How to check a photo before you share it

Run one report first

Privacy Check reads a photo and lists what it finds, grouped by kind: location, device details such as serial numbers, dates, people and software fields, editing history and embedded previews. Each finding has a risk level, and each file gets an overall verdict: no problems found, worth a look, or not safe to share as it is. Everything is read in your browser.

The hidden preview problem

Many cameras and phones store a small thumbnail inside the EXIF data. Some editing apps update the main image but not the thumbnail, so a photo you cropped or retouched can still carry a small copy of the original. Privacy Check compares the thumbnail with the photo and flags it when they differ. Removing all metadata removes the thumbnail too.

Screenshots leak in other ways

Screenshots rarely carry a location, but they often show things you did not mean to share: an API key in a terminal, an email address, a card number, a notification at the edge of the screen. Screenshot Leak Check reads the visible text with on-device OCR and looks for keys, tokens, passwords, email addresses, phone numbers, card numbers and IBANs, then lets you pick findings to redact. The first scan downloads about 2 MB of language data from this site.

OCR misses small, blurred or stylised text, so a clean result is not a guarantee. Read the screenshot yourself as well.

A checklist before you post

• Location: is there GPS data, or a street sign, house number or landmark in view?
• People: faces of others who have not agreed to be shared, especially children.
• Screens and paper: notifications, open tabs, documents, tickets and boarding passes, whose barcodes can contain booking details.
• Reflections in mirrors, windows, glasses and shiny surfaces.
• Metadata: capture time, device serial numbers and editing history.

Fixing what you find

• Remove Metadata strips location, dates, serial numbers and the embedded thumbnail in one step.
• Redact Image covers areas with solid boxes that replace the pixels in the saved file.
• Blur Faces finds faces automatically and lets you adjust the boxes before saving.

Limitations

Automated checks find common patterns. They cannot judge context, such as whether the view from a window identifies where you live. Treat the report as a starting point, not a guarantee that a photo is safe.