Photos Showing the Wrong Date After a Transfer? Why It Happens and How to Fix the Timestamps
After moving photos to a new phone or computer, galleries often show the transfer date instead of the capture date. Every photo has two dates: the EXIF capture date inside the file and the file-system date on the disk. Transfers reset the latter; WhatsApp, resized email attachments, and some cloud downloads strip the former. This guide explains which transfer methods preserve EXIF, how to check whether the capture date survived, and how to repair timestamps in bulk from filenames or Google Takeout JSON sidecars.
Key Topics Covered
EXIF capture date vs file-system date
Transfer methods that strip metadata (WhatsApp, email resize)