Immich•6mo ago

Image Date Shown Incorrectly on Immich Server Despite Correct EXIF and Backup Info

I am moving my 18,000 photos and videos from iCloud Photos to Immich. I'm using the Immich app on macOS to upload all of my iCloud content to my Immich server. I've noticed that for over 40–60% of the photos, the EXIF data appears to change once the images are on the Immich server.

I've confirmed with @Alex Tran that my images do contain EXIF data and display the correct date. Even the Immich app backup page shows the correct date.
- However, once the asset is uploaded to my Immich server and I view it there, the displayed date is completely different.
- Additionally, the time zones do not match.

Immich•6/29/25, 2:38 AM

:wave: Hey @fredsco,

Thanks for reaching out to us. Please carefully read this message and follow the recommended actions. This will help us be more effective in our support effort and leave more time for building Immich :immich:.

References

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Immich•6/29/25, 2:38 AM

Checklist

I have...

:blue_square: verified I'm on the latest release(note that mobile app releases may take some time).
:blue_square: read applicable release notes.
:blue_square: reviewed the FAQs for known issues.
:blue_square: reviewed Github for known issues.
:blue_square: tried accessing Immich via local ip (without a custom reverse proxy).
:blue_square: uploaded the relevant information (see below).
:blue_square: tried an incognito window, disabled extensions, cleared mobile app cache, logged out and back in, different browsers, etc. as applicable

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Alex Tran•6/29/25, 2:39 AM

Alright can you remove that current img you sent me from GitHub and remove it from trash?

Alex Tran•6/29/25, 2:40 AM

Then drag and drop the image you zip up to send me on GitHub to the web app, and take the screenshot of the date where it is put into?

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 2:41 AM

will do! give me a sec

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 2:42 AM

I just did it but don't see any popup, just a quick loading circle

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 2:42 AM

does this mean it was uploaded?

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 2:42 AM

FYI I dragged and dropped the zip, let me do it unzipped lol

Alex Tran•6/29/25, 2:44 AM

Yeah unzipped pls

Alex Tran•6/29/25, 2:44 AM

Haha

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 2:44 AM

haha sorry but date is correct (however no GPS)

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 2:45 AM

so to sum, when drag and dropping directly to the immich web app the date is retained. using the APP on macOS it is not.

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 2:45 AM

can this perhaps be because I use the immich app on MacOS? I can try this by using my iPhone to isolate it..

Alex Tran•6/29/25, 2:45 AM

Yeah would be helpful

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 2:46 AM

give me a moment

Alex Tran•6/29/25, 2:46 AM

Even though the app works on macos but we never fully tested it on macos, so the file access api might behave differently there

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 2:46 AM

the downside is on iPhone the remainder of assets is reset even though all my pictures are on the server now

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 2:47 AM

so I think I will create an album on iPhotos and sync that it should be faster lol

Alex Tran•6/29/25, 2:47 AM

Yeah, current behavior is not very good. the rework upload mechanism will compare the hash with the server

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 2:48 AM

All good! Immich is getting there

give me a minute to create a temp album and only sync this.

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 2:56 AM

Even if I select only one album that just contains two photos for backup. the Total/Remainder is still 17629

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 2:57 AM

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 2:58 AM

I can delete all my photos on immich if there is no workaround I still have a backup on icloud for now

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 2:58 AM

seems like "recents" is always included by default? as I also can't specifically exclude it

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 2:59 AM

or I have another idea. I can download them locally and turn off icloud photos on iPhone.

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 3:05 AM

ok when uploading the photo using ios app the date shows for today.

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 3:06 AM

here is the same photo on icloud

Ffredsco seems like "recents" is always included by default? as I also can't specifically...

Alex Tran•6/29/25, 3:06 AM

no it is not

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 3:06 AM

@Alex Tran So drag and drop is ok. via app on mac and ios not

Alex Tran•6/29/25, 3:06 AM

hmm strange

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 3:06 AM

@Alex Tran you are right I was not turning on my VPN stupid me lol .. so it just hanged at that number..

AAlex Tran hmm strange

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 3:07 AM

Indeed strange, let me know if you need any help i.e logging etc.. etc. we can use my server as any form of testing hehe

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 3:08 AM

I even disabled storage template in setting as I thought maybe that messes something up but it did not change anything. It seems really something either from the APP or server.. I'd assume drag and dropping within web app uses the same function to extract exif data like using ios backup. as it is done server side?

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 3:09 AM

if not then you can isolate the issue easier

if both sides have different functions to extract

Alex Tran•6/29/25, 3:09 AM

let me do some thinking'

Ffredsco here is the same photo on icloud

Zeus•6/29/25, 3:09 AM

is this a screenshot or such? the overlay is odd

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 3:09 AM

Since this is open source I will also invest looking into the code as I am a software engineer as well.

sure!

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 3:10 AM

This overlay comes from instagram probably.. but the other photo also gives the same issue, which is not edited by any other social media platofrm

Zeus•6/29/25, 3:10 AM

I think it is possible that mac is applying the exif data when you share it on the macOS but not from the iOS

Zeus•6/29/25, 3:10 AM

so we can't 100% say that the original photo contains the exif

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 3:10 AM

@Zeus we tried even on iOS fyi.. same result.

Zeus•6/29/25, 3:11 AM

sorry i misphrased that

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 3:11 AM

for example this photo (is in icloud) 30 sept 2018..

I am going to upload it now to my server using the immich ios app one moment.

Zeus•6/29/25, 3:11 AM

however you shared it to github/the zip could have applied the EXIF data to the export

Zeus•6/29/25, 3:12 AM

It is known that the iOS / iCloud date is not always present in the exif, and apple does not always pass that data to immich

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 3:12 AM

ah!

Zeus•6/29/25, 3:12 AM

however when you export it my guess is it does apply the exif for export

fredscoOP•6/29/25, 3:12 AM

that changes a lot but isn't it strange thet the creation date does show correct in the backup page of the immich app. (where it shows the current asset to be uploaded?)

Zeus•6/29/25, 3:12 AM

this is especially seen for 1) whatsapp 2) screenshots and 3) sometimes videos

Zeus•6/29/25, 3:13 AM

could these be received on whatsapp?

Image Date Shown Incorrectly on Immich Server Despite Correct EXIF and Backup Info

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