Searching photos by date not possible on ios 17

Why can you no longer search for photos by date? For example, if I wanted to see all my photos over the years from October 1, I would simply search the date and click on the date that would pop up. Now, when you search for the date there is no date popup and you just photos across a variety of dates.

iPhone 13 Pro

Posted on Oct 1, 2023 6:09 PM

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35 replies

Oct 3, 2023 5:36 PM in response to razo95

Hi razo95,


It shows on the iOS 17 User Guide that you should be able to search the Photos app by date: Search for photos on iPhone. To troubleshoot this, you can follow the first three steps in If an app on your iPhone or iPad stops responding, closes unexpectedly, or won’t open as the app is not working as expected. The Photos app is not able to be removed which is why step 4 won't work for your situation.


If it continues, note: "If the app is made by Apple or came with your iPhone or iPad, contact Apple Support for your iPhone or for your iPad."


Take care.

Oct 3, 2023 6:28 PM in response to razo95

Hey there razo95,


What you're experiencing is expected. According to the resource we provided before, Search for photos on iPhone - Apple Support:


Tap Search, then tap the search field at the top of the screen to search by any of the following:
• Date (month or year)


If you would like to see options for more specific date searches in the future, you can let the appropriate teams at Apple know about it here: Feedback - Photos - Apple


Have a great day!

Oct 5, 2023 5:50 AM in response to mrhaymack

From what I have been able to gather, the ability to search by specific day (ie 10/2) has been eliminated in iOS17 and macSonoma.

If you've upgraded your device this functionality no longer exists.


The updated "search photos" write up from Apple (posted earlier in this thread) specifically references that search by "date" now means "(month or year)" only.


I've made a feature request to Apple support for the "by day" search to be added back but I'm not holding my breath.


Sorry but it appears the elimination of search by day is a feature and not a bug of the latest software.


Oct 7, 2023 8:44 AM in response to piercedbysorrow

Based on prior experience, there will be no way to know until it shows up in an update or new OS at some future point.


Usually a feature removal of this kind is intentional.


You can (as I have done) submit a request that the search by date feature in Photos be restored to Apple here:

Product Feedback - Apple

Don't hold your breath.


Hope that's helpful.

Oct 8, 2023 9:36 AM in response to Samok488

I feel your pain.


To be clear, you can still search by Month and Year.

For example, search for "October 2019" will return all photos you took in month of October in the year 2019.

Search for "October" will return all photos you've ever taken in the month of October.


I know that is not what we are all looking for. But at least you can still do that.

What's no longer available is ability to look at all photos ever taken on a specific date (ie 10/2)


Hope that's helpful.

Oct 10, 2023 12:44 PM in response to mmraoua

mmraoua - So here's a crazy next step hack that seems to be working - at least on macOS Sonoma - have not found a similar option that allows apps to use a different language than the system language in iOS.

(If you do, please share.)


On MacOS Sonoma, rather than set the language for your entire device to French...

Go to Settings>Language and Region>Applications, add the Photos app and select French as the region.


The Photo app (only) will be in French and as long as you use French date conventions (ie 2.10 for October 2) search will return all photos in your Library taken on October 2 of all years.


Who knew!?!

Searching photos by date not possible on ios 17

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