Fixed: People Album Won’t Recognize Pictures of Pets

What to Know

The Photos app can sometimes have trouble identifying people and pets, depending on similar appearances, angles, or lighting.
You can manually identify pictures of your pets and add them to the correct pet album.
Once your pet photo album is organized, you can add names to each one.

Your Photos app can identify your pets in the People & Pets album, making searching for photos of them infinitely easier. However, if this feature isn’t working for you, there are a few solutions to resolve the problem.

Why the People Album Won't Recognize Your Pets

There are a variety of factors that determine how your iPhone recognizes faces, whether they’re people or pets. It could be that the face is tilted at an odd angle, the lighting is poor, or one of many other reasons. When this happens, your iPhone won’t be able to identify whose face it is. Luckily, there is an easy fix. Now, let’s take a look at how to add pets on an iPhone or iPad when the People & Pets album won't recognize them.

How to Add Uncategorized Pets

tap round photo with question mark If you have multiple pets and some photos of them are not showing up in the proper album, you can manually identify photos of them for the Photos app the same way you do for people. Tap the photo of the pet you want to add to the People & Pets album, tap the info icon at the bottom of the page, tap the icon with the pet photo and question mark, tap Edit Name and Photos, and tap the correct result from the list that appears, or enter your pet's name. This process will help your iPhone better understand which pet is which.

How to Add Names to the People & Pets Album

correctly identify pet Once your pet photo albums are working properly, you can manually add names to them. This works exactly the same as when you add names for people. Tap the People & Pets album in the Photos app, and tap an entry without a name. Tap Name This Pet, enter the animal's name, then tap the white check mark in the blue circle. Future photos of your pet will be added to the collection.

With your pets sorted and named, your iPhone should have no issues identifying new photos going forward. For more iPhone troubleshooting advice, be sure to sign up for our free Tip of the Day newsletter.

FAQ

Why is my People and Pets album not working? If your People and Pets album isn't identifying or correctly identifying a person or animal, it may be because the subject is too similar to another subject, or the angle and lighting of the picture can't be properly "read" by your iPhone or iPad.
I want to know how to add photos to the pet album on my iPhone. To add pictures to the pet album, swipe up on the photo, tap the small question mark icon in the circle, tap Edit Name & Photo, then name the pet and tap Done.
What about how to name a person in Apple Photos? To name a person in Apple Photos, follow the same process as in the step above for identifying a pet.