Clever iPhone trick lets you find ANY photo in your camera album in seconds
ALWAYS failing to find certain snaps in your iPhone camera roll? Apple has built a simple trick to help you track down old photos.
You can search for exact photos using keywords – just like a Google Image query – including "lake", "dog" or "cheese".
It's handy when you've taken a photo a while ago and can't find it manually.
Simply search for a key term in the app, and all the photos that match should appear.
That's because Apple has designed the Photos app to recognise scenes and objects using machine learning.
You can even search for events, like a concert you went to: "Photos for iOS can use the time and location of your photos along with online event listings to find matching photos."
It's also possible to search by location, so you can enter a place name – like Birmingham – to track down photos of your trip to Brum.
How to search Photos on iPhone
First, open the Photos app on your iPhone.
Next, tap on the Search tab in the bottom right-hand corner – which has a magnifying glass as its icon.
Then simply type in the name of a place, a search term, or even a person's name (if they're assigned in your Photos app) to find matches.
And if you're worried this means Apple is snooping on your photos, don't.
iPhone tricks to try today
Here are some of the best...
- Typing cursor – When typing, hold down the space bar to turn your keyboard into a trackpad, letting you move around words and sentences more easily
- Close all Safari tabs – To do this in one go, simply hold the overlapped squares in the bottom right-hand corner, and press close all tabs
- Delete lots of photos quickly – Hold down on a photo and then drag your finger diagonally in Photos to select lots of images at once, then hit delete
- Convert currency quickly – Swipe down from the top of your Home screen (or swipe left to right on an iPhone X), then tap in the bar and type a currency (like $200) and it will automatically covert to your local currency
- Check if you're due a battery upgrade – Batteries inside smartphones degrade over time. Just go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health, and check out the Maximum Capacity reading. Generally a battery is considered worn when you're down to 80% capacity. If you're below, you can buy a battery swap from Apple
- Move apps around faster – Hold an app until it starts wiggling, then (while still holding) tap other apps, causing them to stack so you can move them around easier
All of the processing happens on your iPhone, rather than being sent up to Apple's servers in the cloud – so there's no risk that anyone at Apple can actually see your snaps.
"When you search your photos, all of the face recognition and scene and object detection are done completely on your device," Apple explains.
"Apple harnesses machine learning to enhance your experience — and your privacy. We’ve used it to enable image and scene recognition in Photos, and more, without requiring your data to leave your device."
Most read in Phones & Gadgets
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Do you know any genius iPhone tricks? Let us know in the comments!
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