Guide

Moving from Google Photos to Apple Photos with the dates intact

The whole move, from the export to iCloud, without photos landing on the wrong day.

1. Export with Google Takeout

1. Go to takeout.google.com, click Deselect all, and tick only Google Photos.
2. Choose to export once, as .zip. A bigger file size means fewer parts to download.
3. Wait for Google's email, then download every part. A large library comes in several zips named like takeout-20260920T101010Z-001.zip, -002.zip and so on.

Keep all the parts together. A photo's JSON file can land in a different part from the photo, so every part is needed to match them.

2. Put the dates back into the files

1. Open Takeoutfix in Chrome or Edge on your computer.
2. Add all the zips at once. There's no need to extract them; they are read in the browser and nothing is uploaded.
3. Read the free scan: how many files matched their JSON, what will be fixed, and what can't be and why. If a part is missing it says which number.
4. Pick the options: folders by year and month, one copy of each album photo, what to do with edited copies, your time zone.
5. Fix 20 files free and import them to check, then fix the whole library for $9, once. Choose an empty folder with enough free space for a full copy.

3. Import into Apple Photos

1. In Photos on your Mac choose File > Import and select the fixed folder.
2. Click Review for Import, then Import All.
3. With iCloud Photos on, the library then syncs to your iPhone and iPad.

Keep your original Takeout until you've looked through the imported library.

What to expect

• Every photo whose JSON was found gets its capture date, place and caption inside it.
• Files with no JSON but a date in their name (IMG-20190704-WA0001.jpg, screenshots, phone camera names) are dated from the name.
• A few files may have no date anywhere. They go into an Undated folder and the report lists them.
• Albums are folders of copies in Takeout. By default you get one copy of each photo, and the report lists which albums each belonged to. Photos doesn't recreate albums from folders, so albums need setting up again by hand.