Photo Metadata Remover: Remove EXIF
Your photos can show people where you live. Your phone tucks that location into a hidden label inside each photo. In Texas, agents read that hidden label on one man's photo. They used it to find the street the man lived on. Anyone who opens your photo can read your label too. Who else could be reading your photos tonight? By the end, you'll keep your address to yourself.
That label led agents to a home right near his. And near was close enough to find him.
The Houston Chronicle reported on a man named Donald Post Sr. He photographed the abuse of a 4-year-old girl. He did it on his iPhone, in his own home.
He uploaded the photo to a website. Agents couldn't trace the internet connection he was using.
Agents read the hidden label on the photo instead. Your phone can put that same label on your photos too. Anyone who reads it can see roughly where you stood.
Every photo you take is a picture plus a hidden label.
Agents followed the location in that label to a home near his. From there, the trail led agents to Post. Post's couch matched the couch in the photo.
The Committee to Protect Journalists warns reporters about this. Strangers can see when, where, and which phone you used.
Your photo keeps the exact second you took it, hidden inside. Your photo also carries the name of your phone. And your photo can carry your location too.
Post admitted that he took the photo. A judge let agents use the photo's hidden label.
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You'd think cropping your mail out of the picture would be enough. Your file can still hide a preview of the original.
Even if you turn location off, your photo still leaves two clues. Your photo can still carry the time and your phone's model wherever it goes. Even if you clean the label off, your photo still leaves three clues. People can still see signs, landmarks, and reflections in it.
There was a different case back in 2012. A man named Higinio Ochoa taunted police with a photo. He got 27 months in federal prison.
The FBI used that photo to find him. His phone had saved his location into the photo.
Big websites take the hidden label off the copy other people see. But those companies can still keep that information themselves.
Android's page for app makers describes a safeguard. Since Android 10, apps have to get your permission before they can see where a photo was taken. If you email the photo, your location can go too.
You never typed in where you live. But your photo can tell people anyway. Nobody has to hack anything. Anyone who opens the file can read it.
So you have to fix this before you hit send. Take the location off photos before you share them.
Swipe up on a photo to see what it's carrying. When you share a photo, turn off location on the share screen. Look for street signs before you send it.
Taking the label off is one step. Looking hard at the picture itself is the other.
Start by opening the photo's details. If you see a pin on a map, strangers can see your location too. Clean the file yourself, on your own phone. Then open the file again and check it.
The CaraComp write-up goes into this in more detail. It covers screenshots and newer photo formats too.
Cara Candelario studies faces in photos. She calls the hidden part of a photo file another clue. Careful investigators read both the picture and the hidden part.
Ask your teen to check their camera settings. Assume any photo you email still has its hidden label. Don't upload original photos to websites you don't know.
Donald Post Sr., the Texas abuser, pleaded guilty. He entered that plea on March 5, 2014. Post got 40 years in federal prison.
Your photos can tell people where you live. You get to decide whether they do.
Open your camera settings tonight. Stop your camera from saving your location in new photos. Then check one old photo you took at home.
Deleting a photo later won't get back copies people already saved. Check your next photo before you send it.
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