Screenshots on the wrong date?

You moved your screenshots to a new phone, a computer, a NAS or a different photo app. Now years of screenshots are piled on the day you copied them.

Why it happens

Camera photos carry their "date taken" inside the file. Screenshots usually don't: most are PNG files, and phones and computers don't write a date inside them. Photo apps then use the file's "created" or "modified" date, which becomes the day of the copy as soon as the file is copied, synced or restored.

The date is in the file name

Screenshot_20240105-143210.png             ← Android, Pixel
Screenshot_20240105_143210_Chrome.jpg      ← Samsung (adds the app name)
Screenshot 2024-01-05 at 14.32.10.png      ← Mac
Screen Shot 2019-01-05 at 2.32.10 PM.png   ← older Mac, 12-hour clock
Screenshot 2024-01-05 143210.png           ← Windows Snipping Tool

All of these use the device's local time. Mac screen recordings (Screen Recording 2024-01-05 at 14.32.10.mov) work the same way.

Windows' Win+Print Screen names files Screenshot (12).png, and iPhone screenshots are named like IMG_1234.PNG. Neither name holds a date, so they can't be fixed this way.

How to fix it (free)

Copy your screenshots folder to a computer (on Android it's usually Pictures/Screenshots or DCIM/Screenshots).
Open the Photo Date Fixer in Chrome or Edge and choose that folder. Nothing is uploaded.
Check the time zone, then pick an empty folder. Fixed copies are saved there with the same names and the date written inside (as EXIF, in PNG and JPEG files).
Copy them back or import them into your photo app.

Not every app reads a date inside a PNG file yet. If yours doesn't, it will keep using the file date; try importing into a different app first with a few test files.

Fix my screenshots: it's free