Metapho 2.0 release note

Metapho 2.0 is a substantial update with new features, improvements, and bug fixes.

Download on the App Store

Date Edit

The stock Photos app on iOS and macOS shows pictures sorted by creation date. Some photos from a dumb camera without GPS clock, or old scanned images often have incorrect timestamps and fall into inappropriate places on the Photos grid. Fear no more. Using Date Edit, you can modify creation date of the photo and “move” it to the right place.

The biggest hurdle for date editing feature was time zone. Here’s how Metapho handles it. EXIF infamously does not have concept of time zone. By default, Metapho uses system time zone for location–less photos. When a photo has location metadata, the app could obtain time zone info using reverse geocoding, then use it to calculate date offset for editing. Metapho also uses time zone info when it is writing date related tags with “Rewrite Date Tags” options turned on.

A digital photo typically has multiple date related metadata. Date original, date digitized, TIFF creation date, GPS timestamp, and so on. In addition, the stock Photos app keeps its own database for metadata. When date is modified, Metapho just changes date metadata in the Photos app’s database. However, if “Rewrite Date Tags” is turned on, Metapho changes all date related tags, makes re–rendered photo with modified metadata and saves it in addition to the original photo.

Batch Operation

I’ve always wanted to implement selection gesture handling just like that of Photos. Tap–and–side–drag gesture lets you select multiple photos easily without breaking your thumb. After selection, you can edit or delete multiple metadata of selected photos at once.

Other New Features

• Photo file name. In Metapho and action extension.
• Quickly find a photo by filtering Photos Library with location, favorite, and photo type.

Improvements

• GPS accuracy tag sets Map zoom level if available.
• Pixel dimension reports actual image size, instead of value in metadata.
• Metapho Action extension is more stable and faster.
• Metapho Action extension: Open in Metapho, now works for Metapho–edited–photos.

Fixes

• Some images were not showing for 3D Touch Peek.
• The first–ever app launching via action extension inappropriately asked for Photos Library permission. Well… I did not think of that it is possible to launch app extension before main app.
• One could produce an image contains image direction without location.
• Accessibility escape gesture did not work for going back to photo grid.