What your photos can reveal
Phones and cameras save extra information inside every photo, known as metadata. The most common kind is EXIF. It is handy for sorting your own pictures, but when you share a photo it can also tell a stranger:
- Where it was taken, to within a few metres. For photos taken at home, that is your address.
- When it was taken, often with your time zone.
- Which device took it, sometimes including its serial number, which can link photos posted under different names.
- Who you are: an owner name, artist or copyright notice that a camera or editing app added.
- A hidden preview. Some photos carry a small thumbnail that may not be updated after editing, so it can still show the parts you cropped out.
How to check and clean a photo
- Choose photos or drop them onto the box. You can add several at once.
- Each photo shows what was found, with anything sensitive listed first. Open “All metadata” to see every entry.
- Download the cleaned copies one at a time, or all together as a ZIP file. The file names stay the same.
What is removed and what is kept
Cleaning a photo removes:
- EXIF, including GPS, dates, camera details, serial numbers and the embedded thumbnail.
- XMP and IPTC, which editing software and photo agencies use for captions, keywords, creator and contact details, and editing history.
- Comments and PNG text notes, and any other data the tool does not need.
- Anything stored after the end of the image, such as the video of a “motion photo”, a depth map or a second picture.
Some information is needed to show the photo correctly, so it is kept:
- The colour profile, which tells apps how to display colours. Without it, photos from recent phones can look dull. It describes the colours, not you.
- The orientation, if you leave “Keep the orientation” ticked. Phones often store photos sideways with a note saying which way up they go. Without that note, a portrait photo can appear on its side. When it is needed, the tool writes a new, tiny EXIF block containing only the orientation and nothing else.
- Basic format information, such as the JFIF header in JPEG files and the frames of animated PNG and WebP images.
How this differs from the Image Compressor
The Image Compressor also removes metadata, but it does so by re-encoding the picture, which changes the pixels slightly and resets the quality. This tool is lossless: it copies the compressed image data exactly and only leaves out the metadata, so the photo looks exactly as it did. Use the compressor when you also want smaller or resized files, or for formats this tool cannot edit.
Limitations
- Only JPEG, PNG and WebP files can be cleaned. HEIC photos from iPhones are not supported. You can convert them to JPEG with the Image Compressor in a browser that can open HEIC, such as Safari, or set your iPhone camera to “Most Compatible”.
- Some PNG text notes are stored compressed. Their names are listed, but their contents are not shown. They are still removed.
- Cleaning removes data from the file, not from the scene. A street sign or a landmark in the picture can still give a location away.
- The original files on your device are not changed. Share the cleaned copies.
Frequently asked questions
Are my photos uploaded?
No. Your browser reads each photo on your device and builds the cleaned copy there too. Nothing is sent anywhere. The only exception is the optional “View on OpenStreetMap” link: if you click it, the coordinates go to OpenStreetMap to show the map.
Do social networks remove this information anyway?
Most large social networks remove location data from the copy other people see, but they may keep the original, and many other places do not strip it at all: email attachments, messaging apps that send “original quality” files, cloud-sharing links, forums and online marketplaces. Removing metadata yourself means you do not have to rely on each service.
Will removing metadata reduce the quality of my photo?
No. The tool takes out the metadata sections and copies the compressed image data exactly as it was, so the picture is identical, pixel for pixel. The file just gets a little smaller.
How do I stop my phone adding the location in the first place?
On an iPhone, go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera and choose Never. On Android, open the Camera app’s settings and turn off the location tag option (its name varies by manufacturer). You can also remove the location when sharing: the iPhone share sheet has an Options link at the top for this.