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How to Download Photos from iCloud with Original Date?
Dates change when moving ICloud photos to external hard drive
Anyone with an IPhone know how to move files from ICloud to an external hard drive without the dates changing? I’ve synced my iCloud account to my Mac and all the photos I download have today’s date so they are all in a random order... I’ve asked Apple but they say there’s no way of getting the original date. Please help! Thanks in advance.
- Question from reddit.com
If you just stuck in the same situation and want to keep the original date from iCloud Photos. Don’t panic, here you can find the reasons and how to fix it easily. Let's find out.
Why Download Photos from iCloud with Date Changing?
When downloading photos from iCloud, some users find that the original date and time metadata can change or be lost. This happens because iCloud often records the download date as the "creation date" instead of keeping the original timestamp. Here are a few reasons why retaining the original date is important:
✔️ Organization: Maintaining the original dates allows you to keep your photos organized chronologically, especially when transferring them to other storage platforms or devices.
✔️ Accurate Sorting: Many photo management apps use metadata for sorting. Without the correct dates, your photos may appear out of order, making it harder to find specific images.
✔️ Legal or Professional Use: For professional photographers or for legal purposes, having the correct timestamp is crucial. Original metadata can serve as proof of when the photos were actually taken.
✔️ Backup Accuracy: If you’re syncing with another cloud service or backup, keeping the original dates ensures that your backup reflects the true timeline of your photos.
By knowing how to download photos from iCloud without altering their dates, you can preserve the authenticity and organization of your photo library across different platforms and devices.
How to Download Photos from iCloud And Keep Original Date? 3 Ways
In fact, you can keep the original date from iCloud in different ways.
Download Photos from iCloud and Keep Original Date on iPad
It’s quite easy to do that: download photos from iCloud into a new folder, then move the folder to external hard drive, and then you will get iCloud photos with the original date.
1. Please open the Photos app on your iPad, and then it will show you all of the iCloud Photos.
2. Choose photos and videos, tap the Share icon from the bottom left, then choose Save to Files from the list.
3. Choose On My iPad under Locations from the left side, create a new folder on your iPad, and choose the newly created folder as the destination, hit Save to save these selected iCloud photos.
4. Now, all these photos are moved with the original date. Open the Files app, find and long-press the newly created folder, and choose Copy from the list.
5. Then go to your external hard drive, long-press the blank section, and choose Paste to copy the folder to external hard drive.
6. Open up the folder, you will find that all the migrated iCloud Photos show up with the original date instead of the date of this operation.
Download Photos from iCloud with Original Date on Mac
It’s quite easy for you to import iCloud photos with original date and location, try the following steps:
1. Please log in to your iCloud account on the iCloud website.
2. Click iCloud Photos to show all photos and videos.
3. Tap Library from the left side, choose the photos and videos you’d like to download, and tap the Download icon from the top right.
4. Choose Unmodified Original to download iCloud Photos with original date.
5. Hit Download to confirm the downloading.
After the process is completed, you will get a zip file with all iCloud photos. Uncompress them to check.
Keep Original iCloud Photos on iPhone Photos
You can keep original date with iCloud Photos while sharing via AirDrop to another iPhone. Check the following steps:
1. Open up the Photos app, and open a photo, tap the Share icon from the bottom left.
2. Choose Options under the 1 Photo Selected (or something like that) section.
3. Enable All Photos Data, metadata including location, original date, and more information.
After that, move them into a safe location to keep them safe.
Protect Tip: Migrate iCloud Photos to Another Cloud for Security
Although you can download photos from iCloud and keep original date, your iCloud Photos might be lost due to viruses, disk failure, or other threats. Thus, it’s highly recommended to backup iCloud Photos to another cloud, so that you can access anytime even without apple devices. Fortunately, here comes the all-in-one web-based multiple cloud storage manager - MultCloud to do you a big favor.
- Safe: MultCloud offers 256-bit AES encryption, a standard OAuth authorization system and other measures to keep your files and privacy safe.
- Fast: You’re able to enjoy up to 10 threads to backup iCloud Photos faster without waiting all the time.
- Direct: MultCloud allows you to migrate iCloud Photos to another cloud or service directly without downloading.
- Flexible: You have multiple ways to move iCloud Photos to another cloud, like cloud to cloud backup, sync, transfer, share, copy to, and many more.
- Useful: You can set up useful settings, such as filter, schedule, email, sync modes, transfer methods, and more, which are user-friendly to use.
- 40+: MultCloud supports 40 + clouds and services, including Google Drive, Google Photos, iCloud Drive, iCloud Photos, Dropbox, OneDrive, SharePoint Online, Box, Amazon S3, ownCloud, Wasabi, Backblaze, and many more.
Therefore, how to backup iCloud Photos to Google Photos for example with MultCloud, simple steps are listed below:
1. Log in to your MultCloud after signing up.
2. Tap Add Cloud > iCloud Photos, follow the guide to add. Then add Google Photos in the same process.
3. Select Cloud Transfer, choose iCloud Photos or photos within it as the source and Google Photos the target location.
4. Hit the Transfer Now button to backup iCloud Photos to Google Photos right now.
Tips before migrating:
- You can set up Options > Delete all source files after transfer is complete to have this action done automatically, which will remove files from iCloud after it's done.
- You can configure Email, Filter, and other transmission methods under Options. It would be beneficial to be able to move certain photos from iCloud to Google Photos using Filter.
- Automating the transfer using Schedule allows you to set it up once and have it run every day, week, or month, saving you time from having to configure it each time.
- To take advantage of all premium features and a faster transfer speed (10 threads), please subscribe.
- Smart Share: Share cloud files via public, private, or source mode.
- One-key Move: Quick data transfer, sync, and backup among clouds.
- Email Archive: Protect emails to other clouds or local disks.
- Remote upload: Effectively save web files to clouds via URL.
- Save Webpages as PDF/PNG: Keep them locally or online.
- Safe: Full-time 256-bit AES and OAuth authorization protections.
- Easy: Access and manage all clouds in one place with one login.
- Extensive: 30+ clouds and on-premise services are supported.
Write in the End
How to download photos from iCloud and keep original date, it’s quite easy for you to operate. Just find the best way to protect your treasure iCloud photos. On the other hand, it’s highly recommended to backup iCloud Photos online so that you can access online anytime. Besides, if you want to migrate photos from iCloud Drive to iCloud Photos, MultCloud can also do the trick.
MultCloud Supports Clouds
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Google Drive
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Google Workspace
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OneDrive
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OneDrive for Business
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SharePoint
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Dropbox
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Dropbox Business
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MEGA
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Google Photos
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iCloud Photos
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FTP
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box
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box for Business
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pCloud
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Baidu
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Flickr
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HiDrive
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Yandex
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NAS
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WebDAV
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MediaFire
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iCloud Drive
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WEB.DE
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Evernote
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Amazon S3
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Wasabi
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ownCloud
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MySQL
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Egnyte
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Putio
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ADrive
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SugarSync
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Backblaze
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CloudMe
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MyDrive
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Cubby
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