How to Easily Change the Date and Time of Photos in Google Photos

When you receive photos on messaging platforms like WhatsApp, the date and time displayed are not when the photos were taken, but rather when they were downloaded to your device. This can create confusion in the Google Photos timeline and make it difficult to find specific photos later on. If you enjoy taking a walk down memory lane in the Google Photos timeline, you'll be glad to know that you can manually adjust the date and time of photos to bring order to your collection. In this article, we'll show you how to change the date and time of photos on different platforms, including how to bulk edit them. Let's get started!

Changing Date and Time on Smartphones

Let's begin with smartphones, where most people use Google Photos.

On Android and iOS

To change the date and time of a photo:

Open the photo you want to edit.
Swipe up to view additional options and information about the photo, including the current date and time.
Tap on the pen icon next to the date and time to make changes. If you don't see this option, make sure you have the latest version of the Google Photos app. Note that this feature is only available for photos that are already uploaded to Google Photos.
A pop-up will appear with two options: one for the date and another for the time.
Tap on the date option to open a calendar and adjust the year, month, and day. Tap “OK” when you're done.
Tap on the time option to change the time of the photo, and click “OK”.

That's it! The date and time will be adjusted to the new details within a few seconds, and the timeline view in Google Photos will also reflect the updated date and time.

Please note that while this feature can change the date and time of uploaded photos, you cannot revert to the original date and time if you accidentally make a change. Additionally, bulk editing is not available in the smartphone app; for that, you'll need to use the Google Photos web app.

Changing Date and Time on the Web

To change the date and time of a photo on the web:

Open Google Photos in your web browser and find the photo you want to edit.
Click on the info icon at the top right corner to view additional information about the photo, including the date and time.
Click on the “edit” button to make changes to the date and time.
A pop-up window will appear where you can modify the date and time.
Once you've made the desired changes, click “Save”.

The date and time of the photo will be updated and reflected in the Google Photos timeline view. Unlike the mobile app, you can actually bulk edit the date and time of photos using the Google Photos web app.

Changing Date and Time of Multiple Photos on the Web

To change the date and time of multiple photos:

Open Google Photos on the web and select all the photos you want to edit by clicking on the checkmark icon at the top left corner of each photo.
Once you've selected the photos, click on the three-dot menu at the top right corner and choose “Edit date & time”.
A pop-up window will appear with two options: “Shift dates & times” and “Set one date & time”.

“Shift dates & times” will shift the dates and times of the photos by the amount you specify. For example, if there is a two-hour difference between two photos, that time difference will remain even after you change the date and time.
“Set one date & time” will set the same date and time for all the selected photos, disregarding the current date and time and any time differences.

If you choose the “Shift dates & times” option, you'll be asked to set the date and time for the oldest photo among the selected ones. The remaining photos will automatically adjust their date and time accordingly.
If you choose the “Set one date & time” option, you can select the date, month, year, and time for all the selected photos.

That's it! You have successfully changed the date and time of all the selected photos.

While the option to change the date and time in Google Photos is helpful, it could benefit from some improvements inspired by Apple Photos' iOS 15 update. For example, the ability to bulk edit photos directly on the phone and the option to revert to the original date and time are currently missing in Google Photos. Hopefully, these inconveniences will be addressed in future updates.