How to add the date, time and location to photos you already took on iPhone
Updated · 4 min read
To add the date and time to a photo you already took on iPhone, first read its original time and place by swiping up on it in Photos, then write exactly that onto the image with Markup, or with a stamping app that reads the photo's own data. Always work on a copy and keep the original untouched.
What matters is printing the time the photo was actually taken, not the time you are adding the text, and saying clearly that the stamp was added afterwards.
Do my existing photos already store the date and location?
Photos taken with the iPhone Camera always store the capture date and time, and store the location if the Camera was allowed to use it at the time. Open a photo and swipe up, or tap ⓘ, to see it. No map means no location. If the photo came through a messaging app or is a screenshot, the date may be when you received it or took the screenshot, not when the original was shot.
So for every photo, check that it is the original on your own phone before you trust its date.
How do I add the date to one photo with Markup?
- Open the photo in Photos, tap ⓘ and note the date, time and place.
- Tap ••• → Duplicate to make a copy, and open the copy.
- Tap Edit → the Markup button → + → Text.
- Type the date and time in one consistent format, e.g. "28/09/2026 07:58 – Phường Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội".
- Drag the text into a corner where it hides nothing, pick a colour that contrasts with the background, and tap Done.
On a Mac, Preview has the same Text tool, which is handier when you have many photos.
Is there a way to stamp many photos at once?
Typing on each photo only works for a handful. For dozens, use a stamping app that reads the date and location from each photo's own data (EXIF) and stamps them in a batch. When you choose one, check:
- Does it use the capture time stored in the photo, or the current time? The current time is wrong.
- What does it do with a photo that has no time or location: skip it, ask you, or make something up?
- Does it save new copies, or overwrite the originals?
- Does it demand access to your whole photo library, or only the photos you pick?
What should the stamp say so nobody is misled?
A stamp added after the fact is not the same as one burned in when the photo was taken, and the viewer deserves to know. Say where the time came from, e.g. "time from original photo", and never print what the photo does not have: if it has no location, do not type an address from memory as if it had been measured. A stamp that is honest about its limits is more useful than a complete one nobody believes.
How do I avoid having to do this again?
Adding a stamp later always costs more effort and convinces less than stamping when you shoot. If you often need dated photos, put a timestamp camera somewhere quick to reach, such as Control Center, so the stamp is there the moment you press the shutter.
What about screenshots and downloaded photos?
A screenshot carries the time of the screenshot, and a photo saved from a messaging or social app usually carries the time it was saved, with no location. Do not stamp those as if that were the original capture time. Find the original on the photographer's phone, or label the photo with the "date received" rather than the "date taken".