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Every major service groups faces, but where it happens differs. Apple does face grouping on the device, although its Enhanced Visual Search feature is server-side and switched on by default. Google Photos and Amazon Photos do it on their servers. Both treat some places differently because of state biometric law: Google disables face grouping entirely in Illinois and Texas, and Amazon defaults it off for Illinois residents. Photos also carry the location and time they were taken unless that is stripped.
Turn off face grouping if you do not use it, and turn off Apple's Enhanced Visual Search if you would rather searches stayed on the device. Before sharing a photo publicly, strip the location from the file rather than trusting the platform to do it.
Moving years of photos off one service onto something private without losing them is fiddly and easy to get wrong.
A · Verified
Checked 4 Sep 2026 · Review by Dec 2026
Apple support documentation on Enhanced Visual Search, Google Photos face-grouping help, Amazon Photos image-recognition help. Illinois and Texas carve-outs confirmed on the vendors' own pages.
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