Can you reset the naming convention of iPhone photos?

Can you reset the naming convention of iPhone photos?  My photos are typically called: “IMG_xxxx.HEIC”.  Can I make it store them as today’s date, today’s hour-minute-second?  I don’t mean rename existing photos, although I’d like to do that too, but more specifically, the default name that iPhone chooses in the first place.


Thanks.


.....Mike.....



[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Oct 29, 2022 6:03 AM

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Posted on Dec 8, 2022 1:50 PM

I don't think Apple will get enough requests for this since most of their users have only ever used iPhones and haven't experienced the more logical naming conventions that almost all non-apple devices use.


It's extremely frustrating. I would much prefer to have them named with date - time than just random img numbers, which is a holdover from when filenames couldn't be longer than 8 characters.


I bought an iphone for the first time two years ago and I've regretted it since. The hardware is fantastic, but the OS and software is ten years behind android.

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Dec 8, 2022 1:50 PM in response to Camelot

I don't think Apple will get enough requests for this since most of their users have only ever used iPhones and haven't experienced the more logical naming conventions that almost all non-apple devices use.


It's extremely frustrating. I would much prefer to have them named with date - time than just random img numbers, which is a holdover from when filenames couldn't be longer than 8 characters.


I bought an iphone for the first time two years ago and I've regretted it since. The hardware is fantastic, but the OS and software is ten years behind android.

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Nov 1, 2022 11:14 AM in response to mikefromcaledon

You, as the end user, have no control over the default filename convention used by the phone.


The advice to use Feedback to let Apple know of your desire is relevant since that's the only long-term solution (although I wouldn't hold my breath waiting).


In the meantime, your only other option is some kind of post-processing, which looks at the photos' metadata and renames the file accordingly.

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Dec 9, 2022 7:59 AM in response to Camelot

"you might prefer to name your photos specifically with the date and time (and that's your option)"

Not with iPhone. Android allows you to change the automatic naming default, and has forever. Apple does not give you options.


"there is not one 'standard'/default that is going to work for everyone"

Exactly my point. Not everyone wants the algorithm to decide who is in a picture, and sometimes it's nice to be able to look at one of thousands of pics and know exactly when it was taken.


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Dec 9, 2022 8:20 AM in response to jimbonovus

And to be clear, I know I can rename photos once I've imported them to my computer. But it's a pain to do that, when you know that the technology to change the default format has existed on phone cameras and professional DSLR and mirrorless cameras for many years. The apple camera also doesn't give you full manual control over exposure, most if not all androids do.


I could go on and on about how Apple can't seem to figure out extremely useful features that Android includes. And most iPhone users don't know what they are missing. Apple just introduced haptic feedback on the keyboard. Apple still hasn't figured out name dialing on the phone keypad, or long press on the type keys to shift to caps, etc. It's like using a toy.


Maps in inferior, the phone dialer is inferior,, the camera controls are inferior. You can buy apps, usually on a monthly fee basis, that give some of the options standard on android, but not worth the extra cost.

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Oct 31, 2022 6:14 PM in response to mikefromcaledon

Hello mikefromcaledon,


Thank you for reaching out to Apple Support Communities, and we'll be happy to help in any way we can. We understand you have feedback about a feature for Apple that you would like recognized. You can leave feedback for them here: Product Feedback - Apple


We hope this helps.


Cheers!


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Dec 8, 2022 2:13 PM in response to jimbonovus

I have to disagree with you there.


Most smartphone users (whether iPhone, Android, or any other) are completely abstracted from caring about any kind of filesystem shenanigans such as file names. It just doesn't matter.


Most phone systems (and, indeed, desktop systems too), instead use a catalog approach (e.g. Photos.app) and use metadata (such as image details, location, date/time, facial recognition profiles, etc., etc.) to manage the library. You simply cannot create a filename that reflects all these options, and therefore using indexed metadata is the (current de facto) way to go.


Now while you might prefer to name your photos specifically with the date and time (and that's your option), someone else might prefer location. Maybe I want my photos sorted by who's in them, or my cat, or any other of the millions of ways to slice and dice photos beyond a single entity filename.

How are you going to identify all your cat photos? or your kid's school performance photos by filename alone?


The fact is that you can name the files anything you want on the disk - and you have that option when you take any image out of the Photos library - but there is not one 'standard'/default that is going to work for everyone.

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Can you reset the naming convention of iPhone photos?

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