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Apple Photos and People Album (Face scans)

S

savingsomemoney

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 10, 2021
32
3
Hi folks!


I'm here to ask for some help with Apple Photos on the Mac. I have slowly and steadily bought 23,000 photos onto the photo library of my Mac. Every day, around 1000 photos were imported. The photo library resides on an external Samsung T7.


Issue:

Apple Photos doesn't scan the library for Faces/People Album



What I've tried:

So I've tried a combination of things (12 hours a day each with no computer use), each option below:


(1) Import photos, keep photos app open, turn on Amphetamine (to keep the computer on) and not work on the computer.

(2) Import photos, close the photos app, keep Amphetamine ON.

(3) Option 1 above, but with Amphetamine off.

(4) Option 2 above, but with Amphetamine off.

(5) Tried to repair the photo library.



I've done this over two months, and there has been absolutely no progress. Apple Support is clueless.



Question:

How can I force Apple Photos to start scanning faces?


It's shameful that a $2500 machine has a piece of software so broken as Photos with no transparency of what's happening.
 
I've got around 115K photos in my library. At one point I had the libraries on a Samsung T5 SSD, but was finally able to fit them on the internal SSD. It can take a day or so before faces start to appear and some people seem to take a very long time, but eventually they all appeared.

Not sure what is up with yours. You may need to rebuild your photos database. I think there are a couple of levels of that with some levels restoring everything and some losing some things like albums or edits.

I have used the PowerPhotos app to help manage libraries. It was very helpful when I kept photos in different libraries. One thing it can do is move photos from one library to another. You might want to try moving yours to a new library and see if that cleans up whatever is messing with your current library. The process does not transfer face data but it sounds like you may not have any yet anyway. You will need to predesignate the new library as your iCloud photos library, otherwise new photos will continue to import to the old library.

I wish I could just tell you to do X but Photos is a black box and you never really can see what is happening in the background.
 
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savingsomemoney said:
Hi folks!


I'm here to ask for some help with Apple Photos on the Mac. I have slowly and steadily bought 23,000 photos onto the photo library of my Mac. Every day, around 1000 photos were imported. The photo library resides on an external Samsung T7.


Issue:

Apple Photos doesn't scan the library for Faces/People Album



What I've tried:

So I've tried a combination of things (12 hours a day each with no computer use), each option below:


(1) Import photos, keep photos app open, turn on Amphetamine (to keep the computer on) and not work on the computer.

(2) Import photos, close the photos app, keep Amphetamine ON.

(3) Option 1 above, but with Amphetamine off.

(4) Option 2 above, but with Amphetamine off.

(5) Tried to repair the photo library.



I've done this over two months, and there has been absolutely no progress. Apple Support is clueless.



Question:

How can I force Apple Photos to start scanning faces?


It's shameful that a $2500 machine has a piece of software so broken as Photos with no transparency of what's happening.
Click to expand...
I have the same issue. I have had no luck. Tried repairing the library. Reformatted and reloaded OS still no joy. Any luck?
 
savingsomemoney said:
Issue:

Apple Photos doesn't scan the library for Faces/People Album
Click to expand...
What is Photos suppose to do? I am trying to find out where my Screen Saver is getting Source: people. What comes up on my screen saver from this source doesn't look anything like what I see when I go to People under Photos.
 
2REPOU said:
I have the same issue. I have had no luck. Tried repairing the library. Reformatted and reloaded OS still no joy. Any luck?
Click to expand...
I gave up after two months of scratching my head. I got a new M1 Air, trying to import one year's worth of data at a time, but I have put this behind me. I now use Plex.
 
I am having the same problem with my main machine… a 2018 iMac. I have over 74K photos and the iMac says that none of them have been scanned. In the past, there were always scanning. I do keep copies of the originals on the iMac.

I also have an new M1 14” MBP, a 13” iPad Pro, an 11” iPad Pro, and an iPhone 13 Pro. All of them are scanning OK. Just the iMac is not scanning.

The iMac is syncing ok. If add photos with any device, they show up on my iMac. Also, if I import items into my iMac, they sync across all the devices. Also, if I put photos into an album on my iMac, they other devices follow suit.

I am considering shutting-off iCloud photos on the iMac, then renaming the library and copying it off the machine… then start Photos with a new blank library, turn iCloud photos back on and let it sync to iCloud. Hopefully that would fix the scanning issue.

Is there any downside to doing this? I don’t think there is risk of losing photos in iCloud.

Please advise.

/Jim
 
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Jim, did you ever go that scorched Earth method? I am in the same boat as everyone, but my library is small (10K) compared to you guys. I know it can work in Monterey as it even works properly on my Hackintosh, but on my MBA I have been stuck for at least since Monterey dev builds and likely even longer than that.

Such a small thing, but what a pain. Why isn't there just a flipping menu option to force the people scan?
 
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Mine started scanning and has since scanned all faces. All I did was re-install a duplicate finder program that I had removed thinking was an issue. Now, my only issue is that it still shows curating on my Iphone 12 and my MBA. Has been curating for weeks. looks like about 90% done but not budging from there
 
LlamaLarry said:
Jim, did you ever go that scorched Earth method? I am in the same boat as everyone, but my library is small (10K) compared to you guys. I know it can work in Monterey as it even works properly on my Hackintosh, but on my MBA I have been stuck for at least since Monterey dev builds and likely even longer than that.

Such a small thing, but what a pain. Why isn't there just a flipping menu option to force the people scan?
Click to expand...

No, I have not tried removing my library from my iMac and letting it download fresh from iCloud. I still may try that. Things are working well on my MBP, iPad Pro 11", iPod Pro 13", and iPhone 13 Pro. Only the iMac is not scanning.

/Jim
 
flynz4 said:
No, I have not tried removing my library from my iMac and letting it download fresh from iCloud. I still may try that. Things are working well on my MBP, iPad Pro 11", iPod Pro 13", and iPhone 13 Pro. Only the iMac is not scanning.

/Jim
Click to expand...
You may need to force it to rebuild the library. Photos is a black box and when it works, it’s great but when it doesn’t you have zero idea what is going on.
 
Tagbert said:
You may need to force it to rebuild the library. Photos is a black box and when it works, it’s great but when it doesn’t you have zero idea what is going on.
Click to expand...
If I do the following steps wouldn’t it just reload from iCloud?
  1. Go into Apple Photos preferences and disconnect from iCloud.
  2. Close Photos
  3. Remove or rename my Photos Library (I have local copies)
  4. Start Photos, and let it create a new empty library
  5. Connect to iCloud
  6. Set it to keep local copies of originals
  7. Wait a while
I would think this is the same as getting a new Mac and attaching it to your iCloud photos library. Am I missing something?

/Jim
 
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I hope WWDC covers some aspect of this, else its quite clear Apple wants us to pay them for iCloud storage every month
 
savingsomemoney said:
I hope WWDC covers some aspect of this, else its quite clear Apple wants us to pay them for iCloud storage every month
Click to expand...

I very much want all of my photos synced across all of my devices... so I am into iCloud storage for the long run.

I was personally very disappointed when Apple discontinued Aperture, as it was a big step backwards. Apple Photos still does not do everything Aperture did, but IMHO, it is getting close... and in the area of having everything on all devices, Apple Photos is clearly superior.

/Jim
 
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I believe I have figured out how to make photos scan. I believe the application has to be closed, so the photoanalysisd daemon can then scan the images for faces. I had thought that simply minimizing it, and not using the machine would get it to scan, but I am presently thinking... shut the app... and wait.
 
I read the post, so is there a way to force a scanning for faces in Photo. Not sure about the conclusion
 
flipland said:
I read the post, so is there a way to force a scanning for faces in Photo. Not sure about the conclusion
Click to expand...
My library is still busted after upgrading to Ventura 13.2. Still says it is scanning for people and now duplicates. I guess it may finally be time to try making a new library and pulling everything back down from the cloud to see if that helps. Once again, the Hackintosh is working perfectly while the actual Mac has been busted for years.
 
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