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Mac

Face Search for Mac (Apple Silicon & Intel)

SnapByFace is a native macOS app that finds a person across your local photo and video folders. One reference photo in, every match out — processed entirely on your Mac.

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Mac specifics

What you need

SnapByFace runs on macOS 12 or later, with separate builds for Apple Silicon (M1–M4) and Intel Macs. The download is about 300 MB because the face models are bundled inside — after installing, the app never downloads anything at runtime.

The Apple Silicon build is noticeably faster on video. Everything SnapByFace learns about your media stays in ~/.snapbyface in your home folder: the index, the face embeddings, your settings. Deleting that folder removes all indexed data and activation state.

Workflow

How it works on macOS

1

Install

Open the .dmg and drag SnapByFace to Applications. If macOS refuses to open it, clear the Gatekeeper flag — SnapByFace is made by a solo developer and is not notarized yet. Run: xattr -cr /Applications/SnapByFace.app in Terminal.

2

Add people and folders

Add one reference photo per person, then select the folders where your media lives — Pictures, external drives, archived backups.

3

Search and export

Pick a person and get matches ranked by similarity — photos and sampled video frames alike. Export the hits with original timestamps intact.

On your Mac

What runs where

Native on Apple Silicon and Intel

Pick the build that matches your chip — Apple menu → About This Mac shows it. One license per machine.

Local processing

Detection, embeddings and matching run on your machine. The only outbound request is an optional statistics ping, switchable in Settings.

HEIC included

iPhone photos in HEIC/HEIF are read directly, alongside JPG, JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF and WebP — plus MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, M4V, WebM and TS video.

Nothing is uploaded

Your media is read locally and the index stays on your disk. No cloud album, no sync, no account.

Mac face search: frequently asked questions

Which macOS version do I need?
macOS 12 (Monterey) or later. Separate downloads exist for Apple Silicon (M1–M4) and Intel Macs; the download page labels both.
macOS says the app is damaged or can't be opened — what now?
That is Gatekeeper, not a corrupt download. SnapByFace is made by a solo developer and is not notarized yet — Apple's notarization requires an expensive certificate I have not gotten. Clear the quarantine flag with: xattr -cr /Applications/SnapByFace.app in Terminal, then open the app again. You can also verify the SHA-256 checksum on the download page to confirm the file is genuine.
Does it search my Apple Photos library directly?
SnapByFace searches folders, including exported albums and your Pictures folders. To search an iCloud-synced library, export the people or albums you need and point SnapByFace at the export.
Is Apple Silicon required?
No — there is a native Intel build too. On Apple Silicon Macs, video processing is noticeably faster.

Run face search on your Mac

Download the build for your Mac and try a full local search on your own folders. The free trial needs no account.

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