Some mornings I open my camera roll and wonder what I was doing on this exact date a few years back. Maybe it was a beach day. Maybe it was forty screenshots of a recipe I never made. Either way, it's fun to look.
Your iPhone can show you photos from this day in past years, but it doesn't make it obvious. Here are three ways to do it, from the built-in options to a small app made just for this.
Method 1: Apple Photos Memories
Open the Photos app and scroll down to Memories. Apple builds these on its own from your library, and some of them are tied to dates, so you'll sometimes see a "this day" style collection pop up.
It's free and already on your phone. The downside is that you don't choose. Apple decides which day gets a memory and which photos go in it. Some days you get a lovely surprise. Other days there's nothing for today's date at all.
Good for: occasional surprises with zero effort.
Method 2: Search by date in Photos
This is the most direct built-in option.
- Open Photos and tap Search.
- Type today's month and day, for example "October 24".
- Scroll the results. Photos from that date in different years should show up together.
You can also search a specific year, like "October 24 2021", if you want one moment in particular. It works well for birthdays and anniversaries.
The catch is that search isn't built for a daily habit. You have to type the date every time, results can mix in nearby days, and there's no easy way to tidy things up as you go.
Good for: looking up one special date.
Method 3: A dedicated On This Day app
If you want this to be a small daily ritual, a dedicated app is the easiest route. This is what we built Mira Photos for.
Each day, Mira Photos opens to today's date and shows every photo you took on that day, across all your past years, in one calm grid. You can scroll back through the years, tap a photo to see it full screen, and share the ones that make you smile.
While you're there, you can also mark the blurry shots, duplicates and old screenshots for deletion. Nothing is removed until you review your picks and confirm. Everything happens on your iPhone, and your photos never leave the device.
The daily On This Day view is free. If you'd like to jump to any other date, like a birthday across every year or last New Year's Eve, there's an optional Mira Pro upgrade for $9.99 a year. You don't need it to use the daily view.
Mira Photos works on iOS 18.5 and later and is a small download.
Good for: a few minutes a day with your own past, plus a lighter camera roll over time.
What about a free Shortcut?
You may have seen people share an iPhone Shortcut that opens Photos to today's date across past years and sets a daily reminder. It's a clever idea, and if that's all you want, it's a fine choice. It costs nothing and you can tweak it yourself.
Here's where Mira Photos is different:
- One grid, all years. You see the whole day at a glance, grouped by year, instead of a search result list.
- Keep or delete as you go. You can review a day's photos and clear out the clutter in the same place, with a confirm step before anything is removed.
- Any day, if you want it. Pro lets you browse any date, not only today.
So a Shortcut gets you the reminder. Mira Photos gives you somewhere quiet to actually spend those few minutes.
Which method should you use?
- Want a surprise now and then? Let Memories do its thing.
- Need one specific date? Search in Photos is quick.
- Want to see this day every day, and tidy as you go? Try a dedicated app like Mira Photos.
You can mix them, too. Plenty of people keep Memories on and use an app for the daily look back.
A small daily habit
Looking at the same date across years is a gentle way to notice how things change: kids getting taller, friends who moved away, the same coffee shop in four different seasons. It only takes a minute, and it tends to make the day a little better.
If you'd like to try it, Mira Photos is on the App Store. The daily view is free.
Mira Photos is made by Quietly Made LLC.