How do I add faces to Google Photos?

Google Photos automatically groups photos by the faces of people and pets, making it easy to find and organize your memories. You can also manually add or confirm faces that Google Photos might have missed or misidentified, ensuring all your photos are correctly categorized.

Understanding Face Grouping in Google Photos

Google Photos uses advanced recognition technology to identify and group similar faces across your photo library. While this process is largely automatic, there are instances where faces might be missed, or you might want to assign an unrecognized face to an existing person's group. This is where manually adding faces comes in handy.

Steps to Add Missing Faces to Google Photos

The primary way to "add faces" in Google Photos involves associating an unrecognized face with an existing person or pet's group. This process is particularly useful for consolidating all photos of a specific individual.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to add a missing face to an existing person or pet's group in Google Photos, drawing from the provided reference:

1. Open Google Photos and Navigate to People & Pets:

   • Launch the Google Photos application on your device.
   • Tap on the Search tab located at the bottom of the screen.
   • Within the Search tab, scroll down and select People & Pets (or a similar category like "People" or "Pets"). This section displays all the face groups Google Photos has created.

2. Identify Unrecognized or Misgrouped Faces:

   • In the "People & Pets" section, you'll see various named groups. You might also find a section dedicated to faces that Google Photos has identified but not yet assigned to a specific person or pet. These might appear as individual unnamed faces, or you might find them within an existing group where an "Add similar faces" option is available.
   • Alternatively, if you're viewing an individual photo, Google Photos might prompt you to identify faces within it that haven't been tagged.

3. Assign the Missing Face to an Existing Group:

   • Once you've found a photo with a face that needs to be added to an existing group, select that face or photo.
   • Google Photos will typically present an option to "Add to an existing group" or "Confirm" the identity.
   • As demonstrated in the reference, you will then be able to select the correct person or pet from your existing face groups. For instance, if you have a group for your pet "Odie" and find a photo with Odie's face that isn't in that group, you would select it and then choose the "Odie" group. The reference explicitly states: "And I'll say okay that face should go in with Odie and done." This action links the selected unassigned face to Odie's existing face group.
   • Confirm your selection to finalize the addition.

4. Creating a New Face Group (for a Brand New Person or Pet):

   • If the face you're trying to add belongs to a new person or pet that Google Photos hasn't recognized before and you want to start a new group for them:
     • Select the unrecognized face.
     • Look for an option to "Add a new person," "Create a new group," or "Name this person/pet."
     • Enter the name for this new individual, and Google Photos will create a new face group for them, adding this photo and subsequent recognized photos of them.

Scenarios for Adding and Managing Faces

To further clarify, here's a table outlining common scenarios for managing faces in Google Photos:

By following these steps, you can effectively manage and organize your photos by ensuring all faces are correctly identified and grouped within Google Photos.