Frequently Asked Questions

When you scan old printed photos and add them to a photo library like Google Photos or Apple Photos, the library thinks the photo was taken on the day it was scanned. All your scanned photos end up clumped together at one date, out of place in your timeline.

Timeline Scan fixes this. You scan the front and back of each photo, and our AI analyzes the image to determine the approximate year it was taken. If there's handwriting on the back — a name, a date, a note like “Christmas 1978” — we read that too and add it as the photo's description. When you import the corrected photos into your library, they appear in the right place in your timeline, complete with descriptions that show up right in your favorite photo app.

Our AI examines many visual clues in the front of each photo: the style of clothing people are wearing, hairstyles, vehicles, home decor, the quality and type of the photograph itself (color vs. black-and-white, film grain, print borders), and other contextual details.

It also reads the back of each photo. Many old photos have handwritten notes — dates, names, locations, or descriptions. Our AI reads this handwriting and uses it to improve the date estimate and to create a description that will appear in your photo library.

While no system can pinpoint the exact day a 50-year-old photo was taken, our AI is very good at determining the approximate year or era. The goal is to get your photos in the right part of your timeline, not mixed in with last week's pictures.

Timeline Scan works with any photo library or app that reads standard photo metadata. This includes:

Google Photos, Apple Photos (iCloud), Amazon Photos, Microsoft OneDrive, Immich, Flickr, and most other photo management apps.

We update the industry-standard EXIF date and description fields in your photo files. Any app that reads these fields will place your photos correctly and display the descriptions.

We only update the date and description information stored in the photo file, not the image itself. Your photo's picture quality, resolution, and content remain completely untouched. Think of it like reading the note on the back of a printed photo and filing it in the right spot in your album — the picture doesn't change, you're just organizing it properly.

Absolutely. Your photos are processed securely and we do not keep copies after processing is complete. We don't sell, share, or use your photos for any other purpose. Your family memories are exactly that — yours.

We support JPEG, PNG, and TIFF files — the most common formats that scanners produce. If your scanner outputs a different format, most scanning software will let you choose to save as JPEG, which works perfectly.

That's perfectly fine. Many old photos have blank backs. Our AI will still analyze the front of the image to determine the date. The handwriting reading is a bonus — when there is something written on the back, we'll capture it as the photo's description. When there isn't, the photo simply gets its corrected date.

Just scan the front and back of each photo one after the other, so they stay in order. For example: photo1-front, photo1-back, photo2-front, photo2-back, and so on. Most scanners will name the files sequentially, which keeps them paired automatically. We'll match them up from there.

Our AI typically determines the correct decade and often narrows it down to within a few years. For example, a photo from 1982 might be dated to 1980 or 1983. The important thing is that it ends up near 1982 in your timeline rather than showing up in 2024 when you scanned it.

If you know the exact dates of certain photos, you're always free to manually adjust them after importing.

After placing your order, we'll provide you with a secure upload link where you can send us your scanned photos. For each photo, scan both the front and the back — the back is where we look for handwritten notes, dates, and descriptions. You can upload them right from your computer, no special software needed. For large collections, we also support uploading a ZIP file with all your photos at once.

Most orders are processed within 24 to 48 hours. Larger collections (1,000+ photos) may take a bit longer. We'll email you when your photos are ready to download with their corrected dates.

We want you to be happy with the results. If the dating doesn't meet your expectations, reach out to us and we'll work with you to make it right. Your satisfaction and your family memories matter to us.