The Photos app already resurfaces old pictures through Memories and Featured Photos, but those picks follow Apple’s own rules about faces, places and events. Wheres my photo takes a blunter approach: it chooses a random date, then pulls a random photo from before that date, so anything in your library can turn up.
Inside the shortcut
Most iPhone libraries hold well over a thousand photos, and the bulk of them never get looked at again after the day they were taken. This shortcut is built to bring a few of them back.
Each run works in two random steps. First it picks a date, then it grabs a photo taken before that point. That double shuffle means you aren’t stuck seeing last month’s pictures over and over, and older shots get a fair chance of appearing.
Along with the image, it shows the date and time the photo was taken. That small detail is what makes it work; a random picture of a beach is nice, but knowing it was a Tuesday afternoon six years ago is what jogs the memory.
Screenshots are filtered out, which matters more than it sounds. On many phones screenshots make up a large share of the library, and a “memory” of a parking receipt isn’t much fun. When a photo is worth keeping in view, you can share it or save it somewhere else straight from the result.
Adding it to your iPhone
Run it once and allow access to your photo library when iOS asks.
Using it day-to-day
Run it whenever you have a spare minute. Each tap gives a new pick, so if the first photo is dull, run it again. A Home Screen icon or a Siri phrase makes that quicker than opening the Shortcuts app every time.
One nice habit is to pair it with a Personal Automation, for example at a set time in the evening, so an old photo shows up without you having to think of it. When something good appears, use the share option to send it to the people who were there. That tends to start a conversation in a way a plain “remember this?” text doesn’t.
Quick answers
Does it send my photos anywhere?
Nothing about how it works points to an online service. It reads your own library through Shortcuts and only shares a photo when you choose to.
Why do I keep seeing older photos more than recent ones?
That’s the random date at work. Because it picks a photo from before a random point in time, your whole history is in play rather than just the latest uploads.
Can I get screenshots included?
Not by default, since excluding them is one of its listed features. You’d need to edit the shortcut’s filter yourself.
First time adding a shortcut from a website? Here's what each prompt means.
