[BUG] Sorting utilizes modification date property instead of creation time property

[dominikheinz]

The bug

Summary: Images taken with most cameras, store additional information, such as creation time, GPS etc. in the EXIF data. Currently, it seems that immich utilize the File Modification Date/Time property in the EXIF data, for sorting pictures. This is a problem when images are modified some time after their creation. Let's picture an example scenario to showcase the issue:

I take a picture in July during my vacation. After my vacation, in august, I look through my vacation pictures at home, and notice that my camera did not add a GPS coordinates to the picture, possibly due to bad connection. So I manually add a GPS information to it. This updates the modification time of the image. When I now upload this image to immich, the modification time of the image is used for sorting. In other words, it shows up as if the picture was taken in August, when in reality, it was taken in July.

Of course, it doesn't have to be editing GPS information, it could be any form of edit (e.g. color editing with photoshop), that updates the modification date.

Suggestion: I am unsure if the usage of the modification time instead of the creation time is intentional or not, but it should be a simple fix either way, by using the image creation time property for sorting instead.

The OS that Immich Server is running on

Alpine Linux

Version of Immich Server

v1.56.0

Version of Immich Mobile App

v1.56.0 build.79

Platform with the issue

• [X] Server
• [X] Web
• [X] Mobile

Your docker-compose.yml content

version: "3.8"

services:
  immich-server:
    container_name: immich_server
    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-server:release
    entrypoint: ["/bin/sh", "./start-server.sh"]
    volumes:
      - ${UPLOAD_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload
    env_file:
      - .env
    depends_on:
      - redis
      - database
      - typesense
    restart: always

  immich-microservices:
    container_name: immich_microservices
    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-server:release
    entrypoint: ["/bin/sh", "./start-microservices.sh"]
    volumes:
      - ${UPLOAD_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload
    env_file:
      - .env
    depends_on:
      - redis
      - database
      - typesense
    restart: always

  immich-machine-learning:
    container_name: immich_machine_learning
    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-machine-learning:release
    volumes:
      - ${UPLOAD_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload
      - model-cache:/cache
    env_file:
      - .env
    restart: always

  immich-web:
    container_name: immich_web
    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-web:release
    entrypoint: ["/bin/sh", "./entrypoint.sh"]
    env_file:
      - .env
    restart: always

  typesense:
    container_name: immich_typesense
    image: typesense/typesense:0.24.0
    environment:
      - TYPESENSE_API_KEY=${TYPESENSE_API_KEY}
      - TYPESENSE_DATA_DIR=/data
    logging:
      driver: none
    volumes:
      - tsdata:/data
    restart: always

  redis:
    container_name: immich_redis
    image: redis:6.2
    restart: always

  database:
    container_name: immich_postgres
    image: postgres:14
    env_file:
      - .env
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
      POSTGRES_USER: ${DB_USERNAME}
      POSTGRES_DB: ${DB_DATABASE_NAME}
      PG_DATA: /var/lib/postgresql/data
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    restart: always

  immich-proxy:
    container_name: immich_proxy
    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-proxy:release
    environment:
      # Make sure these values get passed through from the env file
      - IMMICH_SERVER_URL
      - IMMICH_WEB_URL
    ports:
      - 2283:8080
    logging:
      driver: none
    depends_on:
      - immich-server
    restart: always

volumes:
  pgdata:
  model-cache:
  tsdata:

Your .env content

immich:/immich# cat .env
###################################################################################
# Database
###################################################################################

DB_HOSTNAME=immich_postgres
DB_USERNAME=postgres
DB_PASSWORD=postgres
DB_DATABASE_NAME=immich

# Optional Database settings:
# DB_PORT=5432

###################################################################################
# Redis
###################################################################################

REDIS_HOSTNAME=immich_redis

# REDIS_URL will be used to pass custom options to ioredis.
# Example for Sentinel
# {"sentinels":[{"host":"redis-sentinel-node-0","port":26379},{"host":"redis-sentinel-node-1","port":26379},{"host":"redis-sentinel-node-2","port":26379}],"name":"redis-sentinel"}
# REDIS_URL=ioredis://eyJzZW50aW5lbHMiOlt7Imhvc3QiOiJyZWRpcy1zZW50aW5lbDEiLCJwb3J0IjoyNjM3OX0seyJob3N0IjoicmVkaXMtc2VudGluZWwyIiwicG9ydCI6MjYzNzl9XSwibmFtZSI6Im15bWFzdGVyIn0=

# Optional Redis settings:

# Note: these parameters are not automatically passed to the Redis Container
# to do so, please edit the docker-compose.yml file as well. Redis is not configured
# via environment variables, only redis.conf or the command line

# REDIS_PORT=6379
# REDIS_DBINDEX=0
# REDIS_USERNAME=
# REDIS_PASSWORD=
# REDIS_SOCKET=

###################################################################################
# Upload File Location
#
# This is the location where uploaded files are stored.
###################################################################################

UPLOAD_LOCATION=/immich/backups/


###################################################################################
# Typesense
###################################################################################
TYPESENSE_API_KEY=some-random-text
# TYPESENSE_ENABLED=false
# TYPESENSE_URL uses base64 encoding for the nodes json.
# Example JSON that was used:
# [
#      { 'host': 'typesense-1.example.net', 'port': '443', 'protocol': 'https' },
#      { 'host': 'typesense-2.example.net', 'port': '443', 'protocol': 'https' },
#      { 'host': 'typesense-3.example.net', 'port': '443', 'protocol': 'https' },
#  ]
# TYPESENSE_URL=ha://WwogICAgeyAnaG9zdCc6ICd0eXBlc2Vuc2UtMS5leGFtcGxlLm5ldCcsICdwb3J0JzogJzQ0MycsICdwcm90b2NvbCc6ICdodHRwcycgfSwKICAgIHsgJ2hvc3QnOiAndHlwZXNlbnNlLTIuZXhhbXBsZS5uZXQnLCAncG9ydCc6ICc0NDMnLCAncHJvdG9jb2wnOiAnaHR0cHMnIH0sCiAgICB7ICdob3N0JzogJ3R5cGVzZW5zZS0zLmV4YW1wbGUubmV0JywgJ3BvcnQnOiAnNDQzJywgJ3Byb3RvY29sJzogJ2h0dHBzJyB9LApd

###################################################################################
# Reverse Geocoding
#
# Reverse geocoding is done locally which has a small impact on memory usage
# This memory usage can be altered by changing the REVERSE_GEOCODING_PRECISION variable
# This ranges from 0-3 with 3 being the most precise
# 3 - Cities > 500 population: ~200MB RAM
# 2 - Cities > 1000 population: ~150MB RAM
# 1 - Cities > 5000 population: ~80MB RAM
# 0 - Cities > 15000 population: ~40MB RAM
####################################################################################

# DISABLE_REVERSE_GEOCODING=false
# REVERSE_GEOCODING_PRECISION=3

####################################################################################
# WEB - Optional
#
# Custom message on the login page, should be written in HTML form.
# For example:
# PUBLIC_LOGIN_PAGE_MESSAGE="This is a demo instance of Immich.<br><br>Email: <i>[email protected]</i><br>Password: <i>demo</i>"
####################################################################################

PUBLIC_LOGIN_PAGE_MESSAGE=

####################################################################################
# Alternative Service Addresses - Optional
#
# This is an advanced feature for users who may be running their immich services on different hosts.
# It will not change which address or port that services bind to within their containers, but it will change where other services look for their peers.
# Note: immich-microservices is bound to 3002, but no references are made
####################################################################################

IMMICH_WEB_URL=http://immich-web:3000
IMMICH_SERVER_URL=http://immich-server:3001
IMMICH_MACHINE_LEARNING_URL=http://immich-machine-learning:3003

####################################################################################
# Alternative API's External Address - Optional
#
# This is an advanced feature used to control the public server endpoint returned to clients during Well-known discovery.
# You should only use this if you want mobile apps to access the immich API over a custom URL. Do not include trailing slash.
# NOTE: At this time, the web app will not be affected by this setting and will continue to use the relative path: /api
# Examples: http://localhost:3001, http://immich-api.example.com, etc
####################################################################################

#IMMICH_API_URL_EXTERNAL=http://localhost:3001

Reproduction steps

1. Take a picture
2. Modify the picture a day later (e.g. update exif data etc.)
3. Upload the picture to immich
4. Notice that the modification take instead of the creation date is shown

Additional information

No response

[evanphilip]

@dominikheinz do you still experience this problem with the latest version of Immich? I cannot reproduce this issue.

[dominikheinz]

@dominikheinz do you still experience this problem with the latest version of Immich? I cannot reproduce this issue.

No, I can't reproduce it either anymore, so I suppose the issue got resolved. Should I encounter the problem again, I will reopen the issue.