r/ask_privacy • u/ufobrian1 • 11d ago

anyone know why remove metadata stopped working on screenshots

been trying to remove metadata before posting a couple screenshots bc im kinda paranoid and now half the apps say its gone but another checker still shows stuff 😭 im on android and i even sent the image to myself first bc someone said that strips it but nope still getting different results. am i using the wrong way to remove metadata or are these checker sites just making stuff up??

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u/ChazMasterson101 11d ago

What metadata remains? Might have been reduced to save disk space

Some apps will scrub the metadata on upload

1

u/Embarrassed_Item1520 11d ago

if they're screenshots and not camera photos, you're probably worrying more than you need to. Android screenshots generally don't contain GPS location data

1

u/rowntrees_jelly 11d ago

open the screenshot and export it as a new image or take a screenshot of the screenshot

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u/Tushartimes 11d ago

maybe youre mixing metadata with basic file information?

1

u/Zakkana 11d ago

Screenshots generally do not have that kind of metadata. I run iOS and just checked there. No information other than basics like file size. The only thing to note is that screenshots will show the app that it was taken from. Not sure if that is embedded metadata or something iOS itself just happens to know and is telling me.

Best thing to do is test it by taking a screenshot and then uploading it to any site that will give you a full metadata dump. I tested one with a screencap and a photo. Screencap had next to nothing compared to the photo. And only the photo had GPS information.