Found this: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/backgroundtasks/starting-and-terminating-tasks-during-development

I have just noticed that I can in fact access EXIF "DateTimeOriginal" (among others) via requestMetaData() and didReceiveMetadata(). This still does not populate the ICCameraFile.exifCreationDate, though. While I now have a workaround, I still wonder what the purpose of this empty field is.

I am afraid that you misunderstood the issue: It is not about missing EXIF data after downloading the image from the camera. At that stage, EXIF data is present (e.g. in Preview) and there are ways to retrieve it via UIImage or CGImage. The issue is about accessing the EXIF data before downloading the actual images from the camera. The goal is to compile a list of image thumbnails and image meta data, and to let the user decide which ones to actually download, or to automatically select only certain images based on names, dates, or possibly other criteria. Access to this data on the camera itself should work via ICCameraFile, but for the EXIF dates, I always get nil. The (less reliable) file dates of ICCameraItem are available, though. The Image Capture app on MacOS displays this last date, and currently so do I in my own app. However I am wondering under what circumstances the actual EXIF date (which I would prefer) is accessible, considering that there already is a dedicated property for it.