Finding photos of you

At a big event, hundreds or thousands of photos pile up fast. But you only want the pictures of you. With face search you find them in seconds – no scrolling through the whole gallery.

There are three ways to get there:

• Way A – tap a face: Pick a detected person from the face picker.
• Way B – combine several people: Show only photos where all of you appear together (for example as a couple or group).
• Way C – Find me: Upload a selfie or use your profile image; PhotoGala marks your photos automatically.

Check availability

Face search is an AI / premium feature. It only appears if the host has enabled it and it is included in the event’s plan. If you don’t see a Filter by People section in the filter, the feature is off for this event. The other filters (album, task, media type …) are always available regardless.

Step 1 – Open the filter

All people and face features live inside the Filter dialog.

1. Tap Filter in the gallery toolbar. If filters are already active, the button shows a small count and a filled funnel icon.

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   Open the dialog with Filter in the toolbar.

2. The Gallery Filters dialog opens (subtitle “Apply filters for albums, tasks, and more”). Besides people, you can filter by album, task, media type, date, likes and more.

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   The filter dialog with all its sections.

Tip

On a phone the Filter button sits on the left of the compact toolbar and the dialog scrolls vertically. On a computer the dialog opens as a centered overlay.

Way A – Tap a person by face

Scroll to the Filter by People section. There you see small tiles with the faces detected at the event. The count next to the title is the number of faces. The hint reads: “Select one or more faces to show photos containing all selected people”.

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Each tile is a detected person – with a photo count and (if set) a name.

1. Tap a tile. It gets a thick selection ring in the brand color and a checkmark in the top right. The photo count appears in the bottom right.

2. Below the tile you see – if available – the person’s name and the number of photos (“n photo/photos”). Most tiles are nameless; that’s normal (see the box below).

3. Confirm at the bottom with Apply. The gallery now shows only that person’s photos. Clear resets the people selection (only active when something is selected).

4. If there are more faces than shown, load the next 12 tiles with View More (n) – the number in brackets tells you how many are already loaded.

Why don't the tiles have names?

Only moderators and hosts can name face clusters, merge or split them – guests cannot. That’s why most tiles are just a face with a photo count. Also, only people with at least one published photo appear, so you won’t see empty tiles.

Way B – Combine several people (AND logic)

You can select several tiles at once. Important: this is AND logic – only photos where all selected people appear are shown, not the sum of their photos.

1. Tap the tiles you want one after another – each gets a ring and checkmark.

2. Tap Apply. The gallery shows only the photos where all selected people appear together – ideal for finding the two of you or a group.

Tip

Each selected person also appears at the top of the dialog as an Active Filter chip and – after applying – as a removable face chip with a thumbnail in the gallery. Use the small X on the chip to remove a single person without resetting the whole filter.

Way C – Find me via selfie or profile image

Instead of hunting for the right tile, you upload a selfie. PhotoGala matches your face against every event photo and marks your hits automatically.

1. Start

In the Filter by People section, tap the Find me card – “Upload a selfie to find your photos”.

2. Choose a source (three options)

You then have up to three options:

• Take Selfie – opens the (front) camera. Fastest on a phone.
• Choose Photo – pick a file from your device. Allowed formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP and HEIC/HEIF.
• Use Profile Image – appears only if you already set a profile image. Uses it directly, without a new upload.

Below the buttons there’s always a privacy notice: “Your selfie is private and only used to find your photos in this event”. Use Cancel to leave the picker.

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Find me by selfie: the three sources Take Selfie, Choose Photo and Use Profile Image, with the privacy note below.

Note

The Use Profile Image button is missing when no profile image is set. Set one in your profile first – see Your profile. Then the option becomes available.

For camera or file, you first see a round preview. Start the search with Find me, or discard the image with Cancel.

3. Processing

A short scan animation runs with the hint “Searching …”. On a weak connection it can take a moment longer (PhotoGala uses live updates and, if needed, background polling). Use Cancel to abort; that also deletes the selfie you just uploaded.

4. Success

On a match a green flash appears: “Found in N photos”. Then something handy happens automatically:

Applied automatically

After a successful search your matches are set as a filter immediately and the dialog closes on its own – you land right in your filtered gallery. You do not need to tap Apply for the selfie flow (that’s only for tapping individual tiles in Way A/B). Your matched tiles also carry a small “You” badge.

5. Re-apply later

Once your selfie is saved, the section shows a Find me button next time with “Found in N photos” and a magnifier. Tapping it re-applies your personal filter and closes the dialog – no need to upload a new selfie.

6. No match

If the search finds nothing, the grey hint “We couldn’t find you in this event’s photos” appears. Possible reasons: there are no or too few photos of you yet, the event photos are still being processed, or the selfie was poorly lit. Try again later or with a better photo.

7. When something goes wrong (error messages)

Fixing errors

• “We couldn’t detect a face — try a clearer, well-lit photo”: Use a frontal, sharp, well-lit photo with just one person.
• “Processing took too long or got interrupted — please try again”: Check your connection and restart the search.
• “Something went wrong — please try again”: Generic error; simply try again.

In all cases you can pick a new photo right away via Try Again.

8. Remove selfie (opt-out / privacy)

Next to the Find me button there’s a trash icon. Tapping it opens the confirmation “Remove selfie” – “This will remove your selfie and face data for this event”.

How to delete your face data

The trash icon is also your opt-out: it deletes your selfie and the biometric data derived from it for this event. There is no separate toggle – deleting = opting out. If you never want to be recognized at all, contact the host.

Filter by number of people

When face clusters exist, there’s an extra Filter by Number of People section. It filters by how many faces are detected in a photo:

• Minimum People – e.g. at least 3 for group photos only.
• Maximum People – e.g. at most 1 for portraits / single shots.

More filters (always available)

The dialog can do much more than faces. These filters work independently of the AI feature and combine freely:

• Quick Filters: My Uploads; My Likes (only if likes are enabled); Task Items (only if tasks are enabled).
• Media Type: All / Photos / Videos / Motion Photos.
• Sort Order: by upload time, capture date, likes (if likes are on) or comments (if comments are on) – each Newest/Oldest or Most/Least.
• Albums plus Without Album (only photos with no album).
• Tasks (only if photo tasks are on).
• Filter by Number of Likes (minimum/maximum).

At the very bottom sit Clear, Cancel and Apply. Active filters appear at the top as Active Filter chips and can be removed individually.

Tip

Your active filters stay in the address (URL). So you can share a filtered view by link – the filters are active as soon as it’s opened.

For moderators and hosts

1. Enable the feature (host): Open the Admin Portal from the profile menu in the top right and go to Settings → Features → AI Processing → Face Recognition. There you confirm a GDPR consent checkbox; an info dialog explains what guests see.

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   The profile menu leads to moderation and the admin portal – visible only with the matching role.

2. Name people (moderators): Naming, merging or splitting clusters happens in the moderation / admin view. Once a name is set, guests see it on the tile and the filter chip too.

Troubleshooting

Caution

• No “Filter by People” section? The feature is off or not in the plan – ask the host.
• Tiles there, but none of you? Your photos are still processing or simply don’t exist yet – try again later.
• “Use Profile Image” missing? You haven’t set a profile image yet – add one in your profile.
• Search stuck on “Searching …”? Usually the connection – Cancel and restart.
• Nameless tiles? Normal – only moderators assign names.
• Filters gone after reload? They live in the URL; a shared link keeps them.

Related help

• Using the gallery – basics, likes, selection, fullscreen.
• Getting around & navigation – profile menu, moderation and admin areas.
• Your profile – set a profile image (unlocks “Use Profile Image”).