What's hidden inside a photo file
Every photo from a phone or camera carries a block of data you don't see in the picture itself. The most common kinds:
- EXIF — camera make and model, lens, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, the exact date and time the shot was taken, the editing app used, and the orientation flag.
- GPS — latitude and longitude, often accurate to a few metres. A photo taken at home can reveal your address.
- IPTC and XMP — author name, copyright, captions, keywords, and editing history added by apps like Lightroom or Photoshop.
- Thumbnails — a small preview copy of the original image. If you cropped the photo in a basic editor, the thumbnail can still show the uncropped version.
- PNG text chunks — screenshots and exported graphics sometimes store the software name or comments here.
How the cleaner works
- Drop a photo. The tool reads every metadata block first and lists what it found: GPS coordinates, camera, lens, date taken, software, exposure, orientation and author/copyright, each marked as removed.
- It then redraws the image pixels onto a blank canvas and saves a new file. A canvas holds only pixels, so nothing from the original's metadata can come along.
- The new file is parsed again. If nothing is left, a green line confirms the downloaded image contains 0 readable metadata tags — a check on the actual output, not just a promise.
- Download the file, saved with a
-cleansuffix.
All of this runs in your browser. For a privacy tool that's the point: uploading a photo to a server to remove its location would hand the location to that server.
What happens to format and quality
| You upload | You get | Note |
|---|---|---|
| JPG | JPG | Re-saved at 95% quality — no visible difference |
| PNG | PNG | Lossless, transparency kept |
| WebP | WebP | Saved as PNG or JPG in browsers that can't write WebP (Safari) |
| HEIC (iPhone) | JPG | Decoded locally, then saved as JPG |
| GIF | PNG | Only the first frame is kept |
The photo comes out the right way up: the picture is saved as it is displayed, so it no longer needs an orientation tag. Images above about 16.7 megapixels are scaled down first, because browsers — especially Safari on iPhone — can't draw larger canvases; the tool tells you when that happens.
When stripping matters most
Many big social networks remove metadata when you post, but plenty of channels deliver your original file byte for byte:
- email attachments;
- links from cloud storage (shared folders, file transfer services);
- "send as file" or "document" mode in messaging apps;
- marketplace and classifieds sites, forums, and your own website or blog.
If you sell something from home, share photos of your children, or post pictures of a place you visit regularly, clean the file first.
What metadata removal can't do
Removing metadata does not change what's visible in the picture. A street sign, a house number, a car plate, a reflection in a window, or a document on a desk can reveal as much as GPS. Hide those areas with Pixelate Image before sharing.
It also won't help after the fact: if the original was already posted somewhere that keeps metadata, deleting it there is the only fix.
Check before and after
To see the full raw list of tags without changing anything, open the photo in the EXIF viewer. Run the cleaned file through it as well if you want a second opinion.
Resize Image, Crop Image and HEIC to JPG also produce metadata-free files as a side effect, because they redraw the image on a canvas. Don't rely on compressors for this, though: a photo that is already under the target size — for example under 100 KB — is handed back unchanged, metadata included. If you need both, clean the photo here first, then compress the clean copy.
Stop the location being saved at all
- iPhone: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera → Never. When sharing a single photo, tap Options at the top of the share sheet and turn off Location.
- Android: open the Camera app's settings and turn off the location tag option (its name differs by manufacturer).
Photos you already have still contain the data — that's what this tool is for.