# Queryable - Photo Search App — user reviews

> 64 indexed App Store user reviews of Queryable by SmashMelon LLC, rated 4.70/5 from 87 ratings.

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/queryable-photo-search-app/id1661598353/reviews
- App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/queryable-photo-search-app/id1661598353.md
- Rating breakdown: 5★ 75 · 4★ 8 · 3★ 0 · 2★ 0 · 1★ 4

## What do users think of Queryable?

Overall sentiment: mixed

**Pros**

- 🚀 Fast and effective search
- 👍 Easy to use
- 💡 Innovative AI search technology
- 🔒 Privacy-focused (offline processing)
- ✅ Finds photos missed by native search
- 💯 Highly useful for large libraries

**Cons**

- 🐛 Freezes and crashes
- 🐛 Inconsistent results (false positives/negatives)
- 🐛 Videos appear black
- 🐛 Not working on Mac
- 🐛 UI is basic/rudimentary
- 🐛 Slow model loading
- 🐛 Limited access to photo library
- 🐛 Not working on older devices (A12X)
- 🐛 Images appear blurry/floues

**Commonly reported bugs**

- App freezes after analyzing ~12k photos
- App freezes when selecting a photo and searching for similar
- App crashes during indexing
- App freezes on Mac
- Videos won't playback, appear black
- App returns black photos and irrelevant results on Mac
- App crashes immediately after search
- App doesn't work on iPad Pro
- App doesn't work on older iPads (A12X)
- Indexing stops if app is used while indexing
- Deleted photos are blank
- App crashes when trying to view image

**Most requested features**

- Multi-select for many images
- Copy/move selected images to other apps
- Open images in native Photos app
- Masonry-like image display
- Fix iPad horizontal mode image shrinking
- Select all photos feature
- Move selected photos to Files folder
- Support for Chinese language
- Search in Brazilian Portuguese
- Search in Spanish
- Search in German
- Search in French
- Choose clip model for keywords
- Access to photo location/folder
- Voice search
- Incremental index building
- Automatic background index updating
- Gestures for navigation
- Display metadata by default
- Show photos taken around same time
- Sort results by date
- Filter by location
- Work with arbitrary folders on macOS
- Better photo app integration
- Zoom in on images
- Share images from the app
- Swipe left/right to browse images
- Refined UI/UX
- Add a nuage de mots-clés for results
- Add more languages
- Add gestures
- Add ergonomics
- Order results by timestamp
- Filter by location
- Show info about photo by default
- Show photos taken around the same time
- Better photo app integration
- Delete photos
- Fix blank deleted photos

## Newest reviews (16 of 64)

### 4/5 — Great app!

*2026-07-30*

Great search function, but how do you sort search results by date instead of by the perceived closeness to the query?
Why not integrate a simple older first/newer first?

### 4/5 — 👍🏼

*2025-12-02*

Bonne application avec un bien meilleur résultat que l’application native d’Apple. 
Il manque une fonctionnalité importante : la possibilité lorsqu’une photo a été trouvée de pouvoir la localiser directement dans l’appli Photos

**Developer response:** Merci pour ce retour ! On aimerait vraiment proposer cette fonctionnalité, mais malheureusement Apple ne permet pas aux apps tierces d'ouvrir une photo directement dans Photos. On espère que ça changera un jour !

### 4/5 — It’s great!! but…

*2025-10-19*

I like how quick and easy it is to use. One issue I have is that the images aren’t masonry like on the photos app which makes it a bit hard to see but its not a big deal imo. When selecting multiple images I wish you could multiselect a lot of images like on the photod app. I’d also like if you could copy your entire selection in the share option or move them to another app. The only action you can take is deleting it which is neat but more options (like copying or ideally opening them in another app) would be great! 

On the iPad if your in horizontal mode and you open an image. The image apparently shrinks in size. You have to put it on vertical one and back to horizontal mode to fix it.

If a couple of this changes could be implemented that would take this application from a great app to a extremely useful one. Overall this is a great project! Keep up the great work!!!

If I see any of these changes I’ll be happy to give this a 5 star!

### 4/5 — Select all feature

*2025-10-07*

This app is truly amazing however the feature to select all photos as well as a way to move selected photos to the files folder or another 3rd party app is severely missing.  These two options would be a complete game changer.  Please try to implement them.

### 4/5 — Well

*2025-09-05*

For some reason it has a difficult time matching words if they are in larger font.   It also keeps freezing after selecting a photo and searching for similar.

### 4/5 — 希望增加支持中文

*2025-06-21*

I really love this app! If it could support Simplified Chinese, it would greatly enhance the user experience for Chinese users. I'd also actively recommend it to friends and communities, helping the app tap into the huge potential of the Chinese market.

**Developer response:** Hi, Chinese is a separate app called "寻隐". The reason why it is made into two apps is that a model needs to be trained separately for each language. In order not to contain useless Chinese models in Queryable, two separate apps are made. However, Apple does not allow two apps with the same function and icon to appear in the same region, so only the Chinese area has 寻隐 on the App Store, and only the non-Chinese area has Queryable on the App Store. Please understand.

If you only want to download the Chinese version, please apply for a refund first, and then download "寻隐" in China.

### 4/5 — False positives

*2024-12-28, version 2.0.0*

Many, many false positives, but catches many true hits that Apple’s Photos app misses.

### 3/5 — Super idée !

*2024-12-26*

Recherche top top , parcontre toutes les photos sont floues est ce normal ?
Merci :)

**Developer response:** La photo est floue car elle est stockée sur iCloud. Allez sur la page de détails de la photo et cliquez sur le bouton de téléchargement iCloud pour voir l'image en haute résolution.

### 4/5 — Worth every bit of the price - with a couple of caveats…

*2024-11-17*

Full disclosure, I only downloaded it today - but this is a GREAT app for finding the photo you’re looking for. It uses an AI engine and does not collect any data. I have over 10,000 photos and the indexing (done offline, to assuage privacy concerns) was quick and painless. None of my photos are tagged beyond what happens automatically, but it finds what I’m searching for EVERY TIME!

Cons: You cannot organize photos using this app, or perform any bulk operations (like send multiple photos) - these functions would really add value. The ability to search, multi-select, and send photos to an iOS Photos album, email, or message would be game changing. Please consider this for a future update. Also, voice search would be great. 😬

But just for sheer search capability, what a find! Absolutely thrilled to have found this app for a one-time cost.

### 4/5 — Please consider add Chinese language support

*2024-04-01*

The version in China App Store will be taken down due to so called ‘regulation’, sooner or later.

### 5/5 — Amazing app!

*2024-03-05*

Way better than native ios search! The price is well worth it. Great job! It would be perfect if I could search in Brazilian Portuguese.

**Developer response:** Thank you for your positive feedback! Supporting a new language would double the size of the model. I have previously tried training models that support multiple languages and found that it can negatively impact the performance of the English model. I will try again to see if there are any new and better methods.

### 5/5 — Works great, minor improvements needed

*2024-01-28*

This is a desperately needed tool when you have thousands of images to search through. My main gripe is that it doesn’t let me go from the search result to the photo in my album, for some reason.

**Developer response:** This is due to Apple's restrictions on third-party apps, and there's nothing we can do about it. 

However, you can manually locate the photo in the album by using the date information at the bottom of the photo detail page.

### 3/5 — Whenever I search the result is a black box

*2024-01-19*

It would be nice if it worked as well on mac as it does on iOS.  Help?

**Developer response:** I apologize, but my expertise is solely in iOS development. Initially, due to user demand, I developed a basic version for MacOS. However, I have since ceased its maintenance. Regrettably, Apple's policy does not permit the exclusive removal of the MacOS application, so I kindly ask that you avoid using it on MacOS.

### 5/5 — Really amazing semantic search

*2023-12-11*

I’ve realized it’s surprisingly often I need a very specific photo that Apple Photos or Google Photos just can’t handle with its basic object search. But Queryable is able to handle these complex scenarios nearly every time! “Pizza box secured to a bicycle with cargo straps”? - got it! “Black cat loafing on a piece of styrofoam”? - no problem! And entirely locally?? Super impressive.

Apple really needs to hire the person behind this app and integrate it into Apple Photos.

**Developer response:** Thank you for making me feel that what I do is meaningful.

### 5/5 — Bien pratique !

*2023-11-15*

Pas parfait, certes, mais un open source qui rend beaucoup de services. Merci

### 3/5 — App broken on MacM2

*2023-10-01*

While using search, app returns black photos and gives irrelevant results

## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated)

### 1/5 — Freezes

*2026-01-14*

The app freezes after analyzing 12.000 photos. I’ve got over 200.000 using iCloud. It freezes every single time around 12k on an iPhone 16e. It does not saves progress, so the analysis start over when you restart the app.

**Developer response:** hey please update to version 2.0.9, this issue should have been fixed.

### 1/5 — Keeps Crashing

*2026-01-05, version 2.0.8*

The application keeps crashing during indexing.  It has only indexed a proportion of my photos.

Those photos that I did index missed so many details.  People, locations, objects.

### 1/5 — Great App but…

*2025-09-22, version 2.0.8*

Videos won’t playback within the app, and just appear black.

### 1/5 — 1hr of indexing. app just crashes

*2023-09-10*

doesn't work. waste of time.

**Developer response:** Sorry are you using M1 or later chips?

### 1/5 — Für iPhone entwickelt.....

*2023-07-09*

...... leider keine Funktion auf X-Modelle.
Schade und seltsam.

**Developer response:** Ich habe versucht, dies in der App-Beschreibung zu erklären, aber ich entschuldige mich trotzdem für die verschwendete Zeit.

### 1/5 — A13 et +. Très moyen

*2023-02-10*

ATTENTION : Necessite un processeur A13 pour fonctionner. Sinon, inutile.
Testé sur ipad pro avec A12X : ne reconnaît RIEN
Installé sur iPhone 12 : les résultats sont très très moyen que ce soit en Anglais ou en Français. 
Par exemple "man with sunglasses on beach"
Des photos OK mais aussi mon chat, une fraise, plein de plages, mon épouse. 5 correspondant à la requete sur 50 affichées. 
Essayé d'affiner la requête mais c'est plutôt pire !
Donc amusant mais totalement inutile !
Peut être dans quelques mois...

**Developer response:** Mise à jour : Ce problème a été résolu.
-----------------
Je suis désolé de vous avoir fait perdre votre temps. J'ai fait une note sur le point "ne fonctionne pas sur les modèles inférieurs à la puce A13" dans la description de l'App Store et dans l'application, mais c'est effectivement un défaut de mon application, désolé.

En ce qui concerne le fonctionnement sur l'iPhone 12, vous pourriez peut-être essayer d'autres exemples. Le résultat de cette application n'est pas de "montrer tout ce qui correspond à votre description" (ce qui est bien sûr important), mais de vous aider à trouver cette photo dans votre esprit plus facilement. Donc, si vous vous souvenez de la photo, la décrivez, mais ne pouvez pas trouver la photo correspondante dans le résultat, vous pouvez demander un remboursement, désolé.

### 1/5 — App doesn’t work

*2023-02-09*

The app doesn’t work on my iPad Pro. I spend money for nothing.

**Developer response:** Update: This issue has been fixed.
---------------

Could you please provide the device name, and the specific don't working case? It does not work on below A13 chip. You may request a refund so it does not waste your money.

### 1/5 — Unusable - Crashes Immediately 🙁

*2023-01-31*

This looked like an interesting app and I liked that the developer took the time to respond to reviews so I installed on my iPad. 

It took about over an hour for the app to index all my 4,200 photos. If I tried using my iPad while it indexed the photos the process stopped and I had to restart once again. 🥱 

Once finished I tried a simple search, the app crashed immediately. I restarted the app and tried a dozen more times and got the same results. 🙁 

So basically I have lost several hours of my life on this non-functioning app and now I’m concerned that now all my photos have been accessed that they may have been uploaded and are out there for the world to see. 😬 

Maybe the developer is working on the bugs but for now it’s a no-go for me.

Update: The developer sent a response asking did I read the description before downloading? Suggestions the chip on my iPad is not new enough, even though it runs every other app with no issues whatsoever.

**Developer response:** Update: This issue has been fixed.

--------------------

I'm sorry for wasting your time.

TL,DR: Your iPad may not be A13 chip or above.

Details Version:
Have you took time to read the app description before download it?  In the description it required a A13(or above) chip device, which means your phone should be iPhone 11 or above. iPad are the same chip requirement.

This app runs the newest coreML model and could perform perfectly on required device(see other ratings), however it crashs or not working on below chips. As a developer I don't know how to fix this issue or limit user's device.

On indexing speed, it takes no more than 2 minutes to build index for 4,000 Photos on my iPhone 12 mini.

For "your photo may have been uploaded" doubt, don't worry, you did not even grant the app a network connection permission right? (It only asked for photo album permission) Any app that can upload your data need first to have access to network. So there's no way for an offline app to upload your information. I value privacy as much as you do.

In below app description I left suggestion for crash case & my contact for people who tried but still crash, you may try it out. Such as making sure you are A13 above first and turning off low battery mode, killing memory hungry app when indexing.

Is this reply answering your doubt? Still sorry again for wasting your time. I'm a little sad to get a one-star review, hope to hear your updated feedback : )

### 2/5 — Doesn’t Seem to Work on Mac

*2026-01-05*

I literally just bought this and used it on my Mac Studio and also on my MacBook Air. For both instances, it does not seem to function correctly. Any query brings up the same results. Reading a prior developer response, it appears the developer recommends not using it on Mac, but it’s listed as a Mac app on the store.

### 2/5 — Academically interesting

*2023-02-20*

Nice idea from an academic perspective but fails to meet the bar for a paid app and isn’t really better than the Photos app. 

 * the UI is rudimentary at best 

 * the model takes a long time to long load so the benefit of fast search is lost due to this wait time. Consider that iOS might boot your app out of memory any time, especially when switching between a lot of apps. When you next foreground the app the model has to reload. Developer: there’s a simulator setting that forces iOS to be aggressive about this for testing purposes 

 * it’s not even that fast, 10,000 photos on iPhone 14 Pro Max, can take a couple of seconds to execute 

 * can’t identify people by name (it will find people but the wrong people - how could it know anyway?) 

* can’t identify locations accurately (it might find somewhere you search for by name but entering the name of places I’ve never been still yields results)

Edit: thanks for the response. Tweaked my review slightly.

**Developer response:** Thanks for the review.

1.Yes, the UI is rather rudimentary. I thought about making it prettier, but that's not something I'm good at and I'll try to do better afterwards.

2.Loading the model only takes a long time the first time, after that it will be fast. Maybe this is unavoidable for large models. 

3.The speed is very unusual. On my iPhone 12 mini, a single search for 10,000 photos takes less than 1 second.  Maybe it's faster when you turn off low battery mode, or close apps with high CPU usage in the background.

3."identify people by name" means that it needs to know your contact information first, and I think it is very insecure for a third party to get this information.

4.The lag/long information of the photo could be get easily, but converting it to a specific city requires a network query. So it is not possible to get the city name offline, and to search by city. I'm trying to figure out how to parse out the city name in the offline case.

I hope this can answer your question, thanks again for your comment!

## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated)

### 5/5 — Found my missing photo right away

*2026-05-22*

I have just bought this, in desperation at trying to find a particular photo. I had been searching manually and through Apple Photos search functionality but could not find it. In desperation I bought this app and it found the photo on my first search! Very happy!

### 5/5 — Awesome app

*2026-04-15*

Just a fantastic app, search works super well and the developer has implemented most of the features I’ve wanted out of this app. Great job!

**Developer response:** :)

### 5/5 — It’s great!!

*2026-04-08*

I like how quick and easy it is to use. One issue I have is that the images aren’t masonry like on the photos app which makes it a bit hard to see but its not a big deal imo. When selecting multiple images I wish you could multiselect a lot of images like on the photod app. I’d also like if you could copy your entire selection in the share option or move them to another app. The only action you can take is deleting it which is neat but more options (like copying or ideally opening them in another app) would be great! 

On the iPad if your in horizontal mode and you open an image. The image apparently shrinks in size. You have to put it on vertical one and back to horizontal mode to fix it.

If a couple of this changes could be implemented that would take this application from a great app to a extremely useful one. Overall this is a great project! Keep up the great work!!!

If I see any of these changes I’ll be happy to give this a 5 star!

Edit: saw this awesome update go through!! Glad to see improvements are being made! Amazing app! :)

### 5/5 — Bravo

*2025-12-11*

Très utile.

### 5/5 — 很实用的app

*2025-11-28, version 2.0.8*

节省了很多时间去找照片

### 5/5 — Fast-Effective-Powerful App

*2025-06-08*

I have over 50,000 screenshots on an important subject that I need help finding daily. Queryable helps me find the needles in the haystacks! Will it always get it right? No. But it is a powerful tool that helps make the job of finding specific photos much easier. So bravo to the creators of this app! Thank you! May you all be blessed.  : )

**Developer response:** ❤️

### 5/5 — Incredible!

*2025-04-24*

Makes searching through my tens of thousands of photos much more efficient. Irreplaceable application. 10/10.

**Developer response:** Glad it helps!

### 5/5 — Fotos suchen, leicht gemacht.

*2024-12-26*

Tolle App. Bilder finden war noch nie so einfach. Schlagworte eingeben und fertig. Die zwei negativen Bewertungen über die App, kann man nicht wirklich ernst nehmen.

**Developer response:** Danke schön!

### 5/5 — Mi

*2024-12-05, version 2.0.0*

very nice this app.tnx dev

### 5/5 — Awesome app

*2024-07-24*

Just a fantastic app, search works super well and the developer has implemented most of the features I’ve wanted out of this app. Great job!

**Developer response:** :)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-01.*