Fix dates
Fix the wrong dates on your Snapchat export
After you export Snapchat Memories, every photo and video shows the date you downloaded it — not when you actually took it. Here's why, and how to restore the real capture dates.
Why the dates are wrong
Photos and videos store their capture time in their own metadata (EXIF for images, QuickTime atoms for video). Snapchat's export leaves those fields empty and keeps the real date in a separate memories_history.json file instead. So when you import the files, your photo app has nothing to read and stamps them all with the import date — burying years of memories on a single day.
How SnapMemories restores them
SnapMemories reads the capture time for each memory from the export's JSON and writes it back into the file's own metadata — EXIF DateTimeOriginal for photos and the QuickTime creation-date atoms for videos. Once the dates live in the files, Apple Photos, Google Photos and every other gallery sort them correctly and place them on the right day automatically.
It does the same for GPS location and overlays in the same pass — see how it works.
Frequently asked questions
- Why do my Snapchat photos all have today's date?
- Because Snapchat's export writes no date into the files. Your gallery falls back to the file's creation/download date, so everything looks like it happened the day you exported. The real capture date is stored only in memories_history.json.
- Which date field does SnapMemories write?
- It writes the original capture time to the standard EXIF DateTimeOriginal (and CreateDate) for photos, and the QuickTime creation-date atoms for videos — the fields Apple Photos and Google Photos read to place a memory on your timeline.
- Will the times be in the right timezone?
- Yes. Snapchat records each memory's time, and SnapMemories applies it so your memories sort in the correct order rather than collapsing onto one day.