iphone photo filenames when downloading

I'm using an iphone 13 mini, IOS 16.4.1. When I take pictures with the camera app, and use a USB to download images to my laptop (windows 10), the filenames are in the form IMG_1234.jpg (sequentially numbered). This is great.


When I take pictures with at least two other apps for scanning pictures (Genius Scan and Photomyme), the photos seem to show up in the camera roll with the a filename with a date and time stamp. But when I go to download those images via USB, the filenames for both apps change to what appears to be a random name in the form XXXX9999.jpg, where "X"s are random letters, and "9"s are random numbers. At first I thought this was from the app, but then when I get the same behavior from 2 different apps, it seems more like the OS doing something? Is there a way to change this, to use either the app's chosen name, or a sequential name?


For comparison, if I choose to email these images from the camera roll, the filenames of the attachments are exactly what the apps said they would be. So it seems to be something specific to accessing the files via USB. Though emailing isn't practical as I would have hundreds or thousands of images to transfer.


This is important as I need images to remain in the exact same order in which they're taken. If the filename is random, I can't do this. I can't sort on date/time, as it doesn't contain seconds, and there are often multiple images taken within the same minute, making the order ambiguous. Or alternatively, a way to get the date/time stamp to contain seconds should also resolve it.


Thank you.

iPhone 13 mini

Posted on Apr 28, 2023 07:09 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 29, 2023 07:02 AM

Then how is the numbering system controlled? If I'm using Windows Explorer to browse the photos on the phone, Windows Explorer is only reading what's there, what the phone has put there. I can't see how Windows would be telling the phone how to name the files on the phone.


I also tried importing through the Windows "Photos" app, and I get the same results. Images taken with the iphone Camera App are named "IMG_1234.jpg", and those from multiple scanning apps are named in the format "XXXX9999.jpeg". The question remains, where is this "XXXX9999" name coming from, and can it be changed?

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 29, 2023 07:02 AM in response to SravanKrA

Then how is the numbering system controlled? If I'm using Windows Explorer to browse the photos on the phone, Windows Explorer is only reading what's there, what the phone has put there. I can't see how Windows would be telling the phone how to name the files on the phone.


I also tried importing through the Windows "Photos" app, and I get the same results. Images taken with the iphone Camera App are named "IMG_1234.jpg", and those from multiple scanning apps are named in the format "XXXX9999.jpeg". The question remains, where is this "XXXX9999" name coming from, and can it be changed?

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iphone photo filenames when downloading

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