EXIF (Exchangeable Image File) Data is a widely used standard for storing photography information on image files. When a camera capable device takes a photo, it stores data about the technical environment of that exact moment. The information includes device model, date/time, resolution, ISO, lens specification, shutter speed, exposure compensation, GPS location, and more. This same information can expose a lot of information about users’ device and location.
When you upload images to social media, you unintentionally provide the receiving party more data about you than you intended. Most users share photos and videos for their family, friends or followers. However, it is useful for companies for tracking and targeted marketing. Many consider this a privacy breach with a subtle malicious purpose. Fortunately, there are ways to remove the information before you share it online. Making this a habit will give you some privacy while you share images online.
EXIF data management on Android
There are many tools on the desktop to remove or change EXIF data. We’re going to learn how to do it on Android. The default file manager on Android is not supposed to have an EXIF editor, so you’ll have to download a third party file manager with EXIF editing capability.
MiXplorer
We’re using MiXplorer File Manager (also called MiX) for this tutorial. MiX is a powerful file management app which is still free to use. You can download it from XDA forum or Google Drive. Those are official sources, which you can verify on their website. It even works for Android 2.0.
Next, we’re going to need MiX Tagger addon. It is required for EXIF editing. The addon is also free, you can download the APK on Google Drive named “MiX Tagger”.
Let’s get started. Copy a file you want to upload to a separate folder. EXIF data serves a beneficial purpose in managing, cataloging, geo-tagging, and editing images in your local device. Hence, it isn’t necessary to remove it from files on your local device.
Once you have MiX File Manager and MixTagger, tap and hold on a file or open the image on MiX gallery. A three-dot icon will appear with “Metadata” option.
Once you tap on it, a pop-up will display all the metadata information the image file holds, including EXIF data. An “Edit” button will allow you to change these details. You can scroll through all the details stored for this file.
If you scroll to the end, a “Remove All” option will appear. This will clear all the EXIF data off your image file.
The image will no longer carry the device or location identification details and you can now upload and share it.
And that was a guide in preparing your images to share and upload online. It is a good practice and some sites might offer to do this for you. Some image compression websites do this for you in addition to minimize the size of your file. However, once you’ve uploaded the file on their servers, that may be too late. Most people use mobile devices for their social media and its camera have access to GPS location. Having a file manager that lets you remove EXIF data gives you an option to clear the image of privacy compromizing device and location details. Be safe out there.
