Question: I don't like the feature that automatically detects faces in Photos for OS X because of the unnecessary CPU and disk space consumption. A photo library of 360 MB generated 50 MB of face detection data inside the Photos Library.

Is there any way to disable this feature in Photos for OS X?

Answer: 
Many people say it is not possible to disable that feature. But there might be some workarounds depending on your needs.

If you (and other users of the computer) do not want that feature, you might want to forcibly stop the program that performs the face detection/photo analysis.
The process (or *program*) responsible for the analysis is called `photoanalysisd`. you can be a bit bold about it and try to prevent the process from running altogether.

Forcibly stopping the program performing the analysis (2 alternative solutions)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Either: (A) Using an app to forcibly pause the *process* that performs the analysis**

As someone said [here](https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/332472/157998) you can use an external app to pause the process before it goes nuts and makes your computer heat up.

**Or: (B) Forcibly disabling the process *for the whole computer***

You could go for completely preventing the `photoanalysisd` process from ever starting up by entering a command in **`Terminal`**. The command requires admin privileges and that [`SIP`](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204899) be disabled temporarily, otherwise you would get a `permission denied` error.

So you can enter the command in the Terminal of the *Recovery Mode* (booting with Cmd (⌘) – Option (⌥) – R) or from your user session while `SIP` is disabled (but do not forget to enable it again afterwards).
In a Terminal, enter the following command

```
sudo chmod -x /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/PhotoAnalysis.framework/Versions/Current/Support/photoanalysisd

```

If you are running this in Recovery Mode, you might want to disable-reenable SIP all at once with the following:

```
csrutil disable
sudo chmod -x /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/PhotoAnalysis.framework/Versions/Current/Support/photoanalysisd
csrutil enable

```

Basically, it changes the permissions of the program file and forbids anyone from running it. This way, the system will not be able to start it and it won't be a burden for your CPU anymore.

PS: If you update to a newer version of MacOS, you will need to re-do this B) step, since the permissions will be restored.

PSS: If you ever want to enable it again, you might have lost track of this page... so put a note about it somewhere. At least, know that upgrading to the newest would reset.

PSSS: *Note that preventing the process from running might have side effects (even though I do not see any after few years)*.

Restoring the functionality (if used option B)
----------------------------------------------

You can always restore the permissions and everything would be back to normal with these commands run in *Recovery Mode*. Note the `+x` instead of the `-x`.

```
csrutil disable
sudo chmod +x /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/PhotoAnalysis.framework/Versions/Current/Support/photoanalysisd
csrutil enable

```
You can find the option in **View > Hide Face Names**.