# Observation time is two hours earlier than picture time **URL:** \ **Category:** Bug Reports\ **Tags:** mobile-app\ **Created:** [August 7, 2025, 6:43pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/observation-time-is-two-hours-earlier-than-picture-time/68618 "2025-08-07T18:43:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elias105](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/elias105/32/20800_2.png) [@elias105](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/elias105)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 6:43pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/observation-time-is-two-hours-earlier-than-picture-time/68618/1 "2025-08-07T18:43:19Z")
**Platform** : Android **App version number** , if a mobile app issue: 1.0.6 **Browser** , if a website issue: **URLs (aka web addresses) of any relevant observations or pages**: [https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/304531486](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/304531486) **Screenshots of what you are seeing** : ![1000189110](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/9/b/9b1a8bab7b58f1aa709373529dbd562d57b609de.png) **Description of problem** : Step 1: look at exif data of original jpeg file ![1000189115](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/a/4/a497ef6ec45d1dd70366b8f71a0fc6eac24e228e.png) It says 17:37:04 +02:00 Step 2: look at date on inaturalist It, for some reason, says 3:37 PM CEST. Step 3: The exif time is correct, I took the picture at 17:37:04 CEST. The inat time, inexplicably, is two hours earlier. I added the observation with inat next 1.0.6, sharing the picture after taking it with the phone’s camera app, and only clicking identify and upload buttons. ---
**Author:** ![PattiEdens](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/pattiedens/32/19810_2.png) [@PattiEdens](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/PattiEdens)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 8:00pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/observation-time-is-two-hours-earlier-than-picture-time/68618/2 "2025-08-07T20:00:11Z")
I’m sure someone will come along with the answer. I don’t have it, but I am curious. What is the +2 at the end of the EXIF time? Could iNat be subtracting that 2? ---
**Author:** ![elias105](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/elias105/32/20800_2.png) [@elias105](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/elias105)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 8:05pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/observation-time-is-two-hours-earlier-than-picture-time/68618/3 "2025-08-07T20:05:26Z")
“+2” is just the time zone (UTC + 2 hours), it’s the same as saying “CEST”. One guess I have, since 5:37 PM CEST would be the same as 3:37 PM UTC, maybe inat is first converting the time to UTC, but then somehow replacing the UTC with the wrong timezone? ---
**Author:** ![PattiEdens](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/pattiedens/32/19810_2.png) [@PattiEdens](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/PattiEdens)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/observation-time-is-two-hours-earlier-than-picture-time/68618/4 "2025-08-07T20:11:59Z")
Interesting. Does this help? [https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/time-of-day-searching/27484/7](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/time-of-day-searching/27484/7) Search the forum for UTC time. There are several threads. ---
**Author:** ![elias105](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/elias105/32/20800_2.png) [@elias105](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/elias105)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 10:00pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/observation-time-is-two-hours-earlier-than-picture-time/68618/5 "2025-08-07T22:00:38Z")
Interesting, but I’m using the new app, not the web uploader… but maybe it has the same bug? ---
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 10:23pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/observation-time-is-two-hours-earlier-than-picture-time/68618/6 "2025-08-07T22:23:45Z")
Are you shooting photos in RAW format and importing them into iNat? If so, it’s likely this bug: [https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/app-says-date-time-location-are-missing-and-reporting-an-incorrect-time/64116/](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/app-says-date-time-location-are-missing-and-reporting-an-incorrect-time/64116/) ---
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 10:41pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/observation-time-is-two-hours-earlier-than-picture-time/68618/7 "2025-08-07T22:41:48Z")
Interesting, I just noticed that the photo was taken on a Google Pixel? [https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/548998243](https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/548998243) How did you get the photo from the Pixel to your iPhone? ---
**Author:** ![vladimir\_fuka](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/vladimir_fuka/32/20618_2.png) [@vladimir\_fuka](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/vladimir_fuka)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 6:17am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/observation-time-is-two-hours-earlier-than-picture-time/68618/8 "2025-08-08T06:17:02Z")
Perhaps rather a **[iNaturalistReactNative](https://github.com/inaturalist/iNaturalistReactNative)** apk on Android? ---
**Author:** ![elias105](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/elias105/32/20800_2.png) [@elias105](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/elias105)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 6:46am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/observation-time-is-two-hours-earlier-than-picture-time/68618/9 "2025-08-08T06:46:22Z")
Yes, using the APK from github, maybe this is not supposed to fully work yet on Android? ---
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 8:54pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/observation-time-is-two-hours-earlier-than-picture-time/68618/10 "2025-08-11T20:54:33Z")
Yes, the Android version isn’t ready for beta testing yet. By all means you can try it, but we’re not gathering feedback for it yet, or nor are we claiming it works well at all. ---
**Author:** ![bouteloua](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/bouteloua/32/1180_2.png) [@bouteloua](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/bouteloua)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 11:01pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/observation-time-is-two-hours-earlier-than-picture-time/68618/11 "2025-08-17T23:01:44Z")