In Summary
Exif helps you identify various aspects of an image captured by a digital camera, such as its name, file size, the name of the device it’s shot on, the camera settings used to shoot it, etc. Till now, if you had to view Exif metadata for an image on your iPhone or iPad, the only way you could do it was using third-party apps or shortcuts. Apple changes this with iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 by bringing native support for Exif data on the Photos app, as you can see in the guide below.
Depending on what device you use, you may have the option to view the Exif data of images in the native photo or gallery app. However, if you’re on an iPhone or an iPad, you didn’t have such functionality on the Photos app till iOS 14 and iPadOS 14. And therefore, you had to work around that using third-party apps or shortcuts. Fortunately, with the release of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, that’s no longer the case, as Apple is finally offering the ability to view Exif data right inside the Photos app. So if you’re on iOS 15 or iPadOS 15 on your iPhone or iPad, here’s how you can use view Exif data of images on the Photos app.
Steps to View Exif Data in Photos on iOS 15 and iPadOS 15
Since the Exif functionality is available only on the Photos app in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, make sure to update your iPhone and iPad to these latest versions, respectively. Once done, follow the steps below to view Exif metadata in Photos:
Launch the Photos app. Open the photo/video whose Exif data you want to view. Tap the i (or info button) at the bottom (on iPhone) and on top (on iPad) to bring up the Exif information card for that image.
On this card, you can view all the metadata about the image, such as its name, day and date of capture, resolution, file size, and the name of the device it’s shot on, along with the camera settings (ISO, aperture, shutter speed, etc.) used at the time of capture. However, do note that images/videos shared via messaging apps/social media lose their Exif data, so you won’t be able to see it in the Photos app. Besides, you can also add or modify some of the field values on this Exif card. For instance, you can add captions to your images to provide additional information or use them as tags to organize similar images so you can search them easily using the Photos search box. To add a caption, click on the Add a caption field, enter your text, and hit the Done button. Besides caption, you can also modify the time and date settings for when an image is captured. For this, hit the Adjust button beside the date and time in the Exif card view. Next, change the date and time using the calendar and time settings. Moreover, if required, you can also tap on the Time Zone settings to change the time zone for the captured shot. Once you’ve modified these values, hit Adjust to save the settings. Lastly, the Exif card also lets you adjust the capture location after you’ve taken the picture. While iOS automatically geotags images if you have the location services enabled on your device, there are times when it may identify the location incorrectly. Or, in the worst-case scenario, not geotag an image at all since you didn’t have the location services active at the time of capture. It’s in situations like these when you can adjust (or add) location for an image. For this, while in the Exif card view, click on either the Add a location button: if an image doesn’t have a location already, or Adjust: if it’s already geotagged and you want to adjust the same. In either case, you’ll see a card with a search box. Click on it and search for the location you want to geotag the image with, and select it from the search results.
Successfully Viewing Exif Metadata of Photos in iOS 15
iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 bring along some exciting new features. In some cases, such as with the Live Text and Exif data features, the functionalities are built right into the Photos app to eliminate the need for third-party apps and offer a seamless experience. Now, whenever you need to find out the metadata for images on your iPhone or iPad, you can do so easily from the Photos app with the help of this guide.
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