In iOS 15, Apple made further advancements in on-device machine learning and integrated them into the Photos app to make your iPhone more intelligent at recognizing the contents of pictures.

ios 15 visual lookup
In other words, the ‌Photos‌ app can now identify various objects, landmarks, animals, books, plants, works of art, and more in your image library, and then offer information about them that it draws from the web.

This new intelligent feature is called Visual Lookup, and the following steps show you how you can use it to get more clued up on the things you've taken pictures of with your ‌iPhone‌ through the years.

  1. Open the Photos app on your ‌iPhone‌ and select a picture with a clearly defined subject, such as a flower or animal.
  2. Check the info ("i") icon at the bottom of the screen. If it has a little star over it, tap it – this indicates there's a Visual Lookup you can examine.
  3. Tap the little icon in the center of the photo to bring up the Lookup search results.

photos
In Visual Lookup, search results consist of Siri Knowledge, similar images found on the web, and other online sources of information. For all the details on the other new ‌Photos‌ features in iOS 15, be sure to check our dedicated roundup.

Related Forum: iOS 15

Top Rated Comments

Mac Rules Avatar
32 months ago
Only available when region set to US
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HQuest Avatar
32 months ago
Still needs work ?



Attachment Image
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
The Barron Avatar
32 months ago

Must be only in IOS 15 - just tried this is 14.6 and can not find any "i" button.
The article does say iOS 15.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jimmy Goodwood Avatar
32 months ago
I would like this to work the other way around. Would be nice to be able to search my almost 20,000 photos with words. For instance "Red Car" might help me quickly find that old mustang picture. I suppose it would mean that Apple would use AI to search all your photos and tag them with what it thinks the content is. Now that would be useful.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MrTemple Avatar
32 months ago

Funny enough LAST NIGHT I tested googles version of this and it got my dog right. I was amazed.
Neural Nets are great at identifying things similar to what people label them. If you've got a dog that a lot of people would call a certain breed (and train it close to that), the NN will come to the same conclusion.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
andysw9 Avatar
32 months ago

I would like this to work the other way around. Would be nice to be able to search my almost 20,000 photos with words. For instance "Red Car" might help me quickly find that old mustang picture. I suppose it would mean that Apple would use AI to search all your photos and tag them with what it thinks the content is. Now that would be useful.
You already can... Photos are searchable by keyword, although it's a little basic and can't do the colour bit. I can search for 'car' and get a bunch of photos with a car or cars in it. Divided up into Moments, Categories (car, carton, car park) and Places. Also things like sun, snow, beach, tree, flower, sea, river, dog, fire - and you can use multiple keywords to narrow the search as well (eg 'dog fire' to find pics of the dog by the fire).
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

ios stolen device protection

iOS 17.3 Beta Adds New Stolen Device Protection Feature to iPhone

Tuesday December 12, 2023 10:20 am PST by
The first iOS 17.3 beta rolling out to developers today includes a new "Stolen Device Protection" feature that is designed to add an additional layer of security in the event someone has stolen your iPhone and also obtained the device's passcode. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern and Nicole Nguyen reported about instances of thieves spying on a victim's iPhone...
iOS 17

33 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 17.2

Tuesday December 12, 2023 1:57 am PST by
Apple has made available for download its major end-of-year iPhone software update, iOS 17.2, featuring a large number of features and changes that users have been anticipating for quite a while. Below, we've listed 33 new things that your iPhone can do once you've installed the update. Check Settings ➝ General ➝ Software Update on your device to get downloading. 1. Help You Keep a Daily ...
iPhone 16 Mock Back 1

iPhone 16 Early Prototypes: What Apple's Next-Generation iPhone Will Look Like

Tuesday December 12, 2023 3:07 pm PST by
With the launch of the iPhone 15, Apple introduced design changes like a curved frame and a frosted glass back. Information acquired by MacRumors suggests that Apple's next-generation iPhone 16 will build on these updates with modifications to the buttons and the camera layout. We have details on early pre-production designs for the iPhone 16, including a look at the variants and hardware...
CarPlay Phone Call

GM Says It's Nixing CarPlay to Make Drivers Safer

Tuesday December 12, 2023 1:47 pm PST by
Earlier this year, General Motors (GM) announced plans to phase out Apple's CarPlay and Android Auto in its future electric vehicles, with the company instead relying on an infotainment system co-developed with Google. This has not been a popular decision with iPhone users, and today, GM provided some additional insight into the decision in a discussion with MotorTrend. According to Tim...
iPhone 16 Side Feature

iPhone 16 Pro Rumored to Have These 12 New Features

Monday December 11, 2023 10:46 am PST by
While the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are still over nine months away from launching, there are already several rumors about the devices. Below, we have recapped new features and changes expected for the devices so far. These are some of the key changes rumored for the iPhone 16 Pro models as of December 2023:Larger displays: The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be equipped...
Apple TV 2022 Feature Blue

Apple Releases tvOS 17.2 With Revamped Apple TV App

Monday December 11, 2023 9:58 am PST by
Apple today released tvOS 17.2, the second major update to the tvOS 17 operating system that came out in September 2023. tvOS 17.2 comes more than a month after tvOS 17.1, an update that expanded the availability of the Enhanced Dialogue feature. tvOS 17.2 can be downloaded using the Settings app on the ‌Apple TV‌. Go to System > Software Update to get the new software. ‌Apple TV‌...
maxresdefault

Top Five Features in macOS Sonoma 14.2

Wednesday December 13, 2023 3:21 pm PST by
When Apple releases new software, iOS updates tend to get most of the attention, and there are sometimes useful new features in Mac updates that go under the radar. That's the case with macOS Sonoma 14.2. It doesn't have flashy features like the Journal app that came in iOS 17.2, but there are a number of useful improvements that make it worth installing. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube ...