Google Photos – Faces Filter Not Appearing

facial recognitiongoogle-photos

Google's help section regarding "Find faces" says:

  1. Go to photos.google.com/search.
  2. Under the People section, click a person's face to see photos that include similar faces.
    (If you don't see the person you're looking for, click MORE.)

When I go to the search section, I see "Places" and "Things" – no faces!
And I'm sure I have faces, I used Google+ until now with plenty of face-tagging.

Which also brings up an interesting point – how do you face-tag in this new interface?

Best Answer

It is possible to enable it by dialling into a US VPN (or going to the USA) and enabling the feature.

I found out about it from here: https://www.reddit.com/r/androidapps/comments/37uepw/is_face_recognition_in_the_new_google_photos_app/

On Android, you can download a VPN client and run all of the device communication through the VPN.

On iOS, nute (the OP) travelled to the USA and enabled it there, so I can't currently confirm if the VPN settings work on iOS.

Instructions:

Android

  1. Download the app "Psiphon" and activate it to a US VPN.
  2. Go to the Android Settings > Applications > Downloaded > Photos.
  3. Hit the "clear data" button (this just clears the local app's data, not photos).
  4. Sign into Photos (it should take you through the signup process).
  5. Go to the Photos Settings and hit the now showing "Group Similar Faces" button.
  6. Validate that people show on the device, or another client (web for example).
  7. Turn off and uninstall Phison (if you want).

iOS

  1. Activate the VPN within Settings > General > VPN and set to a USA VPN
  2. (If you already have the Photos app) delete the Photos app
  3. Download the Photos app
  4. Sign into Photos
  5. Go into Settings and enable the now showing "Group similar Faces" option.
  6. Validate on the device (or web app) that people now show.
  7. Disable the VPN if desired.
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