EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) is a hidden data block inside every photo you take. Your phone or camera silently records dozens of fields at shutter-press: GPS coordinates, camera model, lens, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, flash state, timestamps, and often a thumbnail of the original image. It travels with the file when you share it — unless something strips it.

A typical iPhone photo contains 50–150 EXIF tags. Here is what is commonly inside:

  • Device: Make, Model (e.g. Apple iPhone 15 Pro), LensModel, SerialNumber, Software / firmware version.
  • Location: GPSLatitude, GPSLongitude, GPSAltitude, GPS timestamp — precise to ~3 meters.
  • Dates: DateTimeOriginal (shutter moment), CreateDate, ModifyDate, timezone offset.
  • Settings: ExposureTime, FNumber, ISOSpeedRatings, FocalLength, Flash, WhiteBalance, MeteringMode.
  • Extras: ImageDescription, Artist, Copyright, embedded Thumbnail, orientation flags.

Why it is dangerous: posted photos have enabled real-world harm. Celebrities and streamers have been doxxed via GPS tags in uploaded images; burglary gangs have scouted empty homes from vacation photos with intact coordinates and dates; stalkers have extracted a victim's home location from a single marketplace listing photo; journalists have exposed anonymous sources because Word/PDF exports carried author names alongside image EXIF. A 2023–2025 string of "find my house" challenges on TikTok demonstrated GPS extraction live to millions.

The 10-second safety rule

Before posting any photo showing your home, kids, car plate, documents, or travel plans: strip EXIF. iPhone GPS alone narrows you to a single house. The free tool below wipes GPS, device, dates and thumbnails in one click — files never leave your browser. iPhone-specific walkthrough: remove GPS from iPhone photos.

How to view EXIF: on Windows right-click > Properties > Details; on macOS open in Preview > Tools > Show Inspector > Exif; on iPhone swipe up on a photo for device/date/location; power users run exiftool photo.jpg. Or drop the photo in the tool below — the instant preview lists everything found, exactly as a stranger would see it.

How to remove it: OS toggles help going forward (iPhone: Camera > Location Services off; Samsung: Camera settings > Location tags off; Windows: Properties > "Remove Properties"). But toggles never clean old photos, and social platforms are inconsistent — see does Instagram remove EXIF? for what survives uploads. For guaranteed removal, structural strippers rebuild the file without metadata segments.

Clean it now: drop any photo below. The preview shows every tag found (GPS, device, dates) marked REMOVED, then one click produces a clean copy with identical pixels.

Go deeper: what C2PA provenance is · stripping metadata before selling photos.