How we put your photos on the right day (EXIF, explained simply)

When you add photos to Year Edition, they jump to the exact day you took them. No sorting, no dragging. Here's how that works and what to do when it doesn't.

What is EXIF?

When your phone takes a photo, it saves a small block of extra information inside the file. This is called EXIF data. It can include the camera model, the exposure settings, the date and time the photo was taken, and sometimes the location.

What Year Edition reads

We read only one thing: the date the photo was taken. That's all we need to place it on your calendar. This happens on your phone, in your browser, before anything is uploaded.

We remove the rest

Before a photo is uploaded, your browser re-draws it at a smaller size. That process creates a brand-new image file with none of the original hidden data. The GPS location, the camera details and everything else in EXIF are not uploaded.

Why some photos have no date

• Screenshots often don't include a "date taken" stamp.
• Photos forwarded through some chat apps lose their EXIF data to save space.
• Photos downloaded from social media are usually stripped too.
• Edited photos exported from some apps lose it as well.

What happens then

If a photo has no date, Year Edition uses the date the file was last saved on your device, and tells you how many photos that happened to. If it lands on the wrong day, tap that day, remove it, then tap the right day and add it there with the 📷 Photos button.

Tip: use originals

For the most accurate calendar, pick photos straight from your camera roll rather than from a chat or a download folder.