Change name of photos on iPad

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Level 2

188 points

Change name of photos on iPad

I am trying to rename photos on my iPad. Using iPadOS 26.2, iPad Pro 13-inch (M4). I know that it can’t be done within the iPad’s Photos app. Last I heard, the way to do it was to save the photo to iCloud Drive, change the name there, and then save it back to Photos. But that isn’t working. I’ve tried two ways of sending the renamed photo back to the photos app:

1) Open the photo - it opens in the Preview app. Tap the down arrow next to the photo name in the top left of the screen. Then tap the little icon that looks like a square with an upward arrow pointing out of it. Then tap Save Image.

2) In the Preview, tap the square with arrow icon in the top right of the screen. Then tap Save Image.

Both methods save the photo in the Photos app with a name like IMG_5578. I think it used to work in a previous version of iPadOS, before photos were opening in the Preview app, although I don’t remember exactly what app was showing the photo - unless it was the Photos app itself. Again, I don’t remember.

Am I missing something?

iPad Pro, iPadOS 26

Posted on Jan 17, 2026 7:45 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Matti Haveri

Level 6

19,802 points

Jan 17, 2026 11:22 PM in response to jla930

I did a quick test:

From iPadOS 26.2 Photos take a fresh new image and then Export Unmodified Original to iCloud Drive (or to a SSD).

Either in Preview.app or in Files.app Rename the image and press the "v" in iPad keyboard to confirm that.

It seems Preview does not have "Save Image" which saves to Photos (only Copy etc) so I used Files.app view for that. BTW I have set Files.app to open images in its "Quick Look" instead Preview so I can scroll many images like in earlier iPadOS and macOS.

I did not delete the existing duplicate of the image but the renamed image(s) did appear in Photos.

BUT iPad Photos renames such copied or imported images with the next filename the camera roll uses so the old image was IMG_0945 and the images I had renamed were forced as IMG_0946 and IMG_0947. So that is a futile attempt.

And why do you want to rename Photos images in the first place?

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Answer 2

MrHoffman

Level 10

146,443 points

Jan 17, 2026 8:39 PM in response to jla930

If you’re renaming files that happen to be photos, use the Files app.

If you’re renaming photos already loaded into the Photos library and synced from iCloud, extract the photo, delete it from your library, rename the extracted photo, and reload it.

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Answer 3

jla930 Author

Level 2

188 points

Jan 18, 2026 12:39 AM in response to Matti Haveri

@Matti Haveri, so it sounds like it can’t be done without a third-party app. Thanks for checking it out. And thanks for the great suggestion of setting images to open in “Quick Look”. I didn’t think of it. Now I don’t have to close countless Preview windows.

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Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

200,645 points

Jan 18, 2026 1:42 AM in response to jla930

But to repeat Matti's question? Why do you want to rename the photos in Photos? It may be easier to achieve this purpose without renaming the photos. For example, if you want to share photos with a more useful filename, share them from the Files.app after renaming them.

Or, if you are trying to rename the photos to save additional information with the photos in Photos, add the additional information to the caption.

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Answer 5

jla930 Author

Level 2

188 points

Jan 17, 2026 9:04 PM in response to MrHoffman

@MrHoffman I’m renaming files in the photos app, the first option you refer to. They are not synced from iCloud. You say to use the Files app. When I say I’m saving them to iCloud Drive, that is through the Files app. Based on what you’re saying, it sounds like the key was to delete the original from the Photos app after saving it to iCloud and renaming it. I wasn’t deleting it before, so I just tried it. When I saved the renamed photo from iCloud Drive into the Photos app, it still didn’t retain the new name. It assigned it another IMG_xxxx name.

I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you mean by extract the photo.

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Answer 6

jla930 Author

Level 2

188 points

Jan 18, 2026 1:54 AM in response to léonie

@léonie, I forgot to answer @Matti Haveri’s question. There are some apps/websites to which I want to upload photos that seem to only give the option of uploading them from Photos, not from Files. In Files, I can give them descriptive names, and apparently, I can’t in Photos. Does putting info in the caption help? Is a photo searchable by the caption field?

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Answer 7

léonie

Level 10

200,645 points

Jan 18, 2026 2:16 AM in response to jla930

Yes, when I use the search in iOS26 and search for some text, that I have added to a caption, the search will find these photos. But I am not sharing photos to websites, so I cannot tell you, if the captions will be useful when trying to find photos for uploading.

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