How to use AI to organize your photos

You have 23,000 photos on your phone. About 9 of them are the ones you’d save in a fire. The rest are screenshots of parking spots, 11 nearly identical shots of a sunset, and a blurry close-up of the inside of your pocket.

AI helps here in two ways. Google Photos and Apple Photos already use AI to search and group your pictures, so you can find “beach” or “dog” without scrolling for an hour. A chat AI can plan the album system so it doesn’t fall apart by spring. In about 30 minutes you’ll have a plan and the first cleanup done.

A quick note from us: this page is general information. Photo apps change their menus often, so if a setting has moved, check Google Photos Help or Apple Support for the current steps.

What you’ll end up with

A simple album plan, a backed-up library with less clutter, and face-grouping settings you chose on purpose.

Before you start

• Know which app holds your photos: Google Photos, Apple Photos, or both
• About 30 minutes, plus a charger
• Somewhere to keep a second copy, like a computer or an external drive

Step 1: Back up before you delete anything

Make sure your photos are backed up, and ideally kept in a second place too, like a computer or external drive. If your photos sync between devices, deleting a photo on your phone usually deletes it everywhere that syncs. Deleted photos go to a Trash or Recently Deleted folder for a limited time, then they’re gone.

Step 2: Decide how you feel about face grouping

In Google Photos on a computer, go to photos.google.com/settings and look for Group similar faces. Google says face labels are private to your account, and that turning Face Groups off deletes your face groups, face models, and labels. It also notes that face models may count as biometric data in some places. Read the settings, then choose. Off is a perfectly fine answer.

Step 3: Let the built-in search do the sorting

Open your photo app’s search and try plain words: “screenshots,” “receipts,” “dog,” “beach,” a city name, or a year. Results won’t be perfect (to a photo app, a beige couch can look a lot like a beach), but they’re a fast way to pull out groups to file or clear out.

In Apple Photos on iPhone, look under Utilities for a Duplicates album. It only appears if Photos finds duplicates. Merging keeps one copy and moves the extras to Recently Deleted.

Step 4: Plan your albums

What you might get back (example from ChatGPT; results vary)

Example output, trimmed. ChatGPT, logged out, October 16, 2026.

I’d keep this simple: 9 albums, a small set of search words, and a regular cleanup habit. The goal is to find your best photos of each child by year and your son’s soccer photos quickly, without creating hundreds of albums or sorting all 18,000 photos at once.

Use albums for photos you want to find again, and search for everyday things like your cat, receipts, and screenshots. You don’t need to put every photo into an album.

If it says to delete screenshots or receipts, skip that part for now. Put them in your ‘maybe delete’ album instead; deleting waits for Step 6.

If an album name makes you groan, rename it. You’re the one who has to look at it for the next 10 years.

Step 5: Turn the plan into short sessions

Nobody sorts 23,000 photos in one sitting, and nobody should try.

Do one session tonight. Put anything you’re unsure about in the “maybe delete” album, then look at it again in a week. Most of it will be obvious by then.

Step 6: Delete, carefully

Once your backup is confirmed, go through the “maybe delete” album and delete in small batches. Check the Trash or Recently Deleted folder before it empties, in case something slipped in.

When it goes sideways

• The plan has 30 albums? Say “Cut this to 8 albums. Merge anything that overlaps.”
• Search keeps missing photos? Try a different word (“pup” instead of “dog,” or the year), and add the rest by hand.
• The AI describes a setting you can’t find? It may be guessing, or describing a different version of the app. Check your app’s help pages.
• Two people’s photos are tangled together? Ask the AI for a shared-album plan, with one album per event that both of you add to.

Where to go next

• How to use AI to declutter and organize your home (the closet is next)
• How to use AI to fix computer problems
• More tech help guides

Filed under Tech help and digital life.