EXIF Removal Tools iOS (no apps required)

[anon98351298]

Hi everyone,

We all know how metadata removal’s generally a good idea. I’m a big fan of Metapho and Signal for doing a great job with this.

However, I was playing around with the iOS shortcuts app, and realised that it has inbuilt tools for the job.

So far I’ve created 2 shortcuts - one for Photo Metadata removal, and the other for Videos.

Leaving the steps and screenshots here:

Photos:

1. Goto Shortcuts. Select the + symbol to create a new one. Name it “Clean Photo EXIF”.

2. Click on “Add Action”. Then search for “Convert Image”, and select it.

3. Select your preferred output format (JPEG, HEIC etc)

4. TOGGLE OFF “Preserve Metadata”

5. Now go to the input section, and select “shortcut input”

6. A new input section will open above the current one. Change the input source from “nowhere” to “show in share sheet”

7. For the next action, add “Save to Photo Album”. Here you could leave the default settings as they are.

8. Add another action “Delete Photos”. Clear the default variable. Then click on “Choose”. From the next set of options, select “Shortcut Input”.

9. Click on Done on the top right corner of the screen.

Now when you click on the share button through any Photo, you’ll see the option “Clean Photo EXIF” at the bottom. Click on it, and it’ll allow you to delete the old photo, after saving the new metadata-free photo.

For Videos:

All steps are the same, except:

step 1. Shortcut name: Clean Video EXIF”

step 2.
Instead of “Convert Image”, please select “Encode Media”, and leave the default settings as they are (all the metadata fields are blank)

Hope this helps. Apologies for the haphazard instruction set, but I hope it’s effectively clear. Also leaving 2 screenshots.

[jerm]

Removing Metadata From Your Photos, Videos, and Other Files

[anonbird]

This does not unfortunately seem to remove creation date

[duck]

Are you able to check what else it doesnt remove using a tool like MAT2?

[anonbird]

Nvm I was wrong. It changes the date to when it was created instead of the original one. It’s actually better than the recommended option (Metapho). Here’s a photo deEXIFed by the shortcut:

(Date is not the original one)
Here’s one deEXIFed by Metapho through the sharescreen “share without metadata” option triggered in the Photos app:

This is what appears when you press “1 Asset (1 Auxy)”:

(The gray squares are the photo + a grayscale version at the bottom)
This is what appears when you press “Show More”:
“ {
ColorModel = RGB;
DPIHeight = 72;
DPIWidth = 72;
Depth = 8;
Headroom = “3.482202”;
Orientation = 4;
PixelHeight = 3024;
PixelWidth = 4032;
PrimaryImage = 1;
ProfileName = “Display P3”;
“{ExifAux}” = {
Regions = {
HeightAppliedTo = 3024;
RegionList = (
{
AngleInfoRoll = 167;
AngleInfoYaw = 345;
ConfidenceLevel = 709;
FaceID = 258;
Height = “0.29”;
Type = Face;
Width = “0.217”;
X = “0.2445”;
Y = “0.508”;
},
{
AngleInfoRoll = 182;
AngleInfoYaw = 0;
ConfidenceLevel = 754;
FaceID = 256;
Height = “0.267”;
Type = Face;
Width = “0.2”;
X = “0.64”;
Y = “0.6105”;
}
);
WidthAppliedTo = 4032;
};
};
“{Exif}” = {
ColorSpace = 65535;
ComponentsConfiguration = (
1,
2,
3,
0
);
ExifVersion = (
2,
3,
2
);
FlashPixVersion = (
1,
0
);
PixelXDimension = 4032;
PixelYDimension = 3024;
SceneCaptureType = 0;
};
“{MakerApple}” = {
17 = “E605119E-1BEC-4832-8DF8-5A64C6271134”;
20 = 12;
23 = 5251076;
25 = 8194;
3 = {
epoch = 0;
flags = 1;
timescale = 1000000000;
value = 137840830625583;
};
31 = 0;
32 = “4C80B0B2-C574-4DCF-A088-321309081631”;
33 = “0.79131”;
35 = (
41,
1610612736
);
37 = 4742;
38 = 2;
39 = “34.06854”;
43 = “CEAA86E8-137D-449B-9B5E-A2F945B8AD07”;
45 = 5357;
46 = 6;
47 = 117;
48 = 0;
49 = {
“type” = data;
“value” = “AQAAAAgAAAB2Xoc/klYAu7E+87wuRyI6GraGP0fff7yTkCg6eqdHuwAAgD8=”;
};
50 = 39860272;
54 = 29697;
55 = 4;
58 = 156;
59 = 0;
60 = 1;
63 = 0;
64 = {
0 = 1;
1 = 0;
2 = 0;
3 = 0;
};
65 = 1;
67 = 0;
68 = 0;
69 = 0;
70 = 0;
74 = 5;
77 = “51.75867”;
78 = {
1 = 3;
2 = (
{
“2.1” = “2035.13427734375”;
“2.2” = 0;
},
{
“2.1” = “0.6105194091796875”;
“2.2” = 74;
}
);
};
82 = 1;
83 = 1;
};
“{TIFF}” = {
Orientation = 4;
ResolutionUnit = 2;
XResolution = 72;
YResolution = 72;
};
}”
The “Remove Metadata” option in the app probably removes everything, but that’s not the case for the sharescreen option. I didn’t subscribe though, so it might work properly if you do (although I doubt it)