People album on iPhone: how to find, name and merge the faces in your photos

Contents7 sections

1. Where is the People album on iPhone?
2. How does face recognition work in iPhone Photos?
3. How do I name people on iPhone?
4. How do I merge two people who are the same person?
5. How does Google Photos do it on Android?
6. Can I file photos by person into albums?
7. Questions people ask

Open Photos, tap Collections, then People & Pets (on iOS 16 and 17 it's under Albums). Photos recognises faces on the iPhone itself and groups them. Tap a face, tap Name This Person, and merge any doubles with Edit, then Merge. Name the people you photograph most and search by name works across your whole library.

Where is the People album on iPhone?

It has moved more than once in recent versions of iOS. On iOS 26 and 27, open Photos, tap Collections, then People & Pets. On iOS 18, scroll down below the photo library and tap People & Pets. On iOS 17, it’s Albums > People & Pets, and on iOS 16 it’s Albums > People.

The name changes too. Since iOS 17, Photos recognises dogs and cats as well as people, so the album is called People & Pets. If no pets are found, it’s just People.

You don’t build it. Photos fills it by itself.

How does face recognition work in iPhone Photos?

Photos scans your library and groups photos of the same face together. Apple’s privacy notice for Photos says this is on-device analysis: faces are recognised on the iPhone, not on Apple’s servers. With iCloud Photos turned on, the People & Pets album, and the names in it, stay up to date across your Apple devices.

The album starts with the faces that appear often. If someone you want isn’t there, tap Add People at the bottom of People & Pets to see more faces.

How do I name people on iPhone?

Naming is what turns a wall of faces into something you can search. Once a person has a name, Photos names them in their other photos too, and you can type that name in Search.

1. In Photos, go to Collections > People & Pets and tap a face.
2. Tap Name This Person.
3. Type the name, or pick it from the contact suggestions, and tap the tick.

You can also name someone from a single photo: open it, swipe up, tap the face with a question mark in the bottom left, then Edit Name and Photos.

Start with the people you photograph most. Then favourite them: touch and hold their key photo and tap Favorite, so they sit at the top. To sort the rest, tap Sort, then Sort by Name or Sort by Custom Order.

How do I merge two people who are the same person?

It happens all the time. A new haircut, glasses, a childhood photo, and Photos splits one person into two groups.

1. Open People & Pets and tap Edit.
2. Select both groups.
3. Tap the More button, then Merge, and confirm with Merge Photos.

If one photo is simply in the wrong person, open that person, select the photo, tap More and choose This is Not [name].

To see someone less, touch and hold their key photo and tap Hide [name] or Don’t Feature [name]. Apple’s options include Feature This Person Less and Never Feature This Person, which change who turns up in Memories, Featured Photos and the Photos widget.

How does Google Photos do it on Android?

Google Photos calls them face groups, and they’re optional. Google says the feature “isn’t available in all geographic regions, all domains or all account types”. To switch it on, tap your profile photo, then Google Photos settings > Privacy > Face Groups. Your groups then appear under Collections > People and pets.

To name a group, open it and tap Add a name. Google says those labels are private to you, even when you share the photos. To merge, give two groups the same name and Photos offers to combine them, or answer its Same / Different / Not sure suggestions. One warning from Google’s own page: once merged, a face group can’t be un-merged.

	iPhone Photos	Google Photos (Android)
Where to find it	Collections > People & Pets	Collections > People and pets
Switched on	Built into Photos	Face Groups setting, not in every region
Where faces are analysed	On the iPhone	Face models stored by Google
Name someone	Name This Person	Add a name
Merge two groups	Edit > select > Merge	Same name, or tap Same
Undo a merge	Remove wrong photos with This is Not [name]	Merges can’t be undone
See someone less	Feature This Person Less	Hide faces: Show less or Blocked

Google stores face models until you delete them or your account is inactive for more than two years, and it notes they “may be considered biometric data in some jurisdictions”.

Can I file photos by person into albums?

Not with the built-in tools. People & Pets and Google’s face groups are views of your library: they show you a person’s photos, but they don’t file them into an album of their own. Albums and folders are a separate job, covered in how to organise photos on iPhone.

That’s the gap Siftlo fills. It groups faces on the phone, on iPhone and Android alike, and seeing, naming and merging people is free for ever. When two groups look alike, the person’s page says This might be the same person as Sara, with Merge them and Different people buttons, and merging is easy to undo. Photos that aren’t that person can be flagged and taken out.

Filing a whole library by person is part of Plus, with one free run so you can see it work. Each person gets an album of their own and nothing is deleted. On iPhone, the photos stay in your library as well. Grouping trips and events is free on every plan. The full list is on the features page.

Nothing about the faces leaves the device: no upload, no account needed to see who is in your photos. Our privacy page sets out what runs where. And when a photo needs sharing with someone’s face hidden, here’s how to blur faces in a photo.

If the reason you’re sorting is a phone that’s nearly full, start with how to free up space on iPhone without deleting the photos you love, then name the people.

Questions people ask

Does Apple upload my faces to identify people?

No. Apple says Photos uses on-device analysis to recognise faces and group them in the People & Pets album. If you use iCloud Photos, the names you add sync to your other Apple devices, but the recognition itself happens on the phone.

Can I undo a merge?

In Google Photos, no. Google's help page says a merge of face groups can't be undone. On iPhone, you can take a wrong photo out of a person with This is Not [name]. In Siftlo, a merge is easy to undo.

What happens if I turn off Face Groups in Google Photos?

Google deletes your face groups, the face models used to build them and any labels you created. Turning it back on starts the grouping again from scratch, so name people again afterwards.