Blog Summary: In this guide, you will learn how to tag people manually in Google Photos using your smartphone and PC. We will also share some helpful fixes if you encounter the “Google Photos Face Recognition Not Working” problem.
With Digitalization introduced in Photography, there has been an exponential increase in the number of photos clicked across the globe. Digital images cost nothing as compared to the 36 pictures on a camera roll. It is also easy to store digital photos as they do not take any extra storage.
Keeping the benefits aside for a moment, let’s focus on one severe limitation, and that is the fact that it takes forever to look through all the images to find a photo of someone. With the old photography methods, we did not have such huge numbers of photos, and it was easy to scan through the albums manually. Google observed this limitation, and it introduced automatic tagging of digital images, where the faces were recognized by Google AI and tagged accordingly.
Also Read: How To Initiate A Chat In Google Photos Messaging Feature
Google Photos’ Latest Version Allows You To Tag Faces In The Pictures Manually
Since, not all faces are automatically and accurately tagged, Google has introduced the feature of manual tagging in Google Photos. The feature comes with the latest version and has improved the experience of millions of users worldwide.
With the latest version, Google Photos has updated its algorithm, and it can even capture the faces of animals, like your pets. The faces in the photos can be tagged manually, and even editing can be done on those that have been tagged incorrectly.
But as many users are excited by the new update, there still seems to be a catch!
Google Photos does not allow its users to select any random area of a picture and place a box to tag it. This feature is currently available on Facebook, which means if the Google AI does not identify a portion of any photo as a face, then that person cannot be tagged in that photo. Objects other than faces cannot be tagged as well.
Also Read: How To Recover Deleted Photos From Google Photos?
So, How Do You Tag People Manually In Google Photos?
If you are using Google Photos on your computer, then here are the steps to turn on the Face Grouping feature.
Step 1. Open the browser and log in to Google Photos.
Step 2. Tap on the Hamburger Menu on the Top Left.
Step 3. Choose Settings the list of options.
Step 4. Scroll down and locate Group Similar Faces.
Step 5. Now locate Face Grouping and toggle the switch beside it and turn it on.
Note: If you want to turn off the face grouping for pets, toggle the switch toward the left to turn it off next to Show pets with people.
Also Read: 4 Useful Google Photos Features You Might Have Overlooked
Tag Faces in Google Photos App
Now that the Face Grouping feature has been turned on, it is easy to add new tags or edit tags that have already been set by Google AI. Here are the steps to set the tags:
How Do You Tag People Manually In Google Photos on your Smartphone?
Step 1. Open the Google Photos App on your mobile.
Step 2. Scroll through your images and select the one to which you want to add the tag.
Step 3. Now with that image opened, swipe up, and you will get details of people in the image with tags that have already been added by Google.
Step 4. All the faces that are recognized by Google AI are displayed as thumbnails with the recognized faces tagged and others left blank. Scroll the thumbnails to the right and select the person you wanted to tag.
Step 5. Tap the thumbnail selected, and it will open in a different screen.
Step 6. Locate Add A Name and click on it to add the name of the person.
These steps will allow you to add a tag to a person in the photo manually. However, if there is a person in the group photo that is not present as a thumbnail, then you will have to manually add the person and then add a tag to his face. Here are the steps for the same:
Step 7. If you do not find the face of the person while scrolling the thumbnails to the right, then click on the Pencil icon located on the right side, just above the thumbnails.
Step 8. Scroll down to the Available to Add section below and search for the person you want to add. These thumbnails will each have a blue plus sign.
Step 9. Tap on the thumbnails you wish to add first and then tap on the plus sign on the top right corner and finally tap on Create.
Step 10. That face will appear with other thumbnails. Use Steps 1 – 6 to add a tag to this person’s face in the image.
Also Read: Four Different Ways To Delete Duplicates In Google Photos
How Do You Tag People Manually In Google Photos on your PC?
Step 1. Open Google Photos on your browser.
Step 2. Locate and click on the photo you want to add the tag to.
Step 3. Once the image opens, click on the small i within a circle, located on the top-right menu options.
Step 4. As you click on small i, you will see some options appear on the right side of the image. The list of people present in that photograph will appear in the form of thumbnails. You will also see a notification on the top stating the number of people that can be added.
Step 5. Click on the Pencil icon or the notification, and it will display all those faces recognized in the photograph but not tagged yet.
Step 6. Click on the thumbnail you wish to add and then click on the Plus icon located on the top right corner.
Step 7. Then, Click on Create and then click on Done locate on the top-right.
Step 8. The person will be added under description with other faces in the image. Click on it and add a name to place a tag.
Also Read: How To Move Photos From Google Drive To Google Photos
Additional Information: Those who have recently used the Face Grouping feature to tag faces manually in Google Photos are having a hard time getting the app to recognize their old photos. The company has not come up with an official solution for the issue, but what can you do to fix the annoying “Face recognition issues”.
How To Fix If Google Photos Face Detection Not Working?
Try the following things to fix the issue:
- Delete the existing photos and re-upload them.
- Clear caches in the Google Photos app.
- Turn the ‘Face Grouping’ feature off and on.
- Reteach Google Photos to recognize your face.
If nothing works, you need to force Google Photos to recognize faces. While I was searching for different ways, I found this interesting thread on StackExchange forum.
Bottom Line | Did you start tagging your Google Photos yet?
Although, the “Automatic tagging” process in Google Photos is amazingly accurate and can smartly recognize photos of small babies even after they have grown for a couple of years. The only feature missing is that you cannot mark any portion of the image and attach a tag to it.
Hence, the manual tagging feature seems a pretty helpful option to add new tags and edit old ones, if the automatic process does wrong tagging or fails to tag at all!
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