Good news for all dog or cat owners. Since iOS 17, iPadOS 17 and macOS Sonoma, certain pets are automatically recognized in the Photos application for iPhone, iPad and Mac. The photos of your beloved animals are then placed in their own album.
In previous versions, the entire photo library was searched for people using artificial intelligence and recently also for dogs and cats. Just like with people, each pet gets its own album based on ‘snout recognition’.
Recognize pets in photos
People have been automatically recognized in Apple’s Photos app for several years. You can find this person in the ‘People’ album and view all photos and videos of this person. Since the new software updates, dogs and cats are also automatically recognized. A nice addition, because a pet is often also part of the family. That’s why the smart album is now called ‘Persons and pets’, provided you have added a pet to this album.
Add dog or cat to photos
Before the pets are visible in the album, you have to assign them manually. This is not possible immediately, once the new software is installed the Photos app will need a while to search your library in the background. This takes place when you are charging the device and not using it. You can then follow the steps below to add your pets.
- Open a photo of the pet
- Swipe the photo up on your iPhone or iPad
- Tap the question mark at the bottom of the photo
- Choose ‘Give this pet a name’
- Follow the steps on the screen, attach additional photos if necessary
On a Mac, you can open your pet’s photo and click the i button (or right-click â–¸ Show Info). Then choose ‘Add faces’ and then you can link a name to the marker on the photo, also for your pet.