Remove a date stamp from a photo

Clean orange date stamps off scanned film photos from 1990s point-and-shoots, smartphone date overlays from older Android camera apps, and timestamps added by scanners. Brush and erase — Magic Eraser can fill the area underneath.

Last updated July 9, 2026

How to remove a date stamp from a photo

To remove a date stamp from a photo, open Magic Eraser on the web, iOS, or Android, upload the photo, brush over the orange or yellow date in the corner, and tap Erase — the AI can rebuild the background underneath so the timestamp is replaced with a cleaner-looking area. It includes limited free edits after sign-in, and works the same on scanned film prints, digital photos, and Android screenshots with a baked-in time stamp. Because many date stamps sit in a corner over a fairly uniform background, this is often a cleaner cleanup case than text over faces or complex detail. Through the 1990s and into the early 2000s, consumer cameras commonly imprinted a small orange or yellow date on the bottom corner of every photo, baked directly into the film exposure. When those photos are scanned for digital archives, the date stamp comes along — it's part of the image now, not metadata. The same thing happens with screenshots from older Android camera apps that overlaid a timestamp before saving, and with flatbed scanners that watermark the date of the scan onto every output. AI removal is usually strongest when the stamp is high-contrast text against a uniform background; stamps over faces, patterned fabric, or unique detail may need a second pass.

Remove a date stamp in three steps

1. 1

   Upload your scanned photo

   Scan the print at 300-600 DPI, save as JPEG or PNG, and upload it to Magic Eraser from the web, iOS, or Android. Use the same upload flow for screenshots, scanner outputs, or camera-roll photos with embedded timestamps.

2. 2

   Brush over the date stamp

   Paint over the entire date including any drop shadow or halo. Date stamps are usually small, so zoom in to 200-400% so you can brush precisely without erasing nearby detail.

3. 3

   Tap Erase and check

   The AI rebuilds the corner area, then you review the result at 100% before downloading. If any orange or yellow residual color remains, brush that small area again and rerun Erase.

Best for

• Scanned family photos from the 1990s with the camera's orange date stamp
• Vacation photos from disposable cameras with imprinted dates
• Smartphone screenshots with old Android camera-app date overlays or time stamps
• Wedding and event photos that got their date baked in by the lab
• Flatbed scanner outputs with the device's own embedded date watermark

Save the date elsewhere

Before uploading and removing a date stamp, copy the date into the file's EXIF metadata or a sidecar text file. The stamp is often the only record of when the photo was taken — once you erase it, that date is gone from the image. For family archives, photo organization apps and Adobe Bridge can hold the date as searchable metadata while keeping the image clean. You get a cleaner archive without losing the historical context.

Frequently asked questions

Will the date stamp leave any orange tint behind?

Sometimes. The orange or yellow of a film date stamp can leave a faint color cast if the rebuild only catches the visible digits and not the slight glow around them. Brush slightly past the visible numerals, review the corner at 100%, and run a small second pass before downloading if any tint remains.

Can I batch-process a whole album of dated photos?

If batch processing is available on your plan, it can help when every photo in an album has the date in the same corner. For archive-quality work, still review a sample at full size before processing the rest.

Does it work on date stamps that overlap a person or subject?

Yes — that's a common case (corner stamps often clip into faces or background detail). The AI estimates the covered content from nearby pixels, including skin, hair, and texture, so review those areas closely and rescan or crop when accuracy matters.

Should I scan at higher resolution before removing?

Yes. Scanning at 600 DPI rather than 300 DPI gives the AI more pixels to work with and produces a cleaner rebuild, especially on small stamps over detailed backgrounds.

How do I remove a date stamp from a photo on Android?

Open Magic Eraser in any Android browser or the Android app, load the photo from your gallery, pinch to zoom into the corner with the date, and brush over the timestamp. Tap Erase and the date is gone. This works on both old camera-app overlays that baked the time into the saved image and on scanned prints — the process is identical, and the result is the same as the desktop version.

Can it remove a time stamp as well as a date?

Yes. A time stamp (HH:MM, sometimes alongside the date) is removed exactly like a date stamp — brush over the full string of digits, including any AM/PM or seconds, and tap Erase. If the time and date sit on separate lines, brush both so you don't leave half the overlay behind. The AI rebuilds the corner background underneath the whole imprint.

Does it work on a digital photo's baked-in date, not just scanned prints?

Yes. Many phone and camera apps stamp the date directly onto the saved JPEG (not just in the EXIF metadata), so it can't be turned off after the fact — it's part of the pixels. Magic Eraser removes that baked-in date the same way it handles a scanned film stamp: brush the digits, tap Erase, and the corner is rebuilt. (If the date only exists in EXIF metadata and isn't visible on the image, that's a metadata edit, not a removal job.)