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Add the date and time to photos you already took (free, in your browser)

By Blink Brief · Updated  · How pages are made

To date-stamp photos you already took, stamp a copy with the date saved in each file: iPhone and Pixel cameras record it but can’t print it. The free tool below does it in your browser, with no upload and no app.

Stamp the date on photos

This tool needs JavaScript. To stamp a photo by hand:

  1. Find the date the photo was taken: on an iPhone or in Google Photos, open the photo and swipe up; in Photos on a Mac, select it and press Command-I.
  2. Open the photo in an editor with a text tool: Markup in Photos on an iPhone, Markup in Google Photos on Android, Preview on a Mac, or Paint on Windows.
  3. Type the date in a corner, in a light color over a dark part of the photo, and save it as a copy.

How it works

  1. Choose photos. Pick one or many, or drop them on the box on a computer. JPEG, PNG and WebP open in every current browser; HEIC opens in Safari on a Mac, or in any browser on an iPhone or iPad.
  2. Check the line under each preview. It says where the date came from: the date the photo was taken, saved in the file, or the file’s modified date when the photo has none.
  3. Choose the look. Pick the date format (2026-11-04, 11/04/2026, 04/11/2026, Nov 4, 2026, or ’26 11 04 like a film camera), the corner, the size, and the color. Add the time is on unless you turn it off. The preview changes as you choose.
  4. Download. Click Download under a photo, or the button under all of them. Each copy is a JPEG named after the original, so IMG_0412.HEIC becomes IMG_0412-stamped.jpg.

The copy has the same pixel size as the photo, and the stamp is scaled to it, so it looks the same on a 12-megapixel photo and a small one. If a browser can’t draw a photo that large, the copy is saved smaller, and the line under the photo says so. On an iPhone, Safari saves downloads to the Downloads folder in the Files app.

The copy carries the date only on the picture. The date, place and camera details saved in the original aren’t copied into the new file, so keep your originals.

Where the date comes from, and when it’s missing

Cameras and phones save the moment a photo was taken inside the file, in a part of the Exif format called DateTimeOriginal, for example 2026:10:28 09:15:42. It is the camera’s local time, so a photo taken at 9:15 in Chicago is stamped 9:15 wherever you open it. Some cameras also save the time zone offset; when a photo has one, the line under the preview shows it after the date, such as (UTC-05:00). The stamp on the photo shows the local time only.

Screenshots, pictures saved from websites, and photos that an app has saved again may have no date taken. The tool then uses the file’s modified date and says so under the preview. On a computer, that is often the day the file was copied or downloaded, not the day you took the photo. If you know the right date, choose A date and time I type, for every photo under Date to stamp.

Before you send stamped photos as evidence

A stamp shows the date the file says; it doesn’t prove when the photo was taken. The saved date is only as right as the camera’s clock, and anyone can change it, or type another date here. For a move-in check or an insurance claim, send the original files too.

iPhone: why the camera won’t stamp, and what Adjust changes

The iPhone Camera app has no date stamp: none of the Camera settings in Apple’s iPhone User Guide for iOS 26 and iOS 27 prints the date on a photo. The iPhone saves the date and time in the photo file instead. To see it, open the photo in Photos and swipe up, or tap the Info button.

Adjust changes the saved date, not the picture

In that view, tap Adjust next to the date to change it. Apple’s guide also gives the long way: open the photo, tap the More button, tap Adjust Info, then Adjust Date & Time, set the calendar and clock, and tap Adjust. This changes the date stored with the photo; nothing appears on the picture. To undo it, follow the same steps and tap Revert.

Type the date on a photo with Markup

  1. Open the photo in Photos and tap the Edit button.
  2. Tap the Markup button.
  3. Tap the Add button, choose text, and type the date.
  4. Tap the circle to pick a color, and drag the text to a corner.
  5. Tap Done, then Done again.

Markup works one photo at a time, and you type each date yourself. For a batch, the tool above stamps every photo with its own saved date at once.

Android: Samsung’s Watermark setting and Google Photos

Samsung Galaxy phones can stamp the date as you shoot. In the Camera app, tap the Settings icon, select Watermark and turn it on, then turn on Date and time. Samsung lists the Galaxy S24, S25, S26, Z Fold, Z Flip and A series, and says the stamp applies only to photos taken after you turn it on. The Pixel Camera’s settings, as Google lists them, have no date stamp.

Type the date with Google Photos

  1. Open the photo and tap Edit › Markup. On some phones it is Edit › Tools › Markup.
  2. Tap Text and type the date.
  3. Tap the checkmark, then Save as copy to keep the original as it was.

To see a photo’s date in Google Photos, open it and tap More › About, or swipe up. Edit next to the date changes it, for backed-up photos only. Google notes that a photo you share or download may still show the date your camera saved.

Windows and Mac: type the date with Paint, Preview or Photos

Windows

Windows has no date stamp. The Markup panel in the Photos app has two pens and a highlighter, and no text. Text in Photos comes through Edit with Designer, which needs an internet connection and a Microsoft account. Paint, which comes with Windows, has a Text tool: open the photo in Paint, type the date in a corner, and save it under a new name so the original stays as it was.

Mac: Preview

  1. Open a copy of the photo in Preview.
  2. Click the Show Markup Toolbar button if the toolbar isn’t showing.
  3. Click the Text tool, type the date, and drag the text box to a corner. Text Style changes the font and color.

Apple notes that once you save the image, you can’t edit, move or delete the text, which is why you work on a copy.

Mac: Photos

Double-click a photo and click Edit in the toolbar. Click the Extensions button, choose Markup, type the date with the Text tool, and click Save Changes. To see the saved date, click the Info button or press Command-I. Image › Adjust Date and Time changes the saved date, not the picture.

HEIC photos from an iPhone

An iPhone set to High Efficiency saves photos as HEIC. Safari opens HEIC since Safari 17, and the browsers on an iPhone or iPad are built on Safari’s engine, so on the iPhone itself the tool reads them in any browser. On a computer or an Android phone, only Safari on a Mac opens them: Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Samsung Internet don’t, and the tool lists such a photo as one the browser can’t open. To use them:

  • Open this page on the iPhone itself, in any browser, and choose the photos from your library. On a Mac, open it in Safari.
  • Share a JPEG copy. In Photos, open the photo, tap the Share button, tap Options, and tap Most Compatible. Apple says the files “may convert to JPEG”, so check that the copy ends in .jpg.
  • Take new photos as JPEG. Go to Settings › Camera › Formats and tap Most Compatible. Photos you already took stay HEIC.

Privacy: your photos never leave the browser

Your photos are never uploaded. Your browser reads each file from your device, draws the stamp in this tab, and hands the copy to your downloads. When you close the tab, the photos are gone from the page. The tool remembers only your format, corner, size, color and time choices, in this browser, for next time.

Need the dated photos in a report? The free Inspection Report tool puts photos, notes and a signature into one PDF, and Contact Sheet lays many photos on a printable page, both without uploading.

Questions

How do I add a timestamp to photos already taken?

Stamp a copy of each photo with the date saved in its file. The free tool on this page does that in your browser, for one photo or many, with nothing uploaded. To type the date yourself, use Markup in Photos on an iPhone, Markup in Google Photos on Android, Paint on Windows, or Preview on a Mac.

Can the iPhone camera add a date stamp?

No. None of the Camera settings in Apple's iPhone User Guide for iOS 26 and iOS 27 prints the date on a photo. The iPhone saves the date and time inside the photo file instead: open the photo in Photos and swipe up to see it.

How do I add the date and time to photos on Android?

On a Samsung Galaxy, open the Camera settings, turn on Watermark, then turn on Date and time. It applies only to photos you take afterwards. For photos you already have, type the date with Edit › Markup › Text in Google Photos, or stamp each photo's own date with the tool on this page.

Is a timestamp on a photo proof of when it was taken?

No. A stamp is text on the picture. It shows the date the file gave, or a date someone typed, and the saved date itself can be changed, for example with Adjust in the iPhone's Photos app. For a deposit or an insurance claim, keep the original files with their saved dates and send them with the stamped copies.

Can I add the location to a photo?

This tool stamps the date and time only. On an iPhone, the Photos app can add or change a photo's saved location: open the photo, swipe up, and tap Adjust next to the location, or Add a location. That changes the saved data, not the picture. To show the place on the photo itself, type it with Markup.

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