Recommend a “Google Photos” alternative

Snedds

Member
SoSH Member
May 11, 2007
175
Wales
I've been using Google Photos for my photo storage since it launched, which has been great for the most part. As they've started charging now, I figured it's worth looking around to see if there are better paid alternatives out there.

One feature I'd love to have if it's available, is the ability to tag people in photos, that I could later search at some point. So, for example if I wanted to search for all the pictures I have of my grandmother with my kids, I’d be able to do so. I've no problem doing the tagging manually if that’s required. Google Photos have a similar feature already, where they automatically detect faces and try to group each person into one place. What they don't allow is the ability to manually tag photos, which is a drawback. Especially as you have photos where people aren’t looking directly at the camera so the app won’t recognise them.

If this photo tagging is available somewhere, I’d love to know.
 

SuperManny

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
752
Washington, DC
Amazon Photos is paid as well but is included with Prime if you already have that. I actually use both because I already have Prime and an android phone which automatically backs up photos to google. I like Prime better because sharing photos seems easier on it than google. Prime does have people tagging and does it automatically with varying degrees of success.
 

88 MVP

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 25, 2007
533
WNY
I assume you’re on PC, but if you’re due for a computer upgrade anytime soon, the stock Photos app in Mac OS does exactly what you’re looking for. Automatic face detection and the ability to manually add or correct tags to any photos that the app misses. All of which syncs to any iPhones or other apple devices.
 

Spelunker

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 17, 2005
11,821
I've been using Google Photos for my photo storage since it launched, which has been great for the most part. As they've started charging now, I figured it's worth looking around to see if there are better paid alternatives out there.

One feature I'd love to have if it's available, is the ability to tag people in photos, that I could later search at some point. So, for example if I wanted to search for all the pictures I have of my grandmother with my kids, I’d be able to do so. I've no problem doing the tagging manually if that’s required. Google Photos have a similar feature already, where they automatically detect faces and try to group each person into one place. What they don't allow is the ability to manually tag photos, which is a drawback. Especially as you have photos where people aren’t looking directly at the camera so the app won’t recognise them.

If this photo tagging is available somewhere, I’d love to know.
Do you mean that you can't add a face if Google Photos doesn't recognize it as a face at all? I haven't really come across that but you can manually add their name as a tag. It won't surface them in the collected photos you get when tapping/clicking on their face circle, but it'll come back in text search.
 

Snedds

Member
SoSH Member
May 11, 2007
175
Wales
I assume you’re on PC, but if you’re due for a computer upgrade anytime soon, the stock Photos app in Mac OS does exactly what you’re looking for. Automatic face detection and the ability to manually add or correct tags to any photos that the app misses. All of which syncs to any iPhones or other apple devices.
I'm not due for a upgrade soon, but that is interesting to know. I'll keep that in mind, as I've just switched back to iPhone from Android so I'll consider that.
 

Snedds

Member
SoSH Member
May 11, 2007
175
Wales
Do you mean that you can't add a face if Google Photos doesn't recognize it as a face at all? I haven't really come across that but you can manually add their name as a tag. It won't surface them in the collected photos you get when tapping/clicking on their face circle, but it'll come back in text search.
Yes that's right. You can only add a name to a face that Google Photos automatically recognizes. I've got quite a few examples of this unfortunately.
 

Max Power

thai good. you like shirt?
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
7,838
Boston, MA
If you have an Office 365 subscription, you can back up to OneDrive. That allows you to create your own tags for the photos and filter on them. The interface is a little slow, but if you're already paying for it, it doesn't hurt to give it a shot. It also supports iPhone motion photo backup and viewing on the web interface.