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Face search

Face Search for Photos and Videos

SnapByFace lets you search for a person across your local photo and video libraries using just one reference photo — no tags, no filenames, no cloud upload.

Download SnapByFace Download free trial

What is face search?

Search by face, not by folder

Face search finds people in media by comparing faces, not by browsing folders or remembering filenames. You show SnapByFace one clear photo of the person you are looking for, and it scans your entire library — photos and videos alike — returning every match ranked by similarity.

SnapByFace is a desktop app for Windows and macOS. All processing happens on your own computer: faces are detected, encoded into 512-dimension embeddings, and compared locally. Your media is never uploaded.

How it works

From reference photo to results in three steps

1

Add a reference photo

One clear photo per person, named after them. The file name becomes the person's name in results. Sub-folders are scanned recursively.

2

Scan your media folders

Point SnapByFace at the folders with your photos and videos. It detects faces, stores embeddings locally, and indexes both photos and sampled video frames.

3

Search and review

Pick a person and get matches ranked by similarity score with a tunable threshold (0.30–0.80). Export the hits to any folder with original timestamps intact.

What makes it different

Face search that runs entirely on your machine

Photos and videos in one search

A single reference photo finds a person across both photos and sampled video frames. One index covers all your media.

Exact matching, not approximate

Every face in your library is compared against the one you are looking for. No approximate shortcuts that could silently miss someone.

Works offline

The face models ship inside the installer. After installation, detection and search run with the network unplugged.

Windows and macOS

Native builds for both platforms — including Apple Silicon. One license per computer, with a free trial that runs a full local search.

Face search: frequently asked questions

What is face search?
Face search is a way of finding people in photos and videos by comparing faces rather than browsing folders or searching filenames. You provide one reference photo, and the app scans your media library for matching faces.
Does SnapByFace upload my photos for face search?
No. SnapByFace detects faces, extracts embeddings, and runs the search entirely on your own computer. Your photos and videos are never uploaded.
Can face search work across both photos and videos?
Yes. Photos and sampled video frames share the same index. One reference photo finds a person across both media types in a single search.
Which operating systems support face search?
SnapByFace runs on Windows 10/11 (64-bit) and macOS 12+ (Apple Silicon and Intel). The face models are bundled in the installer, so no additional downloads are needed.

Try face search on your own library

Download SnapByFace and run a full local face search on your own folders. The free trial needs no account, no upload.

Download SnapByFace Download free trial