What is EXIF Data on iPhone? A Complete Field Reference

EXIF — Exchangeable Image File Format — is a metadata standard that every modern camera and smartphone, including the iPhone, embeds inside photo files. It’s how iOS knows when a photo was taken, which lens captured it, what the ISO was, and where on Earth the camera was pointing. This is a complete reference for the EXIF fields that show up in iPhone photos in 2026: what each one means, when iOS records it, when it doesn’t, and which ones matter for downstream workflows.

Short answer: EXIF data on iPhone includes capture date and time, GPS coordinates (latitude, longitude, altitude), camera and lens model, exposure settings (ISO, aperture, shutter speed, focal length), and file information (size, resolution, format). Some fields are always present (date, dimensions); others depend on iPhone settings (GPS requires Location Services for Camera) or third-party tools (edited photos may drop fields). All of it is embedded inside the JPEG or HEIC file itself — there’s no separate metadata database.

A 60-second history

The EXIF standard was created in 1995 by JEIDA (the Japanese Electronic Industry Development Association) to give digital cameras a shared way to embed shooting information into image files. It rides on top of standard JPEG and is supported in HEIC (Apple’s modern container format) as well. The current version commonly seen on iPhone is EXIF 2.32, which adds HEIC-friendly extensions and refines GPS field handling.

Apple has adopted EXIF rigorously: every photo taken with the iPhone Camera app includes a structured EXIF block. Edited photos retain that original EXIF block. iCloud sync preserves EXIF. AirDrop preserves EXIF. The only common ways to lose EXIF are explicit metadata-stripping (which some social media platforms do on upload, and which apps like Metapho can do intentionally) or saving through a third-party editor that doesn’t write EXIF back.

Core capture fields

These are the fields most likely to matter in legal, claims, inspection, and documentation contexts.

DateTimeOriginal (also: Date Taken)

The moment the photo was captured, in the camera’s local time zone. Format is typically YYYY:MM:DD HH:MM:SS. This is the single most-asked-about EXIF field — it’s what attorneys mean when they say “the photo’s timestamp.”

iPhone records this every time. It’s set from the iPhone’s system clock at the moment the shutter is pressed. If the iPhone clock is wrong, this field will be wrong — but it’s also the only field with this property, and re-syncing the clock doesn’t retroactively fix already-captured photos.

DateTimeDigitized

For photos captured on-device, this is identical to DateTimeOriginal. The distinction matters for scanned photos or photos imported from a different camera — DateTimeDigitized records when the EXIF was last written, which on a scanned 1985 photo might be 2024.

GPSLatitude, GPSLongitude, GPSAltitude

The capture location, only present if Location Services are enabled for the Camera app at the moment of capture (Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera → While Using App or Always).

iPhones store coordinates as Degrees-Minutes-Seconds (DMS) under the hood (e.g., 37 deg 25' 19.07" N, 122 deg 5' 6.24" W), but most viewers and export tools convert to decimal degrees (37.42196, -122.08507) which are easier to paste into mapping services. We’ve written a dedicated post on decimal vs DMS if you need to convert between them.

Altitude is recorded in meters above sea level, sourced from the iPhone’s GPS chip (and CoreLocation altitude resolution). It is noisy by nature — expect ±10 meters of variation indoors and ±3-5 meters outdoors.

GPSImgDirection (and GPSImgDirectionRef)

The compass heading at the moment of capture (0-360°, where the photo was pointing). Only present on devices with a magnetometer (every modern iPhone) and only when location services are active. Useful in accident reconstruction, real-estate photography, and field research.

GPSDestBearing / GPSSpeed

Less commonly populated. Speed is sometimes present if the iPhone detected motion at capture time (driving, biking).

Camera and lens fields

Make / Model / Software

Apple / iPhone 15 Pro / iOS 19.4.1. Standard and reliable. The Software field captures the iOS version that processed the photo, which is occasionally useful for forensic timeline correlation.

LensModel / LensMake

iPhone records the specific lens used. On a multi-camera iPhone (e.g., iPhone Pro models with main, ultra-wide, and telephoto), each photo’s LensModel reflects which physical lens captured it. This is more useful than you’d expect — it tells you whether a photo is at 0.5×, 1×, 2×, 3×, or further with digital crop.

FocalLength / FocalLengthIn35mmFilm

The actual focal length in millimeters and the 35mm-equivalent focal length. Photographers use these for matching iPhone shots to traditional photography terminology.

FNumber (Aperture)

The aperture in f-stop notation (e.g., 1.78 for f/1.78). On iPhones with a fixed-aperture lens this is constant per lens (the main lens of an iPhone 15 Pro is f/1.78). On iPhones with variable apertures (some Pro models), it can vary.

ExposureTime (Shutter Speed)

Recorded as a fraction (e.g., 1/120 s or numerically as 0.008333). Reflects how long the sensor was exposed.

ISO / ISOSpeedRatings

The sensor sensitivity setting. iPhone Camera Auto mode adjusts ISO based on light; it can go from 25 (bright sun) up to 6400+ (low light). High ISO often indicates a dimly-lit scene.

Flash

A small integer encoding whether flash fired and what mode. Most iPhone photos in daylight will show Flash did not fire.

WhiteBalance

Auto or Manual. iPhone Camera defaults to Auto.

ExposureBiasValue

Captures any +/- EV adjustment the user dialed in. Mostly zero for default Camera use.

File and image fields

ImageWidth / ImageLength (Height)

Pixel dimensions. For an iPhone 15 Pro main camera, full-resolution is typically 4032×3024 (12MP) or 8064×6048 (48MP ProRAW), depending on the format setting.

Orientation

A small integer (1-8) describing how the camera was held. Most iPhone viewers respect this automatically. The raw integer values are sometimes confusing — 1 is normal landscape, 6 is rotated 90° clockwise (portrait), etc.

XResolution / YResolution / ResolutionUnit

DPI metadata, typically 72/72/inches on iPhone — these are mostly historical artifacts from the print-publishing era and rarely matter for documentation workflows.

ColorSpace

Either sRGB or Uncalibrated (which usually means Display P3 for modern iPhones). Affects color rendering if you’re processing the photo in a print or precise-color workflow.

FileSize

Not a standard EXIF tag but commonly reported by exporters and EXIF tools. The byte size of the file on disk. Useful as a sanity check — if a photo’s reported file size is much smaller than expected, it may be a compressed re-save rather than an original.

Fields that are rarely populated on iPhone

These EXIF fields exist in the spec but iPhone doesn’t typically write them:

Artist — not set unless an editor adds it
Copyright — not set unless an editor adds it
UserComment — empty on default iPhone capture
OwnerName — empty
SerialNumber — empty for privacy reasons

If you see these populated, the photo was edited or processed by software outside the standard iPhone capture path.

How iOS handles EXIF on edit

When you edit a photo in the Photos app (crop, color, filter), iOS stores the edits as a non-destructive overlay and keeps the original photo intact. The EXIF you see is the original’s EXIF — DateTimeOriginal still reflects when the photo was actually taken.

If you “Save as Copy” or share the edited version, the saved copy carries the original’s EXIF, not the edit time. This is intentional and matters for evidence work.

The exception: if a photo is edited in a third-party app and saved as a new photo into the library, that new photo’s EXIF may reflect when it was saved (or be partially missing). For evidentiary work, prefer the original photo from the camera roll rather than a re-saved version.

When you AirDrop, email, Messages-attach, or save-to-Files an iPhone photo, the full EXIF travels with the file. iOS does not strip metadata at the OS level.

Some apps and services do strip EXIF on upload:

Instagram, X (Twitter), Facebook: typically strip EXIF on upload to reduce privacy risk
iMessage: preserves EXIF
WhatsApp: depends on “send as photo” vs “send as document” — document mode preserves EXIF
Email attachments: preserve EXIF

If you need to deliver photos with EXIF intact to a recipient, AirDrop, email-as-attachment, or save-to-Files-and-share-by-link are all safe. Sharing via social media is not.

Which fields actually matter for your workflow?

For most professional contexts, a small subset of these fields is what you need. The Photo Metadata Exporter Features page covers the practical “default field set” for each common workflow (legal, insurance, construction, photography). The short version:

Legal evidence: Filename, Date, Time, GPS (lat/lng/altitude), Camera Model, File Size
Insurance claims: Date, Time, GPS, Filename, File Size
Construction reports: Date, Time, GPS, Altitude, Filename
Photographer deliveries: ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed, Focal Length, Lens, Date
Real estate inspections: Date, Time, GPS, Filename, File Size

You won’t need every field every time. The Photo Metadata Exporter app lets you save field configurations per workflow and reuse them with one tap.

A reference table

Field	Always present on iPhone?	Example value
DateTimeOriginal	Yes	`2026:03:14 11:32:18`
GPSLatitude	Only if Camera location services on	`37.42196` (decimal)
GPSLongitude	Only if Camera location services on	`-122.08507`
GPSAltitude	Only if GPS active	`12.4 m`
Make	Yes	`Apple`
Model	Yes	`iPhone 15 Pro`
LensModel	Yes	`iPhone 15 Pro back triple camera 6.86mm f/1.78`
FocalLength	Yes	`6.86`
FNumber	Yes	`1.78`
ExposureTime	Yes	`1/60`
ISO	Yes	`100`
ImageWidth	Yes	`4032`
ImageLength	Yes	`3024`
Orientation	Yes	`1` (normal)
ColorSpace	Yes	`sRGB` or `Uncalibrated`
Flash	Yes	`Off, did not fire`
Software	Yes	`iOS 19.4.1`
Artist	Rarely	(empty)