maintaining corrected photo dates

Question

Level 1

18 points

maintaining corrected photo dates

I currently have all my photos in iCloud Photos & locally in my Photos library on my MacBook. I was looking into other options for my cloud backup in case I decide not to buy another iPhone or Mac computer.

Many years ago, I encountered some problems copying photos between old phones & computers, resulting in many photos having incorrect dates attached to them. (This was pre-cloud backup days, so the local copy was the only copy and had to be copied & backed up manually). I spent a long time painstakingly correcting the dates on hundreds, maybe even thousands of photos, but I did it. Everything is correct in the Apple Photos world.

However, it seems the dates I changed are only some kind of reference date for the Photos program, and do not actually change the metadata on the picture. So, if these photos are exported, or uploaded to another cloud like Google, the date reverts back to that incorrect date, making a huge mess of my photos all over again.

Has anyone else solved this issue when crossing between platforms? Is there an easy way to make the EXIF data match the date I assigned to the photo?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

MacBook Pro 13″, OS X 10.11

Posted on Mar 5, 2024 9:08 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

senor_pants Author

Level 1

18 points

Mar 5, 2024 11:48 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thanks everyone for the responses.

As I've continued playing with this, I see that I can export my photos library as either a new file or an unmodified original. I know I've done exports before, somehow don't remember seeing that option.

Good news: The new files do actually keep the edited date, and other sites like Google will read that date and put it in the right place.

Bad news: Everything gets dumped as a still photo, which is something I was trying to avoid. By uploading straight to Google Photos app, I was able to preserve those Live images and retain the sound & motion.

This may be my best solution if I'm moving to a new platform. I may maintain a separate, small Apple library that only holds my old Live photos while keeping a still copy somewhere like Google.

Reply

Answer 2

Mar 5, 2024 11:42 AM in response to senor_pants

The new date that you assign should be in the Metadata. It is not just an internal parameter-- it is part of the Metadata for the image. I just tried changing a data and exporting the edited image (not a movie, but it should be the same), and this is part of the Exif metadata

I had changed the date from 2024 to 2025, and you can see that recorded near the bottom of the image. But this apparently is not what Google and whoever are reading.

There are Exif editors in the App store, but I haven't used them. To change a bunch of files' metadata at once, I know, from previous posts, that Matti and I use the app GraphicConverter ($40) for batch operations like this. But this has to happen Outside of Photos on the exported files--programs that work on Photos files themselves may irreparably corrupt the Photos database.

Reply

Answer 3

Mar 5, 2024 9:42 AM in response to senor_pants

> it seems the dates I changed are only some kind of reference date for the Photos program, and do not actually change the metadata on the picture

Those date might have been the fragile file dates, not the more robust internal metadata dates.

Image dates are ~OK, but movie dates are still a wild west (not to speak of other movie metadata).

Movie dates and Photos.app - Apple Community

Reply

Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

200,753 points

Mar 5, 2024 12:03 PM in response to senor_pants

Which system version is running on your Mac?

When I want to share my Live Photos with someone who has no Apple device, I export the Live Photo with the animation effect applied (Bounce, Loop, etc) as an animated GIF. This will work on most other platforms. The file creation date will be the date and time the photo has been taken.

Some of the gifs can be very large, however. And the soundtrack will be missing.

Silent fireworks are strange.

Reply

maintaining corrected photo dates

Similar questions