Modern Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones automatically prescribe the exact date and time of shooting in the metadata of each image, which helps to organize the archive. However, users often face situations where automatic synchronization fails, or you need to change the time stamp on already taken pictures for order in the gallery. This can be due to a flight to a different time zone, resetting settings or simply wanting to hide the actual time of creating a file.
In the Android operating system, on the basis of which the shell works MIUI And HyperOS, the process of changing the date is not always obvious, because the standard tools have their limitations. EXIF-Data often requires additional tools or specific actions, and understanding the structure of the files will help you avoid loss of quality or damage to the original.
In this article, we will take a look at all the ways to adjust time stamps, from built-in features to professional editors. You will learn how to safely rename files, change the date in properties and what nuances to consider when working with Google Photos and Xiaomi cloud services.
Why is the date and time in the photos Xiaomi
The main reason for the incorrect date in the photos is the dissynchronization of the system time of the smartphone with the real one. If your Xiaomi is not connected to the network at the time of shooting or the automatic time setting is turned off, the device uses an internal clock that may have gone off after battery drain or reboot, in which case all subsequent pictures will have an incorrect time stamp.
Another common problem is time zone conflict: When traveling, users often forget to switch regions or allow network time to be determined, resulting in photos being taken "yesterday" or "tomorrow" relative to the current moment, and the gallery sorting system relies on this data, leading to chaos in the chronology.
Some third-party cameras and processing applications may also be considered, because they may not ask permission to access the exact time or ignore system settings by prescribing the date of the compilation of the application instead of the moment of shooting, which creates the illusion that the photo was taken years ago.
⚠️ Warning: If you manually change system time in your Android settings, it may disrupt your security certificates, banking apps, and Mi Account sync.
To prevent such situations, it is recommended to always keep the option “Use Network Time” turned on, which ensures that even without the Internet, when you turn on the phone, the clock immediately rises correctly and new photos are marked correctly.
Date editing through the standard MIUI gallery
Xiaomi smartphone owners can use the gallery's built-in functionality to change the date, although the options here are limited to renaming a file or adding a signature, rather than changing internal metadata. In recent versions of MIUI and HyperOS, the interface may differ, but the basic principle remains the same. To access the information about the file, you need to open a specific image.
Click on the three dots in the top right corner or swipe up the open photo to see the details. This shows the settings for shooting, such as shutter speed, ISO and, of course, date and time. Unfortunately, direct editing of this line in the in-house viewer is often blocked by developers to protect data integrity.
However, there is a workaround through the Hide feature or album creation where sorting can be done differently, with some users pointing out that changing the phone's system date before opening the gallery sometimes allows you to "overwrite" the display time, but it's a risky method that doesn't change the file itself.
- 📱 Open the Gallery app and select the photo you want.
- ℹ️ Click on the Info icon (i) or swipe up to view properties.
- 📝 Try pressing the date; if the field is active, enter the correct values.
- 💾 Save the changes if the system allows you to make changes.
If standard tools fail to change data, which happens in 90% of cases on new versions of Android, you will have to resort to specialized software. The staff gallery is primarily designed for viewing, not for deep editing EXIF.
Using third-party applications to change EXIF
The most reliable way to change the date of a photo is to use applications designed to work with EXIF metadata. These utilities allow you to edit hidden fields of a file without changing its visual content or losing image quality. Google Play Market offers many such tools, free and paid.
One of the most popular and secure solutions is the Photo Exif Editor app, or analogues like Metaphoto, which, once installed, you'll need to access files, select an image from a list, and find the Date Taken field, which is the parameter that sorts the gallery.
The process of changing is simple: you select a new date and time, and then the app rewrites the file title. It's important to understand that some programs create a copy of the file, leaving the original intact, so check the result in the right folder. You can also massively edit a group of photos at once, which is convenient when parsing archives.
☑️ Pre-editing checks EXIF
When choosing an app, pay attention to the permissions it requests. A good EXIF editor doesn't require access to contacts, microphone or location, it has enough rights to read and write in storage. Avoid dubious programs that can introduce ads or collect data about your photos.
Comparison of popular editing tools
The right tool depends on your goals: whether you need to change one photo or edit an entire album. Different apps have different interfaces and features. Below is a table comparing the main features of popular Android solutions.
| Annex | Mass editing | Russian interface | Preservation of the original |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photo Exif Editor | Yes. | Yes. | Optionally. |
| Metaphoto | Yes. | Partially. | Yes (copy) |
| Simple Exif Editor | No. | Yes. | No (replacement) |
| Google Photo | No. | Yes. | Only in the cloud. |
As you can see from the table, specialized apps offer a lot more features than built-in tools. Mass editing is especially useful if you're back from vacation and all the photos are shifted by a few hours because of a time zone change. You can highlight the entire folder and shift the time by the right number of minutes or hours.
Some advanced users prefer to use file managers with the function of renaming by mask, but this only changes the name of the file, not its internal date. EXIF-tagging.
Working with Google Photos and Cloud Services
If you use Google Photos to store your archive, the process of changing the date has its own peculiarities. In the cloud service, the date can be determined in two ways: from the metadata of the file or from the download date. If the metadata is corrupted or missing, Google uses the loading time, which often leads to errors in sorting.
To change the date in Google Photos, open the image, click on three dots and select Change Date and Time.This action will update information in the cloud and on the device if sync is enabled. However, this change may not propagate on the file itself in the phone's memory if sync is configured only one way.
Therefore, for a guaranteed result, it is better to fix the EXIF on the device first, and then let the cloud update the information.
⚠️ Note: Changing the date in the Google Photos cloud may lead to version conflicts if other devices have originals with different metadata stored.
For users of the Xiaomi ecosystem, the Mi Cloud cloud service also stores the shooting date. When you reset your phone and then restore it from the Mi Cloud, the correct dates will return with the photos if they were correctly synced before.
What is EXIF data?
Rename files as an alternative method
It is believed that renaming a file with a change in the digital date in the name (for example, IMG_20231005_120000.jpg on IMG_20261005_120000.jpg) So in some file managers and simple galleries, sorting really goes by the file name, if the metadata is the same. EXIF missing or ignored.
But modern smart galleries, including the standard one in Xiaomi and Google Photos, prioritize the internal tags of the shoot date, so simply renaming the photo may not have the desired effect, and the photo will still remain in the old place in the tape, which only works in primitive viewers.
If you do decide to use renaming, do it through batch processing in the file manager to save the structure of the GYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
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Use prefixes in the file name to manually sort if other methods don't work «00_» The first name so that the photo is always the first in the folder.
Frequent problems and their solution
When trying to change the date, users often find that after editing the photo disappears from the gallery or appears as corrupted. This can occur if the editor application incorrectly closed the file or violated the header structure, in which cases recovery from a backup or re-write metadata helps.
Another problem is the floating date, when the time on the photo becomes incorrect again after you reboot the phone, which is a sign that you have changed only the display in a particular application, but not the file itself, or the system is forced to synchronize the time from the server, ignoring your edits. Check the automatic date and time settings.
It is also possible that the file has a Read-Only attribute, which prevents changes. In the file manager, check the file properties and uncheck the Read-Only box if it is set.
⚠️ Note: Do not edit gallery system files or media databases by trying to change dates manually – this will lead to unstable operation of the entire Xiaomi interface.
If none of the software methods work, the problem may be that the memory card file system is damaged, so try copying the photo to your computer, editing it, and returning it back.
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The most reliable way to change the date is to use specialized EXIF editing apps that work directly with the file metadata without affecting the image.