That doesn't mean I can't recognise people when I see them, though that can sometimes be a struggle. It's just that I can't (or don't) "picture" them later.
I've never considered it a problem. For a start, because I've no clear idea of what I look like, either, I've never had to worry much about that. Slightly more strangely, and it took me a long while to realise this, I've never taken or collected family photographs; I've managed to remember who my relatives are perfectly well without having to get them to pose, yet it's my relatives who think that's odd.
If there is a downside, it's that I'd make a terrible witness. But I have a feeling that most witnesses are fairly terrible, it's just that most of them don't know it. As you said, we all experience things in unique ways, and that's only a problem if we forget it.
Which is largely why I don't care for "aphantasia" as a label. It's like having a word for people who don't dream in music or visualise mathematical functions; it'd include so many, that it'd serve no purpose.
from all i read about things like this, the more it become apparent that we all experience things in a unique way.