How to See When a Photo Was Taken (Find the Original Date)

Quick answer: A photo stores when it was taken in an EXIF field called DateTimeOriginal, written by the camera at the moment of capture. To see it, drop the photo into a free EXIF viewer; it shows the exact date and time. On iPhone, swipe up on the photo or tap (i). On Android, open Google Photos and tap Details. The file's "date modified" is not the same thing: it changes when the file is copied or edited, while DateTimeOriginal stays fixed to the real moment of the shot.

If you need to know the true date a photo was taken, do not trust the file's timestamp in your folder. Copying, downloading, or syncing a photo resets that date. The real capture moment is buried in the photo's metadata. Here is how to read it.

The fastest way: a browser EXIF viewer

Open our free EXIF viewer, drop the photo, and it shows the capture date and time straight from the file, along with the camera, lens, and exposure. It reads everything in your browser, so the photo never uploads. Works with JPEG, PNG, HEIC, and TIFF.

On iPhone

1. Open the photo in the Photos app.
2. Swipe up on the image, or tap the (i) info button.
3. The date and time appear at the top of the info panel.

This is the photo's stored capture date. To change it, see how to change the date on a photo.

On Android

1. Open the photo in Google Photos.
2. Swipe up, or tap the three-dot menu and choose Details.
3. The capture date and time are shown, often with the camera model.

On Windows

1. Right-click the photo and choose Properties.
2. Open the Details tab.
3. Look for "Date taken" under the Origin section. This is the EXIF capture date, not the "Date modified" you see in the folder.

On Mac

1. Open the photo in Preview.
2. Choose Tools, then Show Inspector.
3. The Exif tab lists the date and time the photo was captured.

Date taken vs date modified vs date created

These three confuse almost everyone:

• Date taken (DateTimeOriginal): the real moment the shutter fired. Written once by the camera and meant to stay fixed.
• Date modified: when the file was last changed or saved. Editing or re-exporting updates it.
• Date created: when this copy of the file was created on the current device. Copying a photo to a new phone sets this to today, which is why a 2019 photo can show today's date in a file browser.

Only "date taken" reflects when the photo was actually shot. That is the field the EXIF viewer reads.

Why the date might be missing or wrong

• No date at all: a screenshot, a heavily edited file, or a photo stripped by a social platform may have no DateTimeOriginal.
• Wrong date: a camera with the wrong clock or timezone, or a scanner that stamped today's date on an old print. You can fix it with our EXIF date editor, which writes the correct DateTimeOriginal into the file.

The short version

The real "when" is the EXIF DateTimeOriginal field, not the file date in your folder. Read it fastest with a browser EXIF viewer, with nothing uploaded. iPhone and Android show it in the photo info panel, Windows under "Date taken" in Properties, Mac in Preview's Inspector. If the date is wrong, the EXIF date editor fixes it.