Date/Time Original
When the photo was taken, as local time on the camera clock. This is the date most apps show.
- EXIF tag ID
- 0x9003
- Group
- Date & time
- Example
- 2019:01:13 07:30:39
- Editable in EXIF Viewer
- Yes
What iPhone writes
Set from the phone clock; always correct unless the photo was edited or imported.
What dedicated cameras write
Only as accurate as the camera's clock — the most commonly wrong field, and the most commonly edited.
Privacy
Combined with GPS, reveals exactly when you were where. You can remove this field — or all metadata — with the online remover or the app.
How to view Date/Time Original on iPhone
Open the photo in Photos, tap Share, then View EXIF (EXIF Viewer’s action extension). The field is listed under “Date & time”. Tap Edit to change it, or select several photos in the app to change them all at once. Or drop the photo into the free online EXIF viewer.
Related tags
- Create Date (Date/Time Digitized) — When the image was stored digitally. Same as Date/Time Original for digital cameras; differs for scans.
- Modify Date (Date/Time) — When the file was last modified by software that updated the field.
- Offset Time Original — The time zone of Date/Time Original, e.g. +05:30. Without it, the time has no zone.
- Sub-second Time — Fractions of a second for the capture time, so burst frames sort correctly.