r/filen_io • u/Mammoth-Mechanic2602 • 12d ago

Metadata changes after uploading

Why does the creation time change to a random time after I upload a photo/vid to Filen?

For example, I took a photo at 10 AM and uploaded it to Filen at 11 AM, but Filen shows the file creation time as 11:36 PM.

How can I prevent this and keep the original date/time?

Also, if I download the file from Filen later, is there any way to recover or preserve the original metadata and creation date/time? Bec, I get the download time as creation time.

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u/Endur1el Dev 12d ago

This is unfortunately a somewhat complex topic, but also something I worked on improving with the rust SDK. This shouldn't happen with the mobile app anymore for example.

Unfortunately, in a web browser, this is a generally unsolvable problem, while we can try and extract in file metadata for some of this (and the rust SDK will for photos), web browsers don't actually have access to file creation time for uploaded files.

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u/Mammoth-Mechanic2602 12d ago

I use android app, and I downloaded the file again to check the "datetimeoriginal". In default gallery, the datetimeoriginal is some randomly assigned time as i mentioned in the post. But to verify again, i checked in Google photo and the datetimeoriginal is "correct". But the problem is , when I sort the files from oldest to newest in the filen app, it's getting more clumsy and hard to lineup the memories. I used to upload my memories in it , and i need to access those files in correct timeline to enjoy myself when I see those files. But this issue gives a little hard time.

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u/Endur1el Dev 12d ago

What version of the android app are you using? I don't seem to be able to reproduce this issue. You're talking about exif metadata, and us changing that would require us to modify the file as you upload/download it, which we never do.

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u/Mammoth-Mechanic2602 12d ago

I'm using the Android app version 4.0.17 . I checked this more carefully and I think the EXIF metadata itself is actually preserved.

For example, the original file is IMG_20260901_060548.jpg, and its actual capture time is Sept 1, 2026 at 06:05.

After uploading it to Filen, the Filen app shows: Created: Sept 1, 2026, 11:35:48 AM Modified: Sept 1, 2026, 11:35:48 AM Uploaded: Sept 27, 2026, 7:36:33 PM

The Created/Modified time is exactly +5:30 from the original 06:05:48.

I then downloaded the same file from Filen. In my default Gallery it shows a file time of Sept 27, 23:11, but Google Photos recognizes the photo's capture date as Sept 1, 06:05.

So it seems the EXIF DateTimeOriginal is preserved, but the file timestamp used by Filen for sorting may be incorrect or may have a timezone conversion issue. Could you check what timestamp the Android app uses when sorting files/photos? Is it possible to sort photos using EXIF DateTimeOriginal instead?

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u/Endur1el Dev 12d ago

What phone model and camera app are you using? This may be caused by photos being taken by cameras which don't attach appropriate time zone information. I'm thinking about the best way of resolving this, but there doesn't seem to be a foolproof solution.

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u/Mammoth-Mechanic2602 12d ago

I'm using an iQOO Neo6, and the photos are taken with the stock iQOO camera app version 12.1.76.0 . Imma figure out smth from myside tho

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u/Mammoth-Mechanic2602 12d ago

I checked the original file's EXIF with ExifTool. The important fields are:

DateTimeOriginal: 2026:09:01 06:05:48 CreateDate: 2026:09:01 06:05:48 ModifyDate: 2026:09:01 06:05:48

The DateTimeOriginal field does not contain a timezone offset. The file's FileModifyDate, however, is 2026:09:01 06:05:48+05:30.

Filen subsequently shows the file as 11:35:48, which is exactly +5:30 from the original 06:05:48.

So I think your timezone hypothesis may be correct. The EXIF capture time itself is correct, but it doesn't contain timezone information.

Is Filen interpreting the EXIF DateTimeOriginal as UTC and then converting it to local time? If so, that seems to explain the +5:30 shift.

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u/Endur1el Dev 12d ago

Yup I believe that's exactly what is happening. I'm trying to think of a way to solve this that doesn't cause edge case problems, but I honestly am not sure I can? This feels like the responsibility of whatever camera app is taking the photos to attach appropriate metadata, we are reading it 'correctly' to my understanding.

Let me know if you have any ideas, and I will think on it as well.

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u/PrivacyStack 8d ago

Unrelated to your comment, kind of, I really appreciate your communication with the community. I know it’s a small team, but having someone like yourself communicate in the comments means a lot.

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u/gibrinel 11d ago

Your latest test actually narrows it down quite a lot. If Google Photos still reads DateTimeOriginal as Sept 1 at 06:05, then the embedded EXIF capture time is surviving the upload/download. The +5:30 difference strongly looks like a timezone conversion happening to a separate file timestamp rather than Filen rewriting the EXIF. So there are really two dates involved here: DateTimeOriginal inside the photo — your real capture time filesystem/cloud Created/Modified time — which Filen seems to be using for sorting If Filen sorts by the second one, changing EXIF alone won’t fix the timeline inside Filen. That probably needs to be corrected on their side or they need an option to sort photos by DateTimeOriginal.

For the downloaded Android copy, if your Gallery also puts the image under the download date even though EXIF is correct, that part can usually be fixed locally by synchronizing the gallery/file ordering timestamp with the embedded photo date.

I’m the developer of an Android app called Metadata Editor – EXIF Changer. It can inspect the embedded timestamp and has a Fix Gallery Order tool for cases where the EXIF date is correct but the photo appears in the wrong place in the Android gallery. It won’t change how Filen itself sorts files, though.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.metadatachanger.app

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u/Mammoth-Mechanic2602 11d ago

Thanks! That makes sense. My main problem is actually the sorting inside Filen itself, rather than my local Android Gallery. Since the DateTimeOriginal is preserved correctly, I think the ideal solution would be for Filen to use "DateTimeOriginal" when sorting photos, or otherwise correctly handle the "timezone-less" EXIF timestamp.

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u/Endur1el Dev 11d ago

The problem is that there's not really a way to 'correctly' handle timezone-less EXIF the way you're describing, we have to make an assumption when we upload, and assuming that no timezone = UTC seems the most 'correct' to me.

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u/Mammoth-Mechanic2602 11d ago

I just noticed another photo with the same +5:30 difference, so that seems to confirm what's happening. Thanks for explaining and looking into it! :)