Metadata on pictures

Question

I received the original image file of a picture taken on an iPhone 6 plus. I am interested in the metadata, particularly the dates the picture was taken. I was able to acquire the date the image was "taken," but I also understand metadata can be modified, and that the date is extremely easy to modify. Can I make the following conclusion from the metadata: (1) This date accurately represents the day the picture was taken or (2) The metadata was modified to this day

Are there other possible conclusions?

Edit: If the metadata was never modified and the date on the device the photo was taken is correct, can we conclude that the date in the metadata is a true and accurate representation of when the picture was taken in this scenario?

Answer 1

There is no way to know if the metadata was modified. Even if it was modified, the device could have been wrong even temporarily, which would give incorrect yet unmodified metadata.

Not much else can be established. You can do some other investigation to make sure things are really consistent. An inconsistency would point to manipulation. For example, if the phone names the files as a timestamp than that should match the metadata timestamp.

Answer 2

If you are only interested in date taken part then you can look for the image properties but if you want the detailed analysis then you have to look into the exif data.

You can use this site to check the exif data. There are many other sites but I find it more reliable. Even you can make one for your own use if you know php, hint.

However, all these data can be manipulated and AFAIK you can't trace all those manipulations.

More importantly, the date take part is easiest to manipulate as, if someone alters the system date of the camera or the phone that date will be reflected in the image exif.