Support

Getting started

Tap Continue on first launch to open the iOS photo permission request. You can choose limited or full access, or decline. PicSeek only searches photos you authorize. The index is built from newest to oldest, and the finished part can be searched right away.

Place search

Place-name lookup is off by default. Enable it in Settings → Place-name lookup after reading the disclosure about sending photo coordinates to Apple. You can turn it off at any time.

How do I search?

Describe the photo in one sentence, in Chinese or English, for example “ramen in Japan last year”, “photos with a receipt” or “beach sunset”. You can combine time, place, scene and text in the photo.

How long does indexing take? Why did it stop?

It depends on how many photos you have. iOS decides when background scanning can run; keeping the app open lets scanning continue. If progress stalls, open the app to let it continue and check that Settings → General → Background App Refresh is on and photo access still includes the photos you want to scan.

Why can’t I find some photos?

Check that the photo is not in the “PicSeek 不掃描” (“PicSeek Do Not Scan”) album, that indexing has finished, and that the free tier is limited to 1,000 photos (upgrade for more). Photos stored in iCloud may need to download before they can be analyzed.

How do I keep photos from being scanned?

Add them to the “PicSeek 不掃描” (“PicSeek Do Not Scan”) album that PicSeek creates; existing index entries for them are skipped as well. You can also exclude whole albums, photo types or date ranges in the Scan tab.

Choosing what to scan

Open the Scan tab to choose which albums to scan, exclude albums you don’t need, or exclude by photo type and date range. After you change this, photos outside the scope are removed from the index and no longer analyzed.

Why is the first search slower?

The first search loads the on-device model bundled with the app, which takes a few seconds to a few tens of seconds; later searches are fast.

How do I change the language?

Settings → Language offers System, Traditional Chinese and English. Unsupported system languages use English.

Plans and subscriptions

The free tier indexes 1,000 photos. Personal (20,000), Plus (50,000) and Max (100,000) are yearly auto-renewing subscriptions; the actual price is the one shown in the app and on Apple’s purchase confirmation. Cancel any time in iOS Settings → your name → Subscriptions; cancelling takes effect at the end of the current billing period.

Restoring purchases after a new phone or reinstall

Use the Apple Account you purchased with and tap “Restore purchases” on the purchase screen. Purchases follow your Apple Account; the search index is stored on the device, so it has to be rebuilt on a new phone.

Can I use it on a simulator or an older device?

The understanding model and text extraction run on the device. A physical iPhone is recommended for full speed and battery behavior; speed and power on a simulator are not representative.

How do I delete my data?

Use Settings → Clear index and stop scanning to delete the index and recent searches and stop scanning. Deleting the app also removes the local index. Photos in your library are not deleted; manage them in Photos.

Contact support

Email [email protected] with your device model, iOS version and the steps that led to the problem. Please do not send sensitive photos; if needed, send a screenshot with personal information covered.