Photo search for guests

Guests can find photos two ways:

• By keyword: “cake”, “ring”, “sunset”.
• By selfie: they take a clear photo of just their face to find matching photos.

In Settings → Guests → Guest photo search, the photographer chooses Off, On, or Client decides.

With Client decides, the client opens Client access in the gallery toolbar. They verify using a code emailed to an address listed under Privacy → Who counts as the client, or use their photographer-issued Client Controls code when Client Controls is enabled. They then choose Turn on search inside Your gallery controls.

Typing the client’s email alone cannot enable search. Guests never see the activation prompt above the photos; they see search once it has been enabled. Preparing searchable photos can take a few minutes.

Selfie search and preparation

Search prepares photos after the gallery is published and search is enabled. Check progress in Settings → Guests → Guest photo search. Videos do not count toward photo-search progress. Temporary processing failures retry automatically; images that cannot be read are shown as unprocessed rather than ready. Replace an unreadable image with a JPEG or PNG to try again.

Replacing a photo clears its previous face matches and prepares the replacement. New or replaced photos may take a few minutes to appear in searches.

Selfie search respects gallery passwords and availability. Guests do not receive matches for hidden, trashed, or client-only photos, or photos in hidden sets. Verified clients can match their client-only photos after unlocking client access.

For the best matches, use a clear, front-facing selfie of one person. Group photos are supported, but small, blurry, obscured, or turned-away faces may not match. Selfie search cannot guarantee every photo someone appears in. The selfie is used for the search and is not saved by FOCL.

What keyword search is good at

Keyword search understands what is in a photo, so concrete things work well: cake, rings, flowers, sunset, kids.

Broad moments are harder. To the AI, most of a wedding looks like a wedding, so “ceremony” and “first dance” match far too much.

Tag the moments yourself

1. Select the photos.
2. Choose Tag for search.
3. Give them a word, such as “first look” or “speeches”.

Your tags beat the AI. A guest searching that word gets exactly the photos you tagged and nothing else. This is the reliable way to make moment-based searches work.