iOS/macOS
Identify people and pets
How to use Photo’s new abilities to recognise individual pets as well as people
IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes
YOU WILL LEARN To teach Photos the names of your cats and dogs so you can find them with ease
YOU’LL NEED iOS 17 or later/ macOS 14 or later
Dogs and cats are such popular pets that our Photos library may be packed full of pictures of our canine and feline friends. In older versions of Photos, you could try to find photos of your pets by typing ‘dog’ or ‘cat’ into the Search field. You’d then have to scroll through hundreds of thumbnails of different animals to find the best shots of a specific pet. The Photos app has been able to identify people ever since its inception, but changes in macOS Sonoma, iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 mean that Photos can now identify individual pets too – as long as they are a cat or a dog! You’re out of luck if you want to quickly find shots of specific hamsters!