---
title: "Find Photos by Describing Them: On-Device AI Photo Search"
description: "Describe a photo, like “red car at night” or “cake with candles”, and Lookpix Smarter Search finds it, even when nothing was ever labelled. An on-device model; your photos never leave your iPhone."
url: https://lookpix.app/features/ai-photo-search
---

# Smarter Search: Describe it. Find it.

> An optional on-device model understands whole scenes. Ask for a red car at night or a cake with candles, and Lookpix finds the photos that show it, even when nothing was ever labelled.

**Plan:** Pro

- Whole descriptions, not just single words
- Runs entirely on your iPhone
- A one-time download you can delete in Settings at any time

## How it works

1. **Download the model once.** A one-time download of about 150 MB from Hugging Face. Nothing else is sent.
2. **Lookpix looks at your photos.** While Lookpix is open, it prepares each photo for describing, on your iPhone.
3. **Describe what you see.** “people at a temple”, “red car at night”, “cake with candles”.

## How it works

Smarter Search uses SigLIP, an image and text model by Google released under the Apache License 2.0. It turns each photo and your description into numbers and finds the closest matches, all on your iPhone.

## Private by design

The model is downloaded once from Hugging Face. As with any download, Hugging Face sees standard request details such as your IP address. No photos, text or searches are ever sent.

## Questions

### Is Smarter Search free?

It's part of Lookpix Pro. Plain-English search and the text in photos are free.

### Can I remove the model?

Yes. Delete it in Lookpix's Settings at any time; regular search keeps working.