Deep dive into Image analysis and sorting
With Apple Intelligence in iOS 26, your device can now understand the content of your photos, enabling powerful new automations. This deep dive explains how you can use a new Shortcut action to analyze images and automatically sort them based on what they contain, such as whether or not people are present. This feature transforms the tedious task of organizing your photo library into an automated workflow, saving you time and effort.
What's new
The core of this feature is the enhanced Use Model action in Shortcuts. Previously limited to text, this action can now accept images as input. You can ask a question about the image in natural language and receive a structured response. A key addition is the ability to request a Boolean output (a simple 'yes' or 'no'), which allows you to build powerful conditional logic directly into your shortcuts. For instance, you can now create a workflow that checks if people are in a photo and then performs a specific action based on the answer.
How to use this feature
- Create a new shortcut and add the Select Photos action. Enable Select Multiple to process photos in batches.
- Add a Repeat with Each action to loop through the photos you selected.
- Inside the loop, add the Use Model action. For the prompt, type a question like, "Are there people, human beings, in this photo?"
- Tap the arrow to expand the action's options and change the Output type to Boolean. This will ensure the response is a simple yes or no.
- Add an If action directly below. Set the condition to check if the Response from the Use Model action is 'No'.
- Inside the If block, add a Save to Photo Album action. Choose the Repeat Item (the original photo) as the item to save, and select an album like 'Landscapes'. The shortcut will now automatically file any photo without people into that album.
Key capabilities
- Automated Photo Sorting: Effortlessly organize your photo library by creating shortcuts that file images into specific albums based on their content, like separating landscape photos from portraits.
- Smart Filtering: Quickly find specific types of photos by running an analysis. For example, you can create a shortcut to identify all photos containing text, which is useful for finding screenshots of receipts or documents.
- Contextual Information Retrieval: Go beyond simple sorting by asking detailed questions. A shortcut could describe the main subject of a photo, identify landmarks, or even list the dominant colors in an image, providing rich metadata on demand.
- Conditional Workflows: Use the 'yes' or 'no' response to trigger complex chains of actions. If a photo contains a person, you could run a follow-up action to add it to a shared album; if not, you could move it to an archive.
Tips for getting the most out of this feature
For the best results, be specific with your prompts in the Use Model action. Instead of just "people," using "people, human beings" can improve accuracy. You can also chain multiple analysis shortcuts together. For example, first sort photos with people, then run a second shortcut on the remaining photos to separate landscapes from photos of pets.
Summary
Image analysis in Shortcuts, powered by Apple Intelligence, fundamentally changes how you can interact with your photo library. By enabling your device to understand visual content, you can automate sorting, filtering, and metadata generation in ways that were previously impossible. This capability allows you to build custom, intelligent workflows that keep your photos perfectly organized with minimal manual effort.
