Microsoft released it’s AI-powered face recognition a while ago. Similar to Google Photos, it automatically detects pictures of the same person and puts them in their own album. It looks creepy if anyone grabs your phone, but makes searching through your gallery much faster.
Since then, the company has been improving the functionality, adding features like Choose a Star, which crafts a custom video based on that person. However, it’s been missing some essential features, including the ability to tag friends.
According to OnMSFT, that’s no longer the case. Microsoft Photos now lets you associate photos with anyone in your address book when you let it access your contacts. An ‘Add name’ option appears below each person, making it easier to search and organize.
Playing Catchup
Unfortunately, it’s a relatively minor feature, and the app is still far behind the competition. However, it does show that Microsoft is thinking about the functionality, and hopefully, we’ll get some much-needed additions soon.
One of the most glaring annoyances is the inability to recategorize incorrectly grouped photos. The app’s algorithms are good, but not perfect, and people an object can be misidentified. Trying to find a wrongly categorized image can be harder than none at all.
Reports suggest a Timeline feature is coming to the app, as well as Paint 3D integration. So far, we haven’t heard anything about finer category control, but anything is possible.
The best way to get to that point is to download the app and provide feedback. You can grab the latest version from the Microsoft Store. You should see the feature in version 2018.18022.15810.0.
