Have you ever used Photo Title and Photo Caption in the Apple Photos app? Many Mac users add or edit the photo title because it displays under the thumbnails in the Photos app on macOS. After enabling iCloud Photos and syncing the library to iPhone, iPad, and Mac, they discover that photo titles do not appear on iPhone or iPad—only photo captions are visible on iOS devices.
If you want your edited titles to appear on all devices, you need to copy or merge the photo title into the photo caption. But with thousands of photos and videos in an iCloud Photos Library, doing this manually is almost impossible.
This guide shows you the easiest and fastest way to batch copy photo titles to photo captions in Apple Photos.
1. Difference Between Title, Caption, and Keywords in Apple Photos
When you select a photo in Apple Photos and click the Info button, you’ll see various metadata fields including Title, File Name, Caption, Keywords, Location, and more. However, many users don’t fully understand the differences between these fields.
Title
If you go to View → Metadata → Title in the Photos app on Mac, the edited title will appear under the thumbnails of your photos and videos. If a photo does not have a Title, Photos will show the original file name instead.
Titles are best for short descriptions because long text cannot be fully displayed below the thumbnail. Important: Titles only display in the Mac Photos app—they do not appear in the Photos app on iPhone or iPad.
Caption
A Caption can contain a longer description and is visible across all Apple devices. Captions appear in the Info window in the Photos app on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and they sync through iCloud Photos. Use captions when you want your notes or descriptions to be readable on iOS and iPadOS.
Keywords
Keywords are tags that describe the key objects, themes, or important elements in a photo or video. The Keywords Manager in the Mac Photos app lets you view, organize, and apply keyword tags.
Keywords help categorize and improve search results in Photos. They are visible only in the Mac Photos app, but they are still searchable across Mac, iPhone, and iPad when using the Photos search function.
2. How to Copy Photo Title to Photo Caption (Batch Method)
You can manually copy each photo’s title and paste it into the caption in the Info window, but this becomes impossible when dealing with thousands of images.
To batch copy Titles to Captions, you can use the Photo Exifer app. This tool allows you to: Copy Photo Title → Photo Caption, Copy File Name → Photo Title, Batch edit metadata in the macOS Photos Library and more operations.
Step 1: Install and allow Full Disk Access. Download and install Photo Exifer. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access. Add Photo Exifer to the list to allow reading and writing to the Photos Library.
Step 2: Load your Photos Library. Launch Photo Exifer and open the Photo Library tab. If your library is stored on an external drive or a custom path, go to: Photo Exifer File menu → Open Photo Library…, to choose that photo library
Step 3: Filter and select photos. Use the filter options such as: Showing: All Items, Showing: My Albums → Album Name. or choose other filter options to find photos, and make sure the selected photos already contain photo titles in Apple Photos.
Step 4. Copy photo Title → photo Caption. Select the photos you want to update in Photo Exifer. Click Quick Action → Copy Photo Library Metadata Tag → Copy photo library title to photo library caption/description. Photo Exifer will batch-apply the changes to the entire selection. This method is fast, accurate, and works with large iCloud Photos libraries.
3. Batch Edit Photo Captions
If some photos do not contain titles—or if you want to create custom captions— Photo Exifer also provides a Batch Edit Photo Caption feature.
Step 1: Select the photos to edit in Photo Exifer. Go to Quick Action → Batch Edit Photo Caption in the Photo Library.
Step 2: Choose one of the options: Use File Name as Caption or Use Photo Metadata Tags as Caption. To create custom captions using the photo’s file name, additional text, or other photo metadata tags.
Step 3: Click Save. The edited captions will update directly inside the Photos Library.
Final Thoughts
Apple Photos handles titles, captions, and keywords differently across devices. Since titles do not sync to iPhone or iPad, copying photo titles to captions is the most reliable way to ensure your descriptions appear everywhere.
Using Photo Exifer, you can easily batch copy titles to captions and manage large photo libraries efficiently.
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