Which type of tags are used for sorting photos, EXIF IPTC or something else.

I prefer to name images and movies with 2025-0802-0748-18.jpg scheme so they sort correctly by date also in file lists. You can use your own variation but it is best to use a "big endian" scheme i.e. year-month-day etc -- other schemes are possible but need much more tweaking later.

With that filename scheme you can very fast copy the date to the most important metadata dates with 3rd party apps like GraphicConverter or exiftool (I use a Mac for that and I have not used iOS/iPadOS apps for that).

In images the most important metadata metadata tag is (in macOS and Windows that tag might be displayed with a misleadingly different label, though):

[ExifIFD]       DateTimeOriginal                : 2001:01:01 12:00:00

That is local time and there is optional ExifIFD:OffsetTimeOriginal tag for time zone offset:

[ExifIFD]       OffsetTimeOriginal              : -05:00

In movies they are (sadly movie metadata is not yet properly standardized):

[QuickTime]     CreateDate                      : 2001:01:01 12:00:00-05:00
[Keys]          CreationDate                    : 2001:01:01 12:00:00-05:00
[UserData]      DateTimeOriginal                : 2001:01:01 12:00:00-05:00

All movies have QuickTime:CreateDate which is UTC (in the example above it is just converted to computer's local time zone with exiftool option '-api QuickTimeUTC=1') and Apple's mobile devices use also Keys:CreationDate which is local time with time zone (Android might use UserData:DateTimeOriginal which behaves the same).

You can check all dates with cross-platform exiftool with something like:

exiftool -a -G1 -s -fileOrder5 FileName -api QuickTimeUTC=1 -api RequestTags=FileCreateDate -Time:All .

Location and its time zone might also affect sorting in Photos and you can check that with:

exiftool -a -G1 -s -n -ee -Location:All image.jpg

See also:

Movie dates and Photos.app - Apple Community

I figured that Matti would have definitive answers about Exif metadata!

In Photos on a Mac, I can sort by Title, but there's no sorting by filename. I keep the original file names, and I make the Titles like 2025 09 01-023-Grand Canyon.jpg for instance, with the date big to small as Matti said. The 023 is an index number to preserve order. (I use a 3rd Party app to make this easy.) Since it's in the Title field, I can change that index number later to put the pictures into an order that supports the "story" better-- like if I took a picture of the entrance while leaving the park. (File names can't be changed like this in Photos.) I include the same information in the Caption field to aide in searching. I often include much more in the caption, as well. The Title is kept in IPTC, along with the caption and keywords, and other stuff. So, when I scan a picture today, I can put the date the picture was actually taken into the caption in IPTC for reference later.

Unfortunately, the Title field can't be used on an iPhone or iPad. Nonetheless, when I enter them on the Mac, they are still there in iOS. A search for the Title entered on the Mac will result in the correct result on the iPad. But you can't sort by Title in iOS or iPadOS. Pictures sorted by Title on the Mac, remain in the same order on the iPad, but the sort order is called Custom. I have, for some pictures, altered the dates to allow sorting by date. I use some scripts available here to add dates in the same order as the Title.

I think that Matti has said that IPTC may be disappearing…

cyril254 wrote:

I will try setting DateTimeOriginal

I'd recommend using exiftool '-AllDates' shortcut which can be used to set DateTimeOriginal, CreateDate and ModifyDate EXIF tags in images. Notice that there are same name duplicate tags also in other groups like XMP-exif:DateTimeOriginal, UserData:DateTimeOriginal, XMP-xmp:CreateDate, XMP-xmp:ModifyDate etc.

BTW '-AllDates' shortcut is not so good in movies because it does not touch Keys:CreationDate which must be handled separately. I prefer not to create unnecessary tags to movies -- if I use '-AllDates' shortcut that can be prevented with '-wm w' option so exiftool edits only tags that are already present and does not create new tags like UserData:DateTimeOriginal (which Apple's apps can read but prefer Keys:CreationDate anyway...).

[ExifIFD]       DateTimeOriginal                : 2001:01:01 12:00:00
[ExifIFD]       CreateDate                      : 2001:01:01 12:00:00
[IFD0]          ModifyDate                      : 2001:01:01 12:00:00

ExifIFD:DateTimeOriginal is the datetime when original image was created.

ExifIFD:CreateDate is the datetime that the digital file was created.

IFD0:ModifyDate is supposed to be changed whenever the image is modified but in practice that is not done.

In practice those three EXIF date tags are always set to the same time and at least in my apps ExifIFD:DateTimeOriginal overrides others so it is used if they happen to be different.

cyril254 wrote:

tagged using IPTC, including some of EXIFtool's user defined tags. If that vanishes I'm not sure where that data may go

IPTC is an older and more limited standard than XMP so some people have been switching using only XMP.

But if you use IPTC, that should be available to the foreseeable future. And if some future app no longer reads IPTC, it is a trivial task to copy IPTC tags to XMP.

BTW apps like GraphicConverter write the same info to IPTC and XMP in .jpg. But .heic supports only XMP so that might be a glimpse of things to come.

exiftool -a -G1 -s -IPTC:All -XMP:All image.jpg
[IPTC]          Caption-Abstract                : Caption/Description
[XMP-dc]        Description                     : Caption/Description
[IPTC]          Keywords                        : Keyword 1, Keyword 2
[XMP-dc]        Subject                         : Keyword 1, Keyword 2

Matti Haveri wrote: …BTW apps like GraphicConverter write the same info to IPTC and XMP in .jpg. But .heic supports only XMP so that might be a glimpse of things to come.

OK, so since I use GraphicConverter to edit and comment on scanned images, then whatever I enter in the (what I now see are named) IPTC/XMP fields will be fine. Good news.

cyril254 wrote:

I rather grieve the lack of any way to display, without opening the information box, the place and situation of the images. It is unfortunate that the Apple devices are so primitive in some respects.

Yes, I wish Finder list view had a field to display also internal metadata dates, because file date vs metadata date is a source of much confusion here.

Currently that can be more clumsily displayed in Finder and Preview:

Internal image metadata date 'ExifIFD:DateTimeOriginal' as well as GPS can be checked outside Photos.app in Finder > View > Show Preview > Show More > 'Content Created' date in the right side panel (this is DateTimeOriginal but for some reason Apple labels it differently here).

Or in Preview.app > Tools > Show Inspector > i > Exif > 'Date Time Original' field which shows also the possible Time Zone info -- GPS info is also in that dialog. GPS, Title, Headline, Keywords, and Description are displayed in Finder > Get Info.

cyril254 wrote: …I find little logic in anything I have to do on the iPad. … I am not happy using a touch-screen, should I switch to a MS tablet?

The logic is there, of course, but the "language" may be a bit different. Lots of people use a keyboard and a mouse-thing with an iPad but, for me, it defeats the point. I use the iPad for things that lend themselves to a touch-screen or for short typing. If I have to respond to someone with a long text, I reach for the Mac. I do my "mucking about" with my Mac, mostly.

I think anyone here would encourage you to use whichever device most suits you. These silly machines are supposed to support us, not the other way.

Matti Haveri wrote:

Yes, I wish Finder list view had a field to display also internal metadata dates, because file date vs metadata date is a source of much confusion here.

The columnar view in the Finder does show the EXIF metadata.

However, I find the columnar view difficult to use and almost never do.

cyril254 wrote: …I rather grieve the lack of any way to display, without opening the information box, the place and situation of the images.

I don't get it. On my iPad, a slight tap on the screen toggles between these two:

The bottom gives the location and the date. Sure, if you want more, you tap the (i) button. It seems pretty clear…