Remove location and metadata from photos
Your photos can carry the exact spot they were taken, the time, your phone model and even your name. Drop a photo below to see what it gives away, then download a clean copy. Nothing is uploaded: it all happens on your device.
What a photo can give away
- Where you were: GPS coordinates accurate to a few metres. A photo taken at home can reveal your address.
- When: the date and time, often to the second, plus your time zone.
- Which device: the phone or camera model, lens, and sometimes the serial number, which can link different photos to the same device.
- Who: an owner or copyright name some cameras and editing apps add.
- Hidden extra images: many phones store a second image or a depth map inside the file, with its own copy of the details.
How this tool works
It reads the file in your browser, lists the details it finds in plain English, then rebuilds the file without them. It removes EXIF, GPS, XMP and IPTC data, comments, and any extra images hidden after the main picture, then checks the clean copy again to confirm nothing is left. It works with JPEG, PNG and WebP.
Location in photos is one part of your digital footprint. The rest is collected quietly by trackers on the websites you visit, which Browser Monster shows you as it happens.
See what websites collect about you, too
Browser Monster shows the trackers on every page you visit, where your data goes and the profile it adds up to. Free, and everything stays on your device.
Questions
- Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
- No. The tool runs entirely in your browser. Your photo is read and cleaned on your own device and never sent to Browser Monster or anyone else. You can even switch off your internet connection after the page loads and it still works.
- What is photo metadata (EXIF)?
- EXIF is information your phone or camera saves inside the photo file: when and where it was taken (GPS coordinates), the phone or camera model, its settings, and sometimes your name or the device’s serial number. You can’t see it in the picture, but anyone who gets the original file can read it.
- Do social networks remove location from photos?
- Most big social networks strip location data from the copy they show publicly, but the original file is uploaded first. Photos sent as files by email, messaging apps (as documents), cloud links, forums, marketplaces and dating sites often keep everything. Cleaning the photo yourself means you don’t have to rely on anyone else.
- Does removing metadata reduce photo quality?
- No. For JPEG and PNG, only the hidden data is cut out of the file; the image itself is copied byte for byte, with no re-compression. The colour profile is kept so colours look the same, and if your photo needs an orientation tag to display the right way up, that single tag is kept too.
- Can I clean iPhone HEIC photos?
- Not in the browser yet, because most browsers can’t read HEIC files. On iPhone, photos you choose in a web page are usually converted to JPEG automatically. Otherwise, set Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible, or share the photo as JPEG first.
- How do I stop my phone adding location to photos?
- On iPhone: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera → Never. On Android: open the Camera app’s settings and turn off “Location tags” (the name varies by phone). Photos you’ve already taken keep their location until you clean them.