Please note, the Facial Recognition product is newly launched, which is likely to result in a high volume of purchases during the initial days. Upon completing your purchase, you will be placed in a queue, and you will receive a notification banner in the People section indicating that the Facial Recognition process has commenced as soon as it is your turn.
Q1: What is FOREVER® Facial Recognition?
A: FOREVER Facial Recognition is an added feature that automatically identifies the people in your photos and organizes your photos by people in your account. Coupled with our powerful filters, Facial Recognition makes it easier than ever to quickly find images of specific people, even in large collections. As your photo collection in FOREVER grows, Facial Recognition continues to organize new images without any extra effort. Importantly, your data remains private—FOREVER never shares your content or uses it for ads. Facial recognition takes the hassle out of manual sorting by person, making it easier to manage and enjoy your memories.
Q2: What does a Facial Recognition subscription include?
A: A FOREVER Facial Recognition subscription includes the ability to automatically identify and organize the people in your photos, saving you the effort of manually tagging each image with the names of the people who appear in that photo. It allows you to easily search for specific people in your collection, even as it grows over time. The subscription ensures your memories are efficiently organized while protecting your privacy.
Q3: Why not use a “free” service to automatically organize my people online, such as Google?
A: While "free" services like Google may offer automatic organization of your photos with facial recognition technology, they often come with hidden costs, particularly regarding privacy. These services may analyze, store, or even use your personal data for targeted advertising or other purposes. With FOREVER, you own your content outright, and your data is protected. Your photos, videos, and the people you organize are never shared or used without your consent. Unlike many “free” platforms, FOREVER is focused on ensuring your digital rights regarding your content and the long-term security of your memories.
Q4: Can other FOREVER clients see facially recognized people in my photos?
A: Facially recognized people you add to your account are private and therefore visible only to you and your Account Managers when they are managing your account. FOREVER clients or connections who are not an Account Manager cannot see facially recognized and identified people in your photos.
Q5: Does Facial Recognition work with the videos stored in my FOREVER Account?
A: No. At this time, Facial Recognition does not work with videos stored in your FOREVER Account. The Facial Recognition feature is only available for photos, helping you name and organize people within your images. Videos are securely stored in your account and can be added manually to your People organization, but the system does not analyze or recognize people in video content. Facial Recognition for video is a feature we plan to introduce in the future.
Q6: Can I manually add a person in my FOREVER Account without Facial Recognition?
A: Yes, you can manually create a person in your FOREVER Account. Simply go to the People view, select the option to "Add Person," and manually input their name. You can then manually add any photos, videos, and documents that you wish to that person. Facial Recognition is an optional tool that makes creating and managing your people quick, easy, and fun, but it’s not required.
Q7: I identified a person I don't want in my FOREVER Account. How do I remove them?
A: If you've identified a person you no longer want in your FOREVER Account, you can easily hide them. Simply go to the People view, select the person, and choose the option to hide their profile. Hidden people will no longer appear in your main People list, but their associated photos and data remain intact, and you can always unhide them later if needed.
Q8: I incorrectly named a person, how can I fix that?
A: If you incorrectly named a person, you can easily edit or change the name. Simply go to the People view, select the person, and click their name to edit. Your changes will be saved across your account.
Q9: I incorrectly merged two people. Can I undo this?
Unfortunately, once two people are merged, the action cannot be undone. However, you can manually edit the assigned names to correct the mistake.
Q10: How do I merge or move existing Tags to people?
A: To merge or move existing Tags to people in your FOREVER Account, go to the Tag view and select the Tag. Next, select the photos you'd like to add to the person, then, under the 'Organize' menu, choose "Add People" and select the person you'd like to assign to those photos. This will ensure the photos are properly organized in your account under each person.
Q11: Does my Facial Recognition Subscription automatically renew?
A: Yes, your Facial Recognition subscription automatically renews at the end of each billing cycle unless you choose to cancel it.
Q12: Can I cancel my Facial Recognition subscription if I no longer want it?
A: Yes, once you add the Facial Recognition feature to your FOREVER Account, you can cancel it at any time. Simply navigate to the “Recurring Payments” section of your Account Settings, find your Facial Recognition Subscription in the list and select “Cancel.” The facial recognition functionality will be disabled at the end of your subscription year, but all the existing facial recognition and People organization will remain intact.
Q13: If I cancel Facial Recognition, will I lose access to it immediately?
A: No, if you cancel Facial Recognition, you will retain access to it until the end of your current billing period. If you cancel a permanent 5- year payment plan, you will retain access to Facial Recognition until the end of your accrued year period (For each payment you make towards permanent facial recognition, you earn a number of accrued years towards your permanent status). After that, the feature will be disabled, but your previously assigned names to photos will remain organized.
Q14: If I cancel Facial Recognition, will I no longer see the bounding box around people's faces in photos?
A: The bounding box around people's faces will remain in your photos even if you cancel and no longer want to use Facial Recognition.
Q15: Can I delete people?
A: You can remove people from the People view of your FOREVER Account by hiding them. If you no longer want a person to appear in your People list, simply right-click on that person in your People view and select the "Hide" option. This will remove them from the visible list without affecting any associated photos or data, and you can unhide them later if needed.
You can also delete a name and any biographical information you have stored for a person. The only way to truly delete faces related to a person is by removing any or all photos from your FOREVER Account that contain the face of the person you wish to delete. We don’t recommend this as it’s very destructive and generally not necessary. Simply hiding or removing certain people from your People view will remove their name from your FOREVER collection.
Q16: Can I share a person?
A: You can easily share photos connected to specific people in your FOREVER Account, however, you cannot share the person's biographical information stored in your account with others. That information remains private and only visible to you. However, Account Managers who are managing your account can see your people, along with their biographical information while they are managing your account. This ensures that any private information related to your people stays secure and confidential.
Q17: Will Facial Recognition organize new photos automatically?
A: Yes, once enabled, Facial Recognition will automatically organize new photos as you upload them. It identifies people in the images and adds them to your People view without requiring any manual input, making it easier to keep your growing collection organized.
Q18: Do I have to name every person that Facial Recognition identifies in my FOREVER Account?
A: No, you don’t have to name your people in your FOREVER Account. You can leave people unnamed or remove them from your People view by hiding them. However, naming them can make it easier to search for and find specific people in the future. The choice is entirely up to you!
Q19: Does Facial Recognition work with historical or older photos?
A: Yes, Facial Recognition works with historical and older photos. It can identify faces in both new and vintage images, helping you organize people across your entire photo collection, regardless of the age of the photos. This makes it easier to manage and preserve memories from the past.
Q20: How long does it take for Facial Recognition to organize my photos?
A: The length of time required for Facial Recognition to organize your photos depends on the number of photos in your account, the number of faces in each photo, and the number of FOREVER Clients using Facial Recognition at any given time. Therefore, we’re unable to predict the precise amount of time required to organize each account. However, we have found that a good rule of thumb is that FOREVER Facial Recognition can process approximately 1,000 new photos uploaded to your FOREVER Account every 6 minutes. This means that if you have 20,000 photos in your FOREVER Account before applying Facial Recognition, it could take FOREVER around 2 hours to process your entire collection.
Q21: Is there a limit to how many people Facial Recognition can identify?
A: No, there is no limit to how many people Facial Recognition can identify in your FOREVER Account. It can automatically recognize and organize as many individuals as are present in your photos, regardless of the size of your collection.
Q22: Can I disable Facial Recognition for specific photos or albums?
A: No, you cannot disable Facial Recognition for specific photos or albums. Once the feature is enabled, it scans all photos in your collection. However, you can manually adjust your People organization if needed after the facial recognition process is complete.
Q23: Can I exclude specific people from being recognized?
A: Yes. Once you choose to hide specific individuals from your People view, the facial recognition process will continue to hide them when you upload additional photos containing that person.
Q24: Will Facial Recognition work with low-quality or blurry photos?
A: Yes. However, Facial Recognition may struggle more with low-quality or blurry photos than with clear images. In cases where the photo is too unclear, you may need to manually assign a name to the person to ensure accurate identification.
Q25: What happens to names assigned to People when a photo is downloaded? Are they included in the metadata or only available in FOREVER?
A: Currently, when a photo is downloaded from FOREVER, the People names are not included as part of the metadata. The People feature is only available within your FOREVER Account and is not transferred with the photo when it's downloaded. You’ll need to manually assign a name to individuals if you move the photo to another platform or device. We are always looking to improve our products and services, and we may make changes to this based on our client feedback.
Q26: Can Account Managers see your facially recognized people?
A: Yes. Account Managers can see the facially recognized people within your People organization.
Q27: Does Facial Recognition work on pets?
A: No, facial recognition technology is primarily designed for humans, as it relies on specific facial features like eyes, nose, and mouth that are unique and consistent across different photos. However, pet and object recognition is a feature we plan to introduce in the future.