Photo Location & Metadata Checker
Find out what your photos give away before you share them, then strip it.
How to use the Photo Location & Metadata Checker
- Drop one or more photos, or click to choose them.
- Each photo gets a clear verdict: whether it contains a GPS location, plus camera, serial number, date and author details.
- Press Remove all metadata to make clean copies.
- Download the clean photos one by one, or all together as a ZIP.
About this tool
Most phones save the exact GPS position inside every photo they take, along with the date and time, the phone model and sometimes a unique camera serial number. Share the original file by email, a forum or a cloud link and anyone who downloads it can read that data and see where you live, work or spend your holidays. Some apps strip it on upload, but many do not, and you cannot always tell which.
This checker reads the EXIF, XMP and IPTC data stored in JPEG, HEIC, PNG, WebP and TIFF files and puts the risky parts up front: location, device identifiers, timestamps and names. Coordinates are shown as numbers, and a map link appears only if you choose to click it.
Removing metadata works by redrawing each photo onto a blank canvas and saving it as a new file. Only the pixels survive, so every tag, the embedded thumbnail and any colour profile are gone. JPEGs are saved at quality 92, which is visually indistinguishable from the original, and PNGs stay lossless. Rotation is applied to the pixels first, so photos keep the right way up.
Frequently asked questions
Are my photos uploaded to check them?
No. The metadata is read and the clean copies are made inside your browser. The files never leave your device.
Do social networks remove location data?
The big ones usually strip it from the public copy, but messaging apps sending "original quality" files, email, file-sharing links and many forums keep everything. Cleaning before you share removes the doubt.
Will removing metadata reduce quality?
PNG output is lossless. JPEG output is re-saved at quality 92, a level where differences are practically invisible, though the file size may change a little.
Does it work with iPhone HEIC photos?
Yes. Metadata is read directly from HEIC files. Browsers other than Safari cannot show HEIC images, so a built-in decoder converts them while cleaning, which can take a few seconds per photo. Clean copies are saved as JPG.
What is a camera serial number risk?
A body or lens serial number is unique to your device. It can link photos you post under different names back to the same camera.