Incorrect date when importing some photos from iPhone
This error occurs with photos that were not originally taken on an iPhone, but saved to a gallery from messengers. This makes it impossible to import photos correctly into Immich.
The dates don't match very much, for several years. Recent photos show people who have already died.
It is unclear where Immich gets such dates from. I checked - there are no such dates in the source files themselves and cannot be in principle.
How can I fix this?
Thank you.
12 Replies
:wave: Hey @UnetD,
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If this ticket can be closed you can use the /close command, and re-open it later if needed.I use a fresh Immich instance on PikaPods.
Files downloaded from other sources may not contain the exif data required for accurate dates. It probably is just using the download date
Unlikely. For example, the photo in the iPhone gallery has the date 2019-04-23. Today, on 2025-05-14, I uploaded it via the Immich iPhone app. And it is displayed in the Immich timeline with the date 2025-04-12. There is no visible connection to this date.
When did you download the photo? You can validate the data using something like exif tool from the file you downloaded
The date is used in this order for whatever is found first
This image is downloaded today. I have no exif tools now. But there is only one date shown in photo properties in iPhone gallery and in Files (after saving this photo to Files) - 2019-04-23
Date within Immich:
All I can say is the order above is what immich reads the date info from in that order. You will have to look at the exif information or zip the file and send it for someone to check out.
I also have this photo synced via Synology Photos. This photo has the correct date in the file in the storage and the correct date in the timeline in the Synology Photos interface. But the EXIF in the file is empty.
There is no date anywhere that Immich mistakenly assigned. And there are a lot of such photos with an incorrect date in Immich.
Would have to wait for a dev to confirm where date is pulled from if the EXIF is blank. I'm unsure
I've got the same issue. The IOS photos app seems to use the filesystem dates if there is no exif data. The picture below is dated with March 22nd 2024. But in immich web the picture is dated with April 20th 2025 and in immich mobile the picture is dated with April 21st 2025 (that difference between mobile and web is probably some sort of timezone issue, since the difference is exactly 3hrs).
Is there a way to use the filesystem dates with immich or do I need to manually change the date (or use exiftool) on all of the wrong pictures?
