Every photo you take carries a silent passenger: EXIF metadata. Camera model, exposure settings, timestamps — and, unless you turned it off, the GPS coordinates of exactly where you stood. Share the photo, and you share all of it.

What EXIF actually contains

EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) is a block of tags embedded in JPEG, TIFF, and HEIC files. The most common ones include the date and time the photo was taken, the camera or phone model, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. The sensitive ones are the GPS tags: latitude, longitude, and altitude, often precise to a few meters.

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Screenshots and downloaded images usually carry less, but photos straight from a phone camera are the richest source. Anyone who receives the original file can read these tags with free tools — no hacking required.

When EXIF leaks (and when it doesn't)

Most major social networks strip EXIF from uploads automatically. That sounds reassuring until you realize everything else preserves it: email attachments, messaging apps that send "original quality," file-sharing links, forum uploads, and photos embedded in documents. Marketplaces and classified ads are a classic leak — sellers post phone photos of items with their home coordinates attached.

The rule is simple: if you didn't strip it yourself, assume it's still there.

How to strip EXIF before sharing

  • Strip the file, not the app. The reliable fix is removing the metadata from the image itself. The Image EXIF Viewer & Remover shows you exactly what your photo contains, then produces a clean copy — entirely in your browser, so the photo never uploads anywhere.
  • Turn off geotagging at the source. On both iOS and Android, camera location permission can be revoked while keeping the camera fully functional. No GPS tag is better than a removed one.
  • Prefer sharing methods that re-encode. Screenshots of photos and images pasted into editors generally lose EXIF. But don't rely on this — verify the file you're actually sending.

Check before you send

Make it a habit: before a photo leaves your device for anyone outside your trust circle, inspect what travels with it. Stripping EXIF takes seconds and removes a whole category of accidental disclosure — your location history, your devices, and your routines — from every image you share.