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Table of Contents

Identify people and pets in Photos on iPad

The Photos app recognizes people, dogs, and cats in your photos and sorts them in the People & Pets album (or the People album if no dogs or cats are identified). When you add names to the people and pets identified in the album, you can search Photos to find them by name. You can name a person, dog, or cat directly from a photo or video in your photo library, or in the People & Pets album.

The People & Pets screen in the Photos app showing a video and photos of a pet.

Name a person or pet in a photo or video

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

Open the Photos app on your iPad.
Open a photo or video, then tap or swipe up to see the details.
People or pets recognized in the photo or video appear in the bottom-left corner. A question mark appears next to those you haven’t named.
Tap the person or pet with a question mark next to their picture, then tap Name This Person or Name This Pet.
Enter their name, tap Next, then tap Done.
Tap or swipe up to close the photo or video details.

Name a person or pet in the People & Pets album

Open the Photos app on your iPad.
Tap People & Pets in the sidebar, then tap the person or pet you want to name.
Tap Add Name at the top of the screen, then enter the name or tap a name from the list of suggested contacts.
Tap Next.
If a person or pet is identified more than once, tap Select, tap each instance they appear, then tap Merge.
Tap Done.

Photos displays the faces of people and pets that appear frequently in your photos in the People & Pets album. If you’ want to name a person or pet that hasn’t been identified, tap Add People at the bottom of the People & Pets album.

Find photos of a specific person or pet

To find photos of a specific person or pet that you’ve named, open the Photos app on your iPad, then do either of the following:

Tap People & Pets, then tap a person or pet to see all of the photos and videos they’re in.
Tap Search, then enter a name in the search field, or tap a name below People.

Set a key photo

Open the Photos app on your iPad.
Tap People & Pets in the sidebar, then tap a person or a pet.
Tap Select, then tap Show Faces.
Choose the photo you want to set as the key photo.
Tap , then tap Make Key Photo.

Mark a person or pet as a favorite

Mark the people or pets that you interact with the most as a favorite so that it’s easier to find them.

Open the Photos app on your iPad.
Tap People & Pets in the sidebar.
Tap next to the person or pet’s photo.
To set multiple favorites at the same time, tap Select, tap each person or pet that you want to favorite, then tap Favorite at the bottom of the screen.

To unfavorite a person or pet, tap next to the person or pet’s photo.

Fix misidentifications

Open the Photos app on your iPad.
Tap People & Pets in the sidebar, then tap the person or pet that’s misidentified.
Tap Select, then tap Show Faces.
Tap the images that are misidentified, tap , then tap This is Not [name].

You can also fix misidentifications while viewing a photo in your library. Tap or swipe up to see the photo information. Tap the misidentified person or pet in the bottom-left corner of the photo, then tap This is Not [name].

Sort the People & Pets album alphabetically or manually

Open the Photos app on your iPad.
Tap People & Pets in the sidebar.
Tap then choose one of the following:
- Sort alphabetically: Tap Name.
- Sort manually: Tap Custom, then touch and hold a key photo and drag it to a new position.

Feature a person or pet you’ve identified less frequently

You can make photos of people or pets you’ve named less likely to appear in your memories and featured photos, and in the Photos widget.

Open the Photos app on your iPad.
Tap People & Pets in the sidebar, then tap the person or pet you want to see less often.
Tap , then tap Feature [name] Less.
Choose to feature the person or pet less or never, then tap Confirm.

See Manage memories and featured photos in Photos on iPad to further customize the photos that appear in your memories and featured photos, and in the Photos widget.

Remove a person or pet

Open the Photos app on your iPad.
Tap People & Pets in the sidebar, then tap Select.
Tap the person or pet that you want to remove, then tap Remove.

When you use iCloud Photos, People & Pets is kept up to date on all your devices that meet these minimum system requirements: iOS 11, iPadOS 13, or macOS 10.13. (You must be signed in with the same Apple ID on all the devices.)

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iPad User Guide