PhotoDater™ Now Available on the MyHeritage and Reimagine Mobile Apps

We’re happy to announce that PhotoDater™ is now available on the MyHeritage mobile app and on the Reimagine app! PhotoDater™ is a revolutionary FREE feature that uses AI technology to estimate when historical photos were taken, and it’s available only on MyHeritage. We first released PhotoDater™ on the MyHeritage website back in August 2023. Now, users can enjoy PhotoDater™ on the MyHeritage app for iOS and Android and on the Reimagine app. It’s also available when using a mobile web browser! 

PhotoDater™ reduces the guesswork regarding undated historical photos that may have puzzled you until now. A date estimate can unlock additional clues about a photo, helping you to figure out who appears in it and at what event it was taken. Each new clue has the potential to open up new avenues of discovery in your research. If you aren’t familiar with PhotoDater™ yet, watch this video to see what it can do. 

PhotoDater™ is a welcome addition to our suite of photo features, and was warmly received by our users, who have enjoyed exploring the new clues it provides for their family history research. With Thanksgiving and the holiday season on the horizon, family gatherings provide the perfect opportunity to reminisce, scan old family photos, and unlock the mystery of when they were taken, all from your mobile device. 

Accessing PhotoDater™ on the MyHeritage app

To use PhotoDater™, open the MyHeritage app on your device and tap “Photos” on the home screen. 

MyHeritage app home screen

Tap any photo in the gallery to select it. If the photo is missing a date, PhotoDater™ will automatically work in the background to analyze the photo and provide a date estimate. If the confidence is good enough, the estimate will appear within a few seconds below the photo, where the metadata appears. 

Date estimates will automatically appear for undated photos (click to zoom)

Occasionally, PhotoDater™ is unable to provide an estimate for a given photo due to a photo’s lower quality or other factors. The first time an estimate is calculated, it may take a few seconds for it to appear, but from that moment on it will be displayed instantly. 

Tap the date estimate to open a pop-up with more details. The pop-up shows a histogram indicating the decade in which the photo was most likely taken, the confidence level of the estimate, and the average error range. In the example below, the histogram indicates a 95% confidence level that the photo was taken in 1973, with an average error range of 4 years. This means the photo was likely taken between 1969-1977. According to the histogram, there’s also a small chance it was taken in the 1960s. In this case, the 1973 estimate was extremely close, as the photo was actually taken in 1972.   

Histogram of decades and the confidence level of the date estimate (click to zoom)

Date estimates are not automatically saved to the photo’s metadata; because they are estimates, they need to be confirmed manually. Please remember that date estimates are just that: estimates. While PhotoDater™ has a very high accuracy rate, it can be off by several years. Therefore, when saving a date estimate to the photo’s metadata, it appears as an estimated date in GEDCOM format, rather than an exact one. 

To save a date estimate, tap the “Save” button, marked below in red, or reject it. 

Save or reject an estimate

PhotoDater™ on the Reimagine app

Reimagine is MyHeritage’s new app that is dedicated to photos, and it includes a powerful photo scanner. PhotoDater™ is now available on the Reimagine app for iOS and Android. To access PhotoDater™, open the app and tap “Gallery” on the bottom right of the home screen. 

Accessing the gallery from the Reimagine app home screen

Tap any photo in the gallery. Once you’re on the photo screen, follow the same steps described above to use PhotoDater™ on Reimagine. 

Filtering undated photos on Reimagine

Currently, photos on Reimagine can only be viewed in a gallery. If you have already added dates to some of your photos and wish to find only the undated ones, visit your MyHeritage family site and use List View for photos. 

Privacy

When PhotoDater™ processes a photo to give a date estimate, this is done on MyHeritage’s servers and the photo is not shared with any third party.

PhotoDater™ can be extremely useful, and while many users are enthusiastic about the new directions it provides for their research, others may prefer to avoid estimates altogether. If you prefer not to receive date estimates for your photos, you’ll need to visit your MyHeritage family site from your computer to disable it. From your family site, go to Site Settings > My Privacy > Content and uncheck the box for PhotoDater™.

Try PhotoDater™ today! 

At MyHeritage, we’re constantly developing useful new features to make your family history research easier and more intuitive. We are working hard to support all of our features across all platforms, and we continue to explore new ways for artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline genealogy, all while providing the best possible user experience. Our next big AI-powered innovation is coming soon, so watch this space for updates!