Issue with time stamping on macOS devices
Issue with time stamping on macOS devices
I work with both a Windows PC and a Mac, and I'm curious about this problem where Apple software doesn't properly record timestamps on image and video files taken on an iPhone. Could you describe the situation? For example, a photo or video taken on 19th September 2018 was saved from the Photos app on MacOS on 20th November 2018. The issue is that the file’s creation date always shows the export date—not the actual creation date. I’ve tried third-party EXIF tools for images, but videos remain problematic. This leads to inconsistent dates and times being recorded. In the Photos app, the same image or video might show a different timestamp (like 21st September). It seems even senior Apple advisors didn’t recognize this as an issue, calling it “Expected Behaviour.” How can someone else explain this inconsistency? Any ideas for fixing the video timestamp problem would be appreciated.
EXIF information and file metadata are distinct concepts. The photos app builds files on the filesystem, so the creation timestamp reflects when you export the file—when it actually exists on the storage device. It doesn’t transfer the phone’s original metadata directly; only image-specific data is copied. This explains the observed behavior. Filesystem metadata (such as dates) are managed separately from EXIF details.