Immich•6mo ago

Trying to get proper dates for iOS images

I used icloudp to download and set the exif data for all my images. I then deleted all .MOV and .MP4 files and used Mac Photos app to export them and used the script at the bottom to fix the dates using the XMP files only MacOSX exports.

I then used immich-go to upload all photos and all videos that I had fixed. Went fine. Finally installed the app on my phone and did a sync and it uploaded a few 1000 photos instead of finding them already. When I de-duplicated the whole lot in one button press it kept a lot of the synced ones with wrong dates and not the ones I had fixed and manually uploaded so for example for today it shows me about 15 photos from different points in time from years ago.

I'm losing patience at this stage. I had to setup a VMWare MacOSX just for the video export. I still have all the images from icloudp and videos from MacOS export. How do I get it to deduplicate the synced versions and not the ones I uploaded manually?

Fionally I ran a app I made myself to add photos to albums wherer I could the imahe names from the albums using icloudp which also worked flawlessly.

The script I ran to download using icloudp:

icloudpd \
--username your_icloud_email@example.com \
--directory /path/to/download/folder \
--size original \
--set-exif-datetime

Script I ran (and edited to work with mp4 and mov files): https://quinncasey.com/41-homelab/quick-notes/change-modification-time-of-icloud-videos/

I want sync to work so that I can delete photos from my phone album/icloud when I delete them in the phone app so this is important. It worked fine yesterday on my first attempt but I didn't do the video step so reinstalled everything and went again with the video step included. Videos are not the ones it has dated wrong and kept.

Quinn Casey

…

Unlike photos, videos do not contain any internal metadata describing how/when/where they were first taken (EXIF data). Therefore, when exporting any kind of video from Apple Photos the files do not contain any information about when that video was actually taken.
My Android device / Google Photos gets around this by setting the Modification Tim...

Immich•6/30/25, 3:57 PM

:wave: Hey @FecklessLizard,

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Immich•6/30/25, 3:57 PM

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FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 4:01 PM

I do not think I need to upload any files. I am using the latest image with stock docker compose and env file with only changes being my passwords for postgres. I am using remote image ML which is working fine on my machine with a GPU. I am using Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS. The storage is fine, it's on a mounted NAS. Everything is recent. I really do not think you need any logs or whatnot. All container statuses are fine.

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 4:36 PM

Is there a some way to force deuplication to figure out the correct image? Or why is sync not recognising the image already exists on the server? Either of these would solve the issue.

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:14 PM

I got a license to support you, c0ldfyr3@gmail.com

Mraedis•6/30/25, 7:18 PM

As for deduplication: are they identical?

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:19 PM

i mean, one was downloaded using icloudp and exif set, and the other uploaded directly via sync in the ios app

Mraedis•6/30/25, 7:19 PM

Because upload only recognizes identical images

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:19 PM

so the difference would onlty be exif data

Mraedis•6/30/25, 7:19 PM

So the funny thing is, by using an exif tool you change the checksum, thus 'breaking' the deduplication checker

Mraedis•6/30/25, 7:20 PM

the 'correct' way to add dates is to either use the API or use an XMP sidecar

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:20 PM

yet it still deduplicates and finds them because i'm using immich-ml with a GPU

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:20 PM

how do I use the XMP sidecar?

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:20 PM

only by exporting from MacOS?

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:21 PM

not sure how i can use the api to properly date the collection

Mraedis•6/30/25, 7:23 PM

easiest way to get an example is changing the date in the GUI for any file and checking the filesystem for the filename.extension.xmp that was created next to it

Mraedis•6/30/25, 7:23 PM

If you make such files and run "extract metadata" on all it will update everything

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:23 PM

in what gui?

Mraedis•6/30/25, 7:23 PM

the immich gui?

Mraedis•6/30/25, 7:24 PM

As for how to set the date with the API, no experience there personally

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:24 PM

yeah i know i can set the dates in the gui

Mraedis•6/30/25, 7:24 PM

I meant to make a single example to work with

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:24 PM

but foir images that are varios years old showing up as today i dunno

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:24 PM

i am using the api already to add files to albums

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:25 PM

io wrote a .net app to add thje files to the albums because using immich-go to upload files downloaded using icloudp doesn't do albums

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:26 PM

i just want my ios files to sync and have proper dates man

Mraedis•6/30/25, 7:32 PM

Don't we all

FFecklessLizard i just want my ios files to sync and have proper dates man 😦

Alex Tran•6/30/25, 7:32 PM

the file itself is the problem

Alex Tran•6/30/25, 7:33 PM

I mean, the way iOS/macOS give you the file is the problem unfortunately

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:35 PM

yeah i know, but i'm trying to fix that

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:36 PM

I have downloaded and fixed the dates on the files now i just need deduplicate to only delete the newer (dated) files

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:37 PM

it uses ML to find the duplicates so it finds them, one uploaded via immich-go with corrrect date and one via sync with random date but seems to de-dupe only the ones with the crap date

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:37 PM

is there a way on macos or any other way to sync the album with correct dates without using icloudp

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:44 PM

i'm a veteran developer of 20 years so i have no issue writing some api stuff if that helps

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:44 PM

i already wrote an app to add my images to the albums after uploading with immich-go

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:57 PM

ok i am exporting everything from macos VM and they all come with an xmp file

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 7:57 PM

does immich-go recognise them from that?

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 8:03 PM

if i use os.utime on the file will it change the image in such a way that immich won't realise it's the same file during an ios sync?

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 8:05 PM

just did the same thing and i have a pile of trash images from "today" which are years old

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 8:15 PM

i think exporting them from macos with the xmp file and using immich-go is the way forward

FFecklessLizard does immich-go recognise them from that?

Mraedis•6/30/25, 8:22 PM

it should, yes

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 8:46 PM

https://couteausuis.se/tinkering/2023/10/13/migrate-apple-photos-to-immich/

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 8:49 PM

FecklessLizardOP•6/30/25, 8:49 PM

the MacOS VM seems to be doing it's job

FecklessLizardOP•7/1/25, 3:27 PM

Is another possible solution to the iOS wrong dates problem simply naming the files with icloudp with the correct dates, then using immich-go --date-from-name to upload?
It's taken 20 hours and still only at 15% of exporting 11k files from my MacOSX VM photo library due to osxphotos constantly crashing
(icloudp) icloud_photos_downloader

Mraedis•7/1/25, 5:26 PM

Sounds very feasible to me

FecklessLizardOP•7/3/25, 12:32 AM

Wrote a post about the method I used that works flawlessly: https://www.reddit.com/r/immich/comments/1lq4iam/best_way_to_import_your_ios_library_with_correct/

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