IPTC metadata on iPhone: caption, byline and credit

A picture with no caption and no credit inside the file is a picture someone at the desk has to retype, or worse, run uncredited. Here is what IPTC metadata is, which fields matter, and how to write them into a whole shoot from an iPhone.

By João Daniel Pereira, London photographer and the developer of Dispatches · 16 October 2026

What IPTC metadata is

IPTC is a set of text fields stored inside an image file, defined by the International Press Telecommunications Council, the news industry's standards body. It sits alongside the camera's own EXIF data (shutter speed, aperture, time), but where EXIF records how the picture was made, IPTC records what it shows and who owns it.

Because the fields travel inside the file, they survive email, FTP, cloud folders and archives. Agency and newspaper systems read them on arrival: the caption becomes the caption, the credit becomes the credit, and the keywords make the picture findable years later.

The fields picture desks read

Names vary a little between apps. These are the ones that matter, with the names you will see in most software:

Your agency may want others, such as job ID, special instructions or a category code. Ask for their list once and build it into a preset.

Why the Photos app isn't enough

Apple's Photos app lets you add a caption to a picture, and it keeps the camera's EXIF. What it doesn't have is anywhere to put a byline, credit line or copyright notice, and no way to stamp one set of fields across a whole shoot. Photos in the photo library also lose the star ratings your camera wrote, which matters when you want to import only your selects. For a desk, you need an app that writes IPTC into the file itself, and a card reader so you import from the card rather than the library.

How to add IPTC on an iPhone, step by step

This is how it works in Dispatches. The idea is that you type each thing exactly once: your rights details once ever, the story once per job, and per-photo details only where a frame needs them.

1. Set your byline, credit and copyright once

The first screen in the app asks for your photographer name, credit line and copyright notice, plus optional email, phone and website for the contact block. Pick a default city to seed the location. You can save several metadata presets, for example one per agency, and pick the right one per job. See Set up your byline.

2. Import the shoot

Import from the card with a card reader: every frame, or filtered by in-camera rating or flag. Dispatches groups them into an event by time and place, and can match the event to your calendar. How importing works.

3. Write the brief, get the fields

Open the event's brief. Link the calendar entry if there is one, then describe the job: type it, or tap the mic and say it. Press Generate and you get a headline, caption, keywords, the location hierarchy, rights, a long-form version and a social caption. It's a draft: edit any field in place. Searching for a city fills in city, region and country from one pick.

4. Apply it to the whole event

Tap Apply and the fields are written into every photo in the event. Photos that already carry a caption are skipped unless you choose Apply to all. Your byline, credit and copyright come from your preset, so they are on every frame without typing.

5. Add the per-photo details

For a frame that needs something specific, a name, a score, a detail, add a caption prefix on that photo. The final caption is your prefix followed by the shared event caption.

6. Send it

The fields go wherever the photo goes: FTP, email, a folder. A workflow can also apply a metadata preset as one of its steps, so an agency's required fields are added on the way out. How to send to FTP from an iPhone.

How to check it's really in the file

Before you rely on a new setup, send one photo to yourself by email or to a folder, then open it in a tool that reads IPTC: Lightroom's Metadata panel, Adobe Bridge, Photo Mechanic, or exiftool on a computer. Check the caption, byline, credit and copyright are all there and spelled right. After that, trust the preset.

Common mistakes

• Byline in the credit field (or the other way round). Creator is the person; Credit Line is how the desk must print it, often with the agency name.
• An old year in the copyright notice. Check your preset each January.
• Keywords as one long sentence. Use separate words and short phrases.
• A caption on one frame of fifty. Caption the event, then prefix the frames that differ.
• Importing from the photo library when you rated in camera. The library drops the camera's stars; import from the card.

Keep reading

• TutorialHow to write a photo captionWhat goes in the Caption field, in what order, with examples.
• TutorialSend photos to FTP from an iPhoneGet the captioned frames to the agency's server.
• Video · 2 minWatch the whole jobCaptions are at 0:51 in the walkthrough.