 points

Sep 23, 2016 4:05 AM in response to Jerry Dammers

Is the photoanalysisd process still running on your libraries?

It took several days before the categories showed more than just a few photos in my libraries, and the results differ a bit and the categories include a few false positives.

Searching for "Dog", for example, will include a few cats.

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Answer 11

Jerry Dammers Author

Level 2

182 points

Sep 23, 2016 4:15 AM in response to léonie

Yes I'm pretty sure they've completed their search - but only because the screen that advised how many scanned/left to scan has disappeared

Curiously the results for generic terms (labelled as "categories" in the search box?) on the libraries without any previous metadata added/amended are marginally better than my library where I manually added faces added (I even had my own Faces categories for horses and animals)

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Answer 12

léonie

Level 10

195,323 points

Sep 23, 2016 4:51 AM in response to Jerry Dammers

It is not clear, what the artificial intelligence algorithm to classify the categories is using. I suspect it is using the titles, locations, keywords as well, not only the image itself.

So, if you annotated a photo with a category, it might be classified based on the metadata.

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Answer 13

Sep 27, 2016 6:56 AM in response to léonie

I find if you don't see this process showing up on your activity monitor then connecting / reconnecting the power source to your device may help trigger the 'Analysis' to start back up.

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Answer 14

Jerry Dammers Author

Level 2

182 points

Sep 29, 2016 12:21 AM in response to Mevallemadre

I have identified faces in approx 10,000 photos of my 30,000 library.

IIRC, in iPhoto & Aperture, you could confirm or reject about 100 small thumbnails per screen of photos/faces of an individual.

In Photos, the only process I've found so far is where I get a single face to accept/reject via Yes/No, and then move to the next single photo/face - which will be virtually useless for confirming photos in my remaining 20,000 photos.

Is there a process in Photos for "batch changing" large numbers of faces in one go?

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Answer 15

léonie

Level 10

195,323 points

Sep 29, 2016 1:07 AM in response to Jerry Dammers

DDon't' use "confirm additional faces" right away. I first go to "add" at the bottom of the People album, then select all strangers and add and merge them To get them out of the way. That makes it easier to select several faces of the persons I want to name at once.

WIth th the strangers weeded out it becomes easier to confirm additional faces.

oonly, I did not want photos to use a mixture of stranger faces to classify other faces, so I deleted all faces circles from these photos, leaving blank thumbnails.

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