The new Photos app in iOS 10 has finally become smart. Much like Google Photos, it can now do object recognition inside your photos and log them all based on categories (what’s inside them).

And as this is Apple we’re talking about, all of this is done in a hush-hush, no servers involved way. All the processing happens on the device itself, no photos are sent to a server, and your personal data is intact. The fact that the scanning takes place on the device does mean that some of use with huge libraries are bound to end up with different scanned processes and search results On all of our devices, but maybe that’s a price worth paying.

How To Search For Objects Inside Photos

The Photos app keeps a log of things it recognizes – Categories. And as long as the objects in the image meets the data in one of those categories, it will be tagged. Currently, generic things like beach, horses, bottle etc are identified easily.

To start searching, open the Photos app and from either the Memories, Shared or Photos tab, tap the “Search” button from the top toolbar.

Now just start typing the term. If it matches any of the categories, they’ll show up in the results below.

Tap a result and you’ll see all the images pertaining to the category.

Same Works For Places

You can also search the same way for places as well. This is a great way to find images taken at a particular place. I find this method far more efficient than going to the “Places” album and zooming into the map.

4,432 Categories

Believe it or not, but Apple has created 4,432 different categories for the object and facial recognition. When it comes to faces, they recognize 7 different facial expressions (Greedy, Disgust, Neutral, Scream, Smiling, Surprise, Suspicious) . If you want to have a look at all of them, check out the link here.

What Did You Search For?

I’ve been searching for random stuff, hoping to see what works and doesn’t. What all categories have you found in the Photos app? Share with us in the comments below.