Anyone can download your photos and access their EXIF data if they circulate on social media. Whenever you take a picture, your smartphone or digital camera automatically saves information about the time, location, and device used to take the picture as EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format).
It’s important to remove some data when you upload photos and share files. You end up exposing yourself to these services as Facebook and other sites automatically cut out sensitive information such as GPS.
The consumer protection industry reports that EXIF data on Mac should be removed by the user. Even though EXIF data won’t cause your application to run out of memory, you should still remove it for privacy and safety reasons. You can do everything with a wink and a nod with Mac OS X Yosemite’s EXIF-scrubbing feature.
How to view, edit, and delete EXIF data
Finding the EXIF data Library on the Mac
With Mac OS, the Photos application allows you to view and erase the EXIF data that’s attached to photos. EXIF data cannot be completely edited or deleted. You can prevent your phone’s GPS coordinates from being mined solely by disabling the camera app.
- From the Tools menu, choose Show Inspector when viewing a photo in Preview on the Mac.
- Exif data is displayed in a tab labeled Exif if EXIF data is present in the file.
- GPS data is placed within a separate tab known as Location in Preview when it exists. You can remove these pieces of information using the Remove Location Info option.
While using this method, the EXIF data such as the exposure settings and time of the image capture is not erased. Fortunately, you can easily remove that information beforehand with these foolproof methods.
Editing Time & Disabling Location
- Open Photos on Mac.
- Choose the image you want to edit.
- On the upper right, press the i button. EXIF data can be accessed here, along with a description or keyword.
- Select Image > Location> Hide Location from the upper bar to remove the GPS coordinates from an image.
- By hitting Image> Adjust date and time, you can also make changes to the file’s date and time. You can then make adjustments to the GPS data.
How To Remove Metadata from Your Files
Using a Third-Party Tool
Some users find third-party tools indispensable because free apps destroy EXIF data completely. Multiple files can be stripped of GPS information and other details simultaneously with powerful metadata-removal tools. If you need to remove locations from your photos, you can use a free online service as well. Choose a file from the Choose File bar, scroll to the image, tap it, then click Open. With a click of a button, you can either delete or view the EXIF data.
Downloading EXIF editor from Appstore, you can view, edit, or remove the metadata from images of multiple files simultaneously. Taking advantage of these features allows you to control the process as effectively as possible. By manipulating file size, you can alter the quality of the image or simply remove metadata without affecting the look of the image.
Microsoft Documents
If you want to get rid of sensitive or personal data before sharing an Office file, Microsoft provides the free Document Inspector. You can learn how to delete metadata from Word, Excel and PowerPoint from the Microsoft Support site. To hide troves of metadata, go to their site and follow the instructions for your app version.
Adobe
In Acrobat X Pro and Acrobat X Standard, Adobe explains how to remove metadata from PDF files. With the Examine Document feature in Acrobat 9, the site provides a clear, step-by-step guide for removing surreptitious metadata or other content from documents. This trick only requires you to know the instructions for your software package.
Additional Ways to Remove EXIF Data on Mac
Capture a screenshot
Capturing a screenshot of an image before sharing it can be one of the least time-consuming ways to remove all data. Cameras retain sensitive metadata that doesn’t appear in screenshots.
Using iPhone or iPad Location
Your privacy woes are easier to resolve with iPhone or iPad location settings. The camera’s location service can be deactivated by navigating to Settings > Privacy > Location service and turning it off. The procedure varies depending on the model. Some Android cameras come with GPS settings preinstalled.
Email Metadata
There are many email metadata that stand out, but deleting them is not easy. You can access the embedded metadata in Gmail messages by going to the header information. This is difficult for users without computer skills. It is unfortunately impossible for you to substantially alter the metadata attached to your email.
Only the files you attach to messages can be disabled or removed from EXIF information. When you upload files to Dropbox or email, the EXIF information is not erased.
Conclusion
Hidden data in photos can include information such as time and GPS coordinates. Digital cameras and phones transmit EXIF in a split second across the globe when you capture an image. As a result, photos shared on the most popular photo-sharing platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook, are less sensitive.
By previewing the image and selecting the inspector option from the tool’s menu, you can obliterate EXIF data for Mac users. Metadata can be removed from multiple files with an EXIF data removing tool. It is possible to remove camera, location, or other technical data embedded in a batch of images by a simple click of a button.
