In this article, let's find out how to remove metadata from an image file on Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android devices. EXIF data attached to images can pose a risk to your privacy and security.
What is EXIF?
Exchangeable Image Format, also known as EXIF, is a set of data that’s attached to every image you take.
Whenever we click or take photos with a smartphone, our device adds extra information to the image file, i.e., EXIF information about the image that’s stored within the image itself. Depending on the type of smartphone, the data embedded within the image includes location coordinates, date, time, device model and manufacturer, and settings used to take the image. It can also include camera settings. Now the biggest concern is that we mostly post those images and our best moments on social media, where snoopers can easily save our images, access those data, and use them against us.
However, most social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter remove all of this data from photos when we upload them. But when our photo is shared via email or cloud storage services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, etc., this data is still present on the picture.
To protect our privacy, it’s best to remove EXIF data from images. Here’s how you can do it:
How to view, edit, and remove EXIF data, including location on:
1. Android.
Steps to view EXIF data:
> Open Google Photos on the phone.
> Open any photo and tap the "i" icon.
> This will show you all the EXIF data you need.
Steps to remove EXIF data:
There are apps that can remove this EXIF data for us, but many are either ad-ridden, expensive, or potentially sketchy. You can use third party apps like Exif Eraser.
2. iOS.
Viewing EXIF data:
On iOS, surprisingly, you can’t see much in terms of EXIF data via the Photos app.
Steps to remove EXIF data:
You can use third party apps like Metadata Remover or Photo Investigator.
* If you are privacy conscious, Android and iOS users can turn off geotagging to prevent smartphones from adding geolocation data to the images in the camera settings. The safest option is to use one of the desktop applications listed above to remove your photos' EXIF data.
3. Windows.
Steps to view & remove EXIF data:
> Right-click on the image and click Properties.
> Click the "Details" tab.
> Click "Remove Properties" and "Personal Information."
you can also click Create a copy with all possible properties removed to create a copy of the EXIF data that you removed.
> Alternatively, you can edit metadata by clicking Remove the following properties from this file.
> Once you’re done, click OK.
4. MacOS.
Steps to view EXIF data:
> Open the image you want to edit.
> Tap the "i" button on the top-right. Here you can view the EXIF data in the photo and add a description and keywords if you wish.
> You can remove location data from a photo by clicking Image in the top bar and then clicking Location > Hide Location.
> You can also edit the date and time on the photo by taping on it.
Steps to remove EXIF data:
There are also several free third-party software programmes you can use, such as ImageOptim or EXIF Purge.
That is all!
Also Read: Activate or transfer eSIM on an iPhone or Android.
I hope this article will be useful for you and that you can reliably remove EXIF data. If you use any additional apps to view, edit, and remove EXIF data from your images, do let me know in the comments.