DB Labs
Siri Photo Commands at a Glance
Say "Hey Siri" or press the side button and use commands like: "Show my photos from Paris," "Find photos of [person's name]," "Show screenshots from last week," or "Find videos of dogs." Siri opens the Photos app and filters your library to matching results. On iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16+ with Apple Intelligence, you can use full natural language sentences to search — Siri understands complex multi-part queries across your entire library.
Basic Siri Photo Commands
These commands work on any iPhone running iOS 15 or later:
| What You Want | What to Say |
|---|---|
| Photos from a place | "Show my photos from Paris" / "Show photos taken in Tokyo" |
| Photos of a person | "Show photos of [person's name]" |
| Photos from a date | "Show my photos from December 2024" / "Photos from last Christmas" |
| Photos of an object | "Find photos of dogs" / "Show pictures of sunsets" |
| Selfies | "Show my selfies" / "Find my selfies from last summer" |
| Screenshots | "Show screenshots" / "Find screenshots from yesterday" |
| Videos | "Show my videos from the beach" / "Find videos of [person]" |
| Favorites | "Show my favorite photos" |
| Recent photos | "Show my most recent photos" / "Show last photo" |
| Create album | "Create an album called [name]" |
Sharing Photos with Siri
Siri can help you share photos without touching your phone:
- "Send [contact] my latest photo" — Opens a Messages compose window with the most recent photo attached
- "Share the photo I took at [place] with [contact]" — Siri finds the photo and pre-addresses the message
- "AirDrop my last photo to [person's name]" — Initiates AirDrop if the recipient is nearby
- "Email the photo from [date] to [contact]" — Opens Mail with the photo attached
Memory Movie Commands
Siri can also work with Photos Memories:
- "Play my Memory from last summer" — Opens the matching Memory in full screen
- "Show me a Memory of [person's name]" — Finds and plays a Memory featuring that person
- "Make a Memory about our trip to Italy" (Apple Intelligence) — Generates a new Memory Movie from relevant photos
For more on Memories, see our guide on Apple Photos Memories.
Apple Intelligence Commands (iPhone 15 Pro & 16+)
On supported devices with Apple Intelligence enabled, Siri's photo commands become dramatically more powerful. You can use full natural language:
- "Show me all photos from our camping trip last July with the whole family"
- "Find photos where we were at the beach and it was sunny"
- "Show me photos of Jake and Emma at school events"
- "Find photos from when it was snowing"
- "Show me videos longer than one minute from last year"
Apple Intelligence processes these queries using its on-device model, which understands context, relationships, and implicit concepts. Results are more accurate and the AI can combine multiple criteria that traditional search cannot handle simultaneously.
These same searches are also available in the Photos app search bar as text input if you prefer not to use voice.
Tips for Better Siri Photo Results
- Name people in Photos first: Siri uses the names you assign in the People album. Go to Albums → People and name each face — then Siri can find "photos of [name]" reliably.
- Allow location access: Ensure the Camera app has location access (Settings → Privacy → Location Services → Camera → While Using). This enables place-based Siri searches.
- Be specific with dates: "Photos from the first week of June 2024" is more reliable than vague terms.
- Combine criteria: "Show photos of my dog from last Christmas" typically works — Siri can combine people, objects, and dates.
Related Photo Features
Siri photo commands pair well with the Photos app's built-in search. See our full guide on iPhone photo search tips for text-based search methods. For identifying what is in photos, try Visual Lookup. For more Siri tips across all of iOS, check our resources section.