diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index bec657a6925..2f0cf044c83 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 ### Features
 
+- Add start time to network request breadcrumbs (#4008)
 - Add C++ exception support for `__cxa_rethrow` (#3996)
 
 ### Improvements
diff --git a/Sources/Sentry/SentryNetworkTracker.m b/Sources/Sentry/SentryNetworkTracker.m
index 71c577a3ee5..a2f933b59cc 100644
--- a/Sources/Sentry/SentryNetworkTracker.m
+++ b/Sources/Sentry/SentryNetworkTracker.m
@@ -220,6 +220,10 @@ - (void)urlSessionTaskResume:(NSURLSessionTask *)sessionTask
             @"SentryNetworkTracker automatically started HTTP span for sessionTask: %@",
             netSpan.description);
 
+        // Register request start date in the sessionTask to use for breadcrumb
+        objc_setAssociatedObject(sessionTask, &SENTRY_NETWORK_REQUEST_START_DATE, [NSDate date],
+            OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC);
+
         objc_setAssociatedObject(sessionTask, &SENTRY_NETWORK_REQUEST_TRACKER_SPAN, netSpan,
             OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC);
     }
@@ -484,6 +488,8 @@ - (void)addBreadcrumbForSessionTask:(NSURLSessionTask *)sessionTask
         [hasBreadcrumb boolValue]) {
         return;
     }
+    NSDate *requestStart
+        = objc_getAssociatedObject(sessionTask, &SENTRY_NETWORK_REQUEST_START_DATE);
 
     SentryLevel breadcrumbLevel = sessionTask.error != nil ? kSentryLevelError : kSentryLevelInfo;
     SentryBreadcrumb *breadcrumb = [[SentryBreadcrumb alloc] initWithLevel:breadcrumbLevel
@@ -495,6 +501,7 @@ - (void)addBreadcrumbForSessionTask:(NSURLSessionTask *)sessionTask
     NSMutableDictionary<NSString *, id> *breadcrumbData = [NSMutableDictionary new];
     breadcrumbData[@"url"] = urlComponents.sanitizedUrl;
     breadcrumbData[@"method"] = sessionTask.currentRequest.HTTPMethod;
+    breadcrumbData[@"request_start"] = requestStart;
     breadcrumbData[@"request_body_size"] =
         [NSNumber numberWithLongLong:sessionTask.countOfBytesSent];
     breadcrumbData[@"response_body_size"] =
diff --git a/Sources/Sentry/include/SentryNetworkTracker.h b/Sources/Sentry/include/SentryNetworkTracker.h
index e0aa040da81..e24ef161cc7 100644
--- a/Sources/Sentry/include/SentryNetworkTracker.h
+++ b/Sources/Sentry/include/SentryNetworkTracker.h
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ NS_ASSUME_NONNULL_BEGIN
 
 static NSString *const SENTRY_NETWORK_REQUEST_OPERATION = @"http.client";
 static NSString *const SENTRY_NETWORK_REQUEST_TRACKER_SPAN = @"SENTRY_NETWORK_REQUEST_TRACKER_SPAN";
+static NSString *const SENTRY_NETWORK_REQUEST_START_DATE = @"SENTRY_NETWORK_REQUEST_START_DATE";
 static NSString *const SENTRY_NETWORK_REQUEST_TRACKER_BREADCRUMB
     = @"SENTRY_NETWORK_REQUEST_TRACKER_BREADCRUMB";
 
diff --git a/Tests/SentryTests/Integrations/Performance/Network/SentryNetworkTrackerTests.swift b/Tests/SentryTests/Integrations/Performance/Network/SentryNetworkTrackerTests.swift
index 96cbc56aaa5..fa3f43b2ac6 100644
--- a/Tests/SentryTests/Integrations/Performance/Network/SentryNetworkTrackerTests.swift
+++ b/Tests/SentryTests/Integrations/Performance/Network/SentryNetworkTrackerTests.swift
@@ -338,6 +338,8 @@ class SentryNetworkTrackerTests: XCTestCase {
         XCTAssertEqual(breadcrumb!.data!["response_body_size"] as! Int64, DATA_BYTES_RECEIVED)
         XCTAssertEqual(breadcrumb!.data!["http.query"] as? String, "query=value&query2=value2")
         XCTAssertEqual(breadcrumb!.data!["http.fragment"] as? String, "fragment")
+        XCTAssertNotNil(breadcrumb!.data!["request_start"])
+        XCTAssertTrue(breadcrumb!.data!["request_start"] is Date)
         XCTAssertNil(breadcrumb!.data!["graphql_operation_name"])
     }