Solel//dev docs

Search and the map

Photos can find a picture from most things you remember about it, and shows where your photos were taken on a map.

Type in Search at the top of Photos. It looks through each photo's:

  • place, region and country
  • month and year, like March 2024
  • camera
  • caption and file name
  • albums, by name

Every word you type has to match, so "hobart 2024" finds photos taken in Hobart in 2024. Search works wherever you are in Photos, except the lists of all your albums and all your places. To make a photo easier to find, add a caption in Show info.

Places

Places shows a map with a pin for each place your photos were taken, and how many photos are there. Drag the map to move around, and scroll or use the + and − buttons to zoom. Below the map, each place has a card. Pick a pin or a card to see that place's photos, then search within them if you like.

Places shows your own photos, not ones shared with you. Only photos that say where they were taken appear. Photos from phones and most cameras do.

Where place names come from

Photos names each place after the nearest town or city of 5,000 people or more, from a list kept on your server. Nothing is looked up online, and where a photo was taken stays with the photo on your server. The map comes from Natural Earth and the place names from GeoNames.