MetadataScrubber shows what a photo carries besides the picture itself, lets
you choose what to remove, and then reads the new file back so you can see
what is left: GPS position, camera serial numbers, owner names, dates, a
built-in preview image and more.
It declares no Android permissions at all. There is no internet permission,
so it cannot send your photos anywhere, and no storage permission either:
pictures come in through the system file picker or a share from your
gallery, and go out through the system save screen or a share. Check it
yourself before installing:
aapt dump permissions <the APK you downloaded>
The only line you should see is the package name.
- Shows every detail with its value before it removes, grouped in a Red,
an Amber and a Green section. - Only red details are ticked for removal to start with. Amber (dates,
time zone, camera, lens and editing software) is kept unless you tick
it. Captions, titles, descriptions, keywords, comments and Content
Credentials are red, because they can name people. - Amber keeps a date or device name only in the form it should have:
text hidden after it, in a field the page does not show, or in the
file's own structure is a red detail and is removed. - Green (rotation, colour profile, size and exposure) is kept too, and
holds only numbers, fixed words and well-known profile names: a name
hidden in a colour profile or a technical field is a red detail of its
own. - HDR photos keep their gain map by default, so Ultra HDR JPEGs and
iPhone HDR JPEG and HEIC photos stay bright on HDR screens; anything
else in it or around it is still listed and removed. - XMP, IPTC and PNG text that stay are always written again in a
standard form, so their layout cannot carry hidden information. - Tick a whole colour at once, or open it to choose single details.
- Lossless by default: the picture is not saved again unless you crop,
resize, convert or remove a sideways rotation. - Crop, resize and convert JPEG, PNG and WebP when you need to.
- Reads the result back, so you see what remains before you share.
- Neutral file names such as image.public.jpg.
- Share a photo in from your gallery, then Save or Share the clean copy.
JPEG, PNG, WebP and HEIC. HEIC metadata can be removed, but cropping and
resizing HEIC are not available in the app, because Android's web engine
cannot open HEIC pictures.
It cannot remove anything visible in the picture, the file name you choose,
a camera's sensor fingerprint, or invisible watermarks in the pixels.
The app runs the same files as metadata.stormberry.as, bundled and offline.
The build checks that every one is byte for byte identical to the website's
copy, apart from one added line in index.html that loads a small Android
bridge for saving and sharing.