Photo Privacy Checker
| Camera make | — |
|---|---|
| Camera model | — |
| Date taken | — |
| Software | — |
Check a photo for hidden GPS location live — nothing is ever uploaded. Works with JPG, PNG, WebP, and HEIC/HEIF (iPhone photos). A red banner and map link show exactly where it was taken; a green banner confirms when it's clean; an amber banner is honest when metadata can't be fully verified rather than falsely claiming safety. Download a copy with all metadata removed in one click.
How it works
- Choose or drag in a photo — JPG, PNG, WebP, or HEIC/HEIF
- If it has GPS data, you'll see a warning banner with the exact coordinates and a map link; a green "no location data" banner if it's clean; or an amber banner if the metadata couldn't be fully read (this can happen with some HEIC files) rather than a false all-clear
- Click "Download photo with metadata removed" for a clean copy, orientation-corrected and metadata-free
Frequently asked questions
Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
No — everything runs in your browser. The photo never leaves your device.
Does it work with iPhone photos (HEIC)?
Yes — HEIC/HEIF files are converted in your browser for checking and cleaning. If a HEIC file's metadata can't be fully read (a known limitation on some devices' HEIC files), you'll see an amber warning instead of a false "safe" result — you can convert to JPEG first for full certainty.
How accurate is the GPS data in a photo?
Smartphone GPS is typically accurate to within a few meters, which can be precise enough to reveal a home address or workplace.
Will the cleaned photo lose quality or rotate wrong?
The photo is redrawn on a canvas with its original orientation corrected, then re-exported — quality loss is minimal, and there's no separate metadata for a viewer to misread anymore.
Related tools
From the blog
Update history
- 2026-08-30 Added: a cover image (photo frame with a magnifying glass revealing a hidden location pin, plus a privacy shield) — used as the card thumbnail, social share image, and blog title image.
- 2026-08-30 Improved: the metadata table (camera make/model, date, software) now shows its field labels with placeholder dashes before you upload anything, instead of being invisible until a photo is checked — makes the feature discoverable at a glance.
- 2026-08-30 Fixed: switched HEIC/HEIF conversion from heic2any to heic-to after real iPhone (15 Plus, iOS 18.7.3) test photos failed to convert ("Could not parse HEIF file") — heic2any's bundled decoder hadn't been updated in 3 years. GPS/metadata detection now always runs first and independently of preview conversion, so it stays accurate even if preview fails. Fixed orientation correction being silently skipped for real photos (exifr was returning a translated string instead of a number).
- 2026-08-30 Added: HEIC/HEIF support — converts client-side to preview and check, with a distinct amber warning banner (instead of a false "safe" green) when metadata can't be fully read, since EXIF parsing is less reliable for HEIC than JPEG.
- 2026-08-30 Added: "Check another photo" button to reset the tool and upload a different image without reloading the page.
- 2026-08-30 Launched: live photo privacy check (no button, no upload) — flags GPS location with a map link and a clear risk banner, shows camera/date metadata, and strips all metadata via canvas re-encode (orientation-corrected) with one-click download.