When importing photos and videos exported from DJI Mimo APP into Apple Photos, the dates may display incorrectly. More frustratingly, Apple Photos doesn’t natively support batch restoration of original shooting times - the “Restore” button disappears when selecting multiple photos.

This article explains how to use the osxphotos timewarp command to extract correct shooting times from filenames and perform batch fixes.

Prerequisites

This method requires a macOS environment. You can choose:

• Use a Mac computer
• Create a macOS virtual machine via quickemu (recommended)
• Create a macOS virtual machine via ultimate-macOS-KVM

DJI Mimo Filename Structure

First, understand DJI Mimo’s filename structure:

dji_mimo_20260101_151718_20260101151719_1767262128881_photo.jpg
│        │        │      │              │             │
│        │        │      │              │             └─ Type identifier (photo/video)
│        │        │      │              └─ Unix timestamp (milliseconds)
│        │        │      └─ Second timestamp: YYYYMMDDHHMMSS (actual shooting time)
│        │        └─ First timestamp's time part: HHMMSS
│        └─ First timestamp's date part: YYYYMMDD
└─ Fixed prefix

Difference Between Two Timestamps

Timestamp	Example	Meaning
First	20260101_151718	File creation/save time
Second	20260101151719	Actual shooting time (what we need)

For videos, the difference may be the video duration (end vs start of recording); for photos, usually just about 1 second apart.

osxphotos parse-date Parsing Rules

The --parse-date parameter uses strptime-like format with extended wildcards:

Symbol	Meaning	Example
%Y	4-digit year	2026
%m	2-digit month	01
%d	2-digit day	01
%H	2-digit hour (24h)	15
%M	2-digit minute	17
%S	2-digit second	19
*	Match any characters (wildcard)	Skip unwanted parts
?	Match single character	More precise skipping

Parsing Pattern Explanation

dji_mimo_*_*_%Y%m%d%H%M%S
│        │ │ └─ Extract: 20260101151719
│        │ └─ Skip: 151718
│        └─ Skip: 20260101
└─ Fixed match: dji_mimo_

Why use * instead of ????????:

• * matches any length, more flexible
• ???????? exactly matches 8 characters, more strict
• For DJI Mimo files, * is sufficient and more concise

Install osxphotos

brew install osxphotos

Detailed installation instructions: osxphotos Official Installation Docs

Steps

1. Organize Photos into Album

In Apple Photos, gather all DJI Mimo exported files into one album (e.g., DJI Album).

2. Run Fix Command

osxphotos timewarp \
  --album "DJI Album" \
  --parse-date "dji_mimo_*_*_%Y%m%d%H%M%S" \
  --timezone "Asia/Shanghai" \
  --verbose

Parameter Explanation

Parameter	Description
--album	Specify album name to process
--parse-date	Filename parsing pattern
--timezone	Timezone setting (adjust based on your location)
--verbose	Show detailed output

3. Verify Results

Two methods:

Directly in Apple Photos (recommended): Open Photos app and check if photo/video dates have been updated.

Command line query (optional):

osxphotos query --album "DJI Album" --json | jq | head -100

Note: --json output is single-line JSON, requiring jq for readable formatting.

Notes

Must log in with your own iCloud account: iCloud sync is global, you can’t switch Photos account separately. If using a VM, log in with your Apple ID in the VM.

• Recommended to back up photo library before operation
• This method works for both photos and videos

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