FAQ: removing metadata from photos with KitFuse

Open the KitFuse tool, drag your photo onto the drop area or press Choose photos, then press Clean metadata. KitFuse removes EXIF, GPS, XMP and IPTC data, checks the result and marks the photo as Clean. Press Download to save the clean copy.

Open KitFuse in your phone's browser, tap Choose photos and pick the photo from your gallery. KitFuse shows a red warning if the photo contains GPS coordinates. Tap Clean metadata, then Save or share or Download to keep the copy without location. It works the same on iPhone and Android.

Yes. Select or drop up to 200 photos at a time. KitFuse scans them all, cleans them with one click and lets you download them together as a single ZIP file or one by one. When that batch is done, you can start another.

On phones that support it, tap Save or share and choose Save Image (iPhone) or your gallery app (Android). If that button isn't shown, tap Download. On iPhone, downloads go to the Files app, where you can open the photo and save it to Photos.

No. KitFuse runs in any modern browser, including Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge. There's no app, no extension, no sign-up and no email address required.

Yes. Adding a photo only scans it. KitFuse lists every piece of hidden data it found, grouped by type, and nothing changes until you press Clean metadata. Your original file is never modified in any case: KitFuse always creates a new copy.

KitFuse is safe to use because your photos are never uploaded. The tool is a piece of JavaScript that runs inside your browser. It reads the photo from your device, removes the metadata in memory and gives the clean file straight back to you. We don't have a server that receives photos, so we couldn't see them even if we wanted to.

Load KitFuse, then turn on airplane mode or disconnect from the internet, and clean a photo. It still works, because nothing needs to be sent. On a computer you can also open your browser's developer tools, watch the Network tab while cleaning, and confirm that no request carries your image.

The tool itself doesn't need cookies. KitFuse saves two small preferences in your browser's local storage: your light or dark theme choice and your cookie consent choice. Advertising partners such as Google may use cookies to show ads, but only as described in our Cookie Policy and according to the choice you make in the consent banner.

KitFuse never passes your photos, file names or metadata to advertisers or any other third party. Cleaning happens inside KitFuse's own code on your device. Ads are delivered by Google in their own frames and are kept away from the tool's buttons and drop area.

It removes the hidden layer, which is the part people forget about. What's visible in the picture still counts: faces, house numbers, street signs, landmarks, uniforms and reflections can all reveal a location or identity. Check the image itself and crop or blur anything sensitive before sharing.

No. JPG, PNG and WebP photos are cleaned losslessly. KitFuse copies the compressed image data exactly and only leaves out the metadata blocks, so the pixels are identical to the original. HEIC, HEIF, AVIF and TIFF photos are cleaned in place: the metadata is wiped inside the file and the picture data is never touched. Videos are handled the same way, so they are never re-encoded either.

Yes. KitFuse removes the EXIF and XMP data from inside the HEIC file and leaves the picture exactly as it was, so you get a clean HEIC back. This works in every modern browser, even ones that can't display HEIC. If you need a JPG for an app or website that doesn't accept HEIC, use our HEIC to JPG converter.

KitFuse cleans photos in JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, TIFF, HEIC, HEIF and AVIF format, videos in MP4, MOV, WebM and MKV format, and PDF documents. RAW camera files are not supported yet. If you add a file KitFuse can't handle, it tells you clearly instead of failing silently.

Both affect how the photo looks, and neither contains personal information. The color profile keeps colors accurate, which matters for iPhone photos taken in Display P3. The rotation flag keeps the photo upright. You can switch off either one under Cleaning options if you prefer a file with no metadata at all.

Only metadata. Phone photos often carry tens of kilobytes of EXIF, XMP, maker notes and thumbnails, and motion photos can carry a whole video clip. Removing those makes the file smaller while the image itself stays exactly the same.

Photos and PDFs can be up to 200 MB each. Videos can be up to 2 GB on a computer and 1 GB on a phone or tablet. KitFuse only reads the parts of a video that hold metadata, so even long recordings are cleaned quickly without filling your device's memory.

EXIF data is technical information that cameras and phones save inside every photo, such as the device model, date and time, camera settings and often GPS coordinates. It stands for Exchangeable Image File Format. Our photo metadata guide explains EXIF, XMP and IPTC in detail.

Large networks such as Facebook, Instagram and X generally remove EXIF data, including GPS, from the copy other people see. Email, cloud links, many forums and messaging apps that send files as documents keep it. Platforms can change their processing at any time, so cleaning photos yourself is the only dependable approach.

Usually much less than camera photos. Screenshots normally have no GPS location, but they can include the date and time, the device or software that created them and, on some systems, a description field. And of course the screenshot itself may show private information on screen.

Not from the cleaned copy. Once KitFuse rebuilds the file without metadata, that information no longer exists in it. Your original photo on your device is untouched and still contains everything, so share the cleaned copy and keep the original private.