Whenever you capture an image using your digital camera or smartphone, some details about the image are saved along with the image itself. That data is also referred to as metadata or EXIF data. It contains information including the device name that was used to capture the image, location information, the time and date when the image was taken, and so on.
While having this data stored along with the image is not an issue, you may want to strip off the data when you share these images over the Internet. It’s better to check the images for their EXIF data to be removed, it is advised that you check to see if your images actually have that data. If you’re not aware of how to check image has EXIF Data then simply follow the steps given below:
- Right click on the image that you want to check the EXIF data for and select open with followed by Preview. It will launch the image in the Preview app.
- Click on Tools followed by Show Inspector in the Preview app. It will launch the information panel for your image.
- Here is where you can see if your image has EXIF data embedded in it. If your image has that data, you should see it in the EXIF tab. Click on it, and it will expand with more details.
In case you do not see any data under EXIF tab, then your image probably does not have any data embedded in it. Here you should see the information of the image. Now lets us how to remove the EXIF Data from images on Mac.
- By using an application ImageOptim app on Mac device it is possible to remove the EXIF data and the application also offers other features like ability to compress your images so that they load faster on the internet.
- Once the application is downloaded on your device and double-click on it to extract actual app file and then drag and drop that app file onto applications in the finder. It should show up in your Launchpad.
- Click on Launchpad in your dock, search for and click on ImageOptim and it will launch.
- When the application launches, you should see that there are almost no buttons or options on the main interface.
- Instead you just have a window where you can add your images to have their EXIF data removed and you can add multiple images into the application multiple images into the app for faster EXIF data removal.
What you need to do now is open the folder where your images are located and drag and drop them onto the ImageOptim window. They should automatically be processed by the app. The removal process should be instant unless you are processing plenty of images simultaneously. Do note that your original images will be overwritten. So if you want to keep your original images with the EXIF data, please make a copy of those images before adding them into the app.
It is possible to add as many images into the application as you want, and they will all be processed in one go. That saves you time that you would otherwise spend removing data from individual images. Once you are done stripping off the EXIF data, you may want to check if the data is really gone.
Right click on the image and select open with followed by preview to launch the image in the preview app. Click on Tools followed by show Inspector to bring forth the image information panel.
You should see that there is no EXIF tab in the panel. It indicates that your image does not have EXIF data it means the above method successfully removed the data from your image.