Get All Your Photos in One Place (Phones, Scans, Backups)

Pick one photo library (Google Photos, Apple Photos, Immich, or a plain folder tree), move every source into it, and fix the metadata on the files that lack it. Phone photos already carry a capture date, so they organize themselves. Scanned photos carry only the scan date, so they need the real date written into their metadata first; that is the step that turns a pile of files into one timeline.

Any library built around metadata works, and all the major ones are: Google Photos and Apple Photos in the mainstream, Immich if you want to self-host, or dated files in a folder tree if you want no app at all. Because the date, description, and location live inside each file, a collection with correct metadata can move between these apps later without re-sorting anything. Choose on price, privacy, and the devices your family already uses.

Photo apps sort by the capture date stored inside each file. A scanner creates a brand-new file stamped with the scan date, so a print from 1975 files itself under the day it was scanned. Write the real date into the file's metadata and it drops into its proper spot on the timeline, right next to the phone photos.

Point both phones at the same library. Every major app has a mode built for this: partner sharing in Google Photos, iCloud Shared Photo Library in Apple Photos, partner accounts in Immich. From then on both camera rolls land in one timeline automatically, and older photos either of you scans join it once their dates are fixed.

Three fields, and the first matters most. The capture date (EXIF DateTimeOriginal) decides where the photo lands on every timeline; set it on everything. The description carries the story, often already handwritten on the back of the print, and becomes searchable. GPS location puts the photo on the map. Add descriptions and locations where you know them.

Not if the metadata is written inside the files themselves. Dates, descriptions, and locations stored in standard EXIF/XMP fields travel with the photos into any app. Edits made only inside one app (like a date typed into Google Photos) stay behind in that app's database, which is why fixing the files is the version of this project you only do once.