People don't sync

[ajiuo]

Ive noticed in iOS 10 Beta that if I take the time to identify people, merge albums, and name them that none of that syncs across to other devices.

Is the this just a beta thing or does Apple seriously expect people to go through this possess on each device?

I know a lot of people who will think its cool but then just get pissed off and not use it once they discover that it doesn't sync between devices.

Apple made it seem like a cool feature, but its really just incomplete garbage if you have to continually keep up with it on several devices... it seems so redundant and sloppy. Why would Apple implement something like this?

I predict that they are going to get millions of complaints.

 

[zorinlynx]

This seemed like an oversight on their part. This data really should be synced across devices. Not to mention this would free each device from having to do all the processing on its own.

I'd much rather my Mac do this processing, as its CPU is an order of magnitude faster than iOS devices, then sync the data to the other devices.

 

[aristobrat]

Curious too how they plan on ultimately implementing this. Haven't played with it too much, but does that mean all of the combining of People (where it identifies them as separate people) done on one device won't currently sync to another device?

 

[boston04and07]

Oh man. This is exactly why I never hopped on the beta bandwagon this year - the people albums and their inability to sync. I have spent so much time over the years meticulously tagging people, places, etc in my large photo library, and was nervous that these changes in the beta might mess something up, so I stayed away. I also didn't want my nicely synced Faces to get out of whack. I had read early in the beta cycle that People albums weren't syncing, but assumed that manual changes made on one device would surely sync to other devices by the time the GM dropped, even if the initial data crunching was done on individual devices. So, I'm pretty shocked and disappointed to learn that that's not the case. This is totally crazy...I have a lot of custom tags and even get in the habit of tagging people when they aren't fully visible in a photo, two things that I'm sure the new People face recognition wouldn't be able to do. If Apple really expects us to do all manual changes on each device - which means, for me, 3 times - then...I don't even know what to say.

It'll be interesting to see just how they handle all this.

 

[gforce216]

Currently, it is expected that each iOS/Mac OS device will require you to tag people individually. They will not sync. Craig mentioned on Gruber's Talk Show that they are looking into implementing a sync feature in the future but it will not be baked in iOS 10.0.

We may see it in the iOS 10.1 beta the day iOS 10 comes out, but that is just my speculation.

 

[boston04and07]

Currently, it is expected that each iOS/Mac OS device will require you to tag people individually. They will not sync. Craig mentioned on Gruber's Talk Show that they are looking into implementing a sync feature in the future but it will not be baked in iOS 10.0.

We may see it in the iOS 10.1 beta the day iOS 10 comes out, but that is just my speculation.

Yikes, I sure hope you're right. I know that people who absolutely need syncing of manual tagging are probably in the minority here - I'm guessing that the majority of iPhone users probably have no or very few Faces tags going into iOS 10, and will be fine with the automatic tagging alone, and therefore won't need to manually change much/expect it to sync. However, many users will still need to manually adjust things here and there, and forcing them to do so multiple times between devices definitely seems very un-Apple like. I mean....they've gotta come out with something...right? I hope...

 

[ipedro]

Oh man. This is exactly why I never hopped on the beta bandwagon this year - the people albums and their inability to sync. I have spent so much time over the years meticulously tagging people, places, etc in my large photo library, and was nervous that these changes in the beta might mess something up, so I stayed away. I also didn't want my nicely synced Faces to get out of whack. I had read early in the beta cycle that People albums weren't syncing, but assumed that manual changes made on one device would surely sync to other devices by the time the GM dropped, even if the initial data crunching was done on individual devices. So, I'm pretty shocked and disappointed to learn that that's not the case. This is totally crazy...I have a lot of custom tags and even get in the habit of tagging people when they aren't fully visible in a photo, two things that I'm sure the new People face recognition wouldn't be able to do. If Apple really expects us to do all manual changes on each device - which means, for me, 3 times - then...I don't even know what to say.

It'll be interesting to see just how they handle all this.

I too had started tagging people in iPhoto years ago. But I eventually gave up because it wasn't very good and resulted in way too much manual work.

iOS 10 is literally a decade ahead of that technology. It's mind blowing how accurately it picks faces. Not one mistake. Even sideways faces, people laughing with their mouths open: it still knows who it is. Impressive.

That said, not syncing over this data is something that will have to be implemented before iOS 10 is released. So if you're worried, wait.

 

[aristobrat]

And in the developer notes, it states syncing of faces is not available yet.

That confirms that it's coming, which works for me.

 

[boston04and07]

I too had started tagging people in iPhoto years ago. But I eventually gave up because it wasn't very good and resulted in way too much manual work.

iOS 10 is literally a decade ahead of that technology. It's mind blowing how accurately it picks faces. Not one mistake. Even sideways faces, people laughing with their mouths open: it still knows who it is. Impressive.

That said, not syncing over this data is something that will have to be implemented before iOS 10 is released. So if you're worried, wait.

Hmm, thanks for all this info @ipedro. That's actually really good to know...I didn't realize it would be so good at recognizing people in hard-to-see situations. I'll be the first to admit that I'm fairly obsessive with tagging. I do it for future-proofing reasons, as I've recently been digitizing a ton of very old family photos and I've learned how important it is to record these things when they're still fresh. There have been a ton of instances where there are people in these old photos and I have no clue who they are, so it made me really work very hard at tagging people in every photo I take, even people who are partially obscured or hard to see. Like I said, I'm obsessive! But from what you said, it sounds like all this stuff might save me a ton of time in the future, once it all gets ironed out. The syncing issue, even if it's temporary, is really concerning me though...since I do have literally hundreds of Faces already in my library, I just want to make sure I'm getting this all right...so a few questions (sorry if this is repetitive!)

1. When my devices are scanning for People, they don't take into consideration pre-existing Faces tags in their search, right? So for example, if I have 50 photos tagged of a person from Faces, People will create a separate and brand new tag of the same person that I'll later have to merge (separately, on each device), am I correct?
2. It will still be possible to manually change a People tag if, somehow, the system gets it wrong, right?
3. Finally, any word on how well the new recognition system recognizes pets (cats and dogs in particular?) I have eleventy billion pictures of my pets (lol) and it'd be cool to have them recognized too. I've heard that the system is good at recognizing types of animals but wasn't sure if it could differentiate between individual ones.

Thanks to anyone who can provide insight on this stuff! Again, sorry if this is a bit repetitive, but I've read conflicting things on different threads so I wanted to make sure I had all my ducks in a row before upgrading.

 

[Feenician]

Yeah, disappointing this syncing never made GM/GM candidates. I do wonder when we'll see it but the note about it in the release notes indicate we will see it sometime.
[doublepost=1473365872][/doublepost]

Hmm, thanks for all this info @ipedro. That's actually really good to know...I didn't realize it would be so good at recognizing people in hard-to-see situations. I'll be the first to admit that I'm fairly obsessive with tagging. I do it for future-proofing reasons, as I've recently been digitizing a ton of very old family photos and I've learned how important it is to record these things when they're still fresh. There have been a ton of instances where there are people in these old photos and I have no clue who they are, so it made me really work very hard at tagging people in every photo I take, even people who are partially obscured or hard to see. Like I said, I'm obsessive! But from what you said, it sounds like all this stuff might save me a ton of time in the future, once it all gets ironed out. The syncing issue, even if it's temporary, is really concerning me though...since I do have literally hundreds of Faces already in my library, I just want to make sure I'm getting this all right...so a few questions (sorry if this is repetitive!)

1. When my devices are scanning for People, they don't take into consideration pre-existing Faces tags in their search, right? So for example, if I have 50 photos tagged of a person from Faces, People will create a separate and brand new tag of the same person that I'll later have to merge (separately, on each device), am I correct?
2. It will still be possible to manually change a People tag if, somehow, the system gets it wrong, right?
3. Finally, any word on how well the new recognition system recognizes pets (cats and dogs in particular?) I have eleventy billion pictures of my pets (lol) and it'd be cool to have them recognized too. I've heard that the system is good at recognizing types of animals but wasn't sure if it could differentiate between individual ones.

Thanks to anyone who can provide insight on this stuff! Again, sorry if this is a bit repetitive, but I've read conflicting things on different threads so I wanted to make sure I had all my ducks in a row before upgrading.

I tried to quote the individual parts of your post and reply separately but regrettably copy and paste in web pages on ios remains quite spectacularly broken. Incredibly annoying.

Anyway,

1. Yes, merge on individual devices for now. Should change in the future.

2. I might be missing something but I don't see a way to do this for now. The UI seems very limited for now. I'd like to see more flexibility in the faces management and in tagging/training in general.

3. It doesn't seem to treat animals as individuals, just species, as you say.

 

[boston04and07]

Yeah, disappointing this syncing never made GM/GM candidates. I do wonder when we'll see it but the note about it in the release notes indicate we will see it sometime.
[doublepost=1473365872][/doublepost]

I tried to quote the individual parts of your post and reply separately but regrettably copy and paste in web pages on ios remains quite spectacularly broken. Incredibly annoying.

Anyway,

1. Yes, merge on individual devices for now. Should change in the future.

2. I might be missing something but I don't see a way to do this for now. The UI seems very limited for now. I'd like to see more flexibility in the faces management and in tagging/training in general.

3. It doesn't seem to treat animals as individuals, just species, as you say.

Ok, this is all very informative and good to know. Thanks @Feenician. I might update on all my devices but keep the edits to the Mac until real syncing gets enabled, in order to reduce potential conflicts.

 

[ipedro]

There is a way to correct any facial recognition mistakes, though I haven't found any to correct just yet.

From memory, hit EDIT and select the photo that's incorrect. I recall being "not this person" or something like that.

Hitting EDIT in the general People album, will allow you to merge multiple instances of the same person. In this case, I did find an error. A friend who dyed her hair and put on some weight was recognized as a separate person. Still, all of her post weight gain/hair dye photos were all grouped together correctly. I'm still very impressed.

 

[Feenician]

Ok, this is all very informative and good to know. Thanks @Feenician. I might update on all my devices but keep the edits to the Mac until real syncing gets enabled, in order to reduce potential conflicts.

That's exactly my strategy. Do it comfortably on the Mac for now and leave the iOS stuff alone (well I did test it at each beta update because that's what the beta is for but since the beta is now done...). I do hope there's proper conflict resolution and so on when syncing does get implemented though.
[doublepost=1473370899][/doublepost]

There is a way to correct any facial recognition mistakes, though I haven't found any to correct just yet.

From memory, hit EDIT and select the photo that's incorrect. I recall being "not this person" or something like that.

Hitting EDIT in the general People album, will allow you to merge multiple instances of the same person. In this case, I did find an error. A friend who dyed her hair and put on some weight was recognized as a separate person. Still, all of her post weight gain/hair dye photos were all grouped together correctly. I'm still very impressed.

Thanks. Very useful info.

 

[dancefreak]

Hopefully after the public launch they just need to turn this on for iCloud.com and then sync will be enabled in 10.1. I have to imagine you'll be able to select device preference for conflicts when sync launches because why else bother if you'll have to reset the whole thing.

 

[gsmornot]

After this showed up in early betas I made the mistake of spending a few hours with my phone sorting through photos and adding names. I won't make that mistake again. I think until this is officially supported with sync working I will ignore the feature.

 

[boston04and07]

Hey guys, so I'm having some issues with this and was hoping you had some ideas. I've updated to iOS 10 on my iPhone 6s and iPad mini 4 and Sierra on my 15" rMPB, and while I know that the devices won't be syncing People data with each other at this point, it looks as though each device isn't finding nearly as many People as they should be. On my Mac, it's saying it's scanned all but about 500 of my 24,000+ photo library, and the only People it's showing are a subset of the ones I'd already tagged manually pre-Sierra. In other words, I'm not seeing all of my previous tags and I'm also not seeing any new People tags at all. On my iPad, the same thing - it says it's scanned roughly 20,000 of my photos there, but only 11 People have been recognized totaling about 70 photos. Everyone else is saying that the people and face recognition is spot on, so surely something must be wrong, right? The vast majority of my photos contain people, mostly the same people in my family and friends, and I'm getting pretty worried that both of my devices have each barely recognized anything...

 

[cynics]

Frustrating.

People WERE sync'd via the photos app on OS X. So if I searched for "Justin" on my iPhone I would get all the pics of him.

Now all that is gone. The data is still there on my Mac but a search on my phone won't have results.

I was hoping MacOS Sierra would quickly address this. Is that not the case?