How it works
Changelog

What's changed

  1. v0.6.9 Latest ›

    Fixes

    • Fix many tooltips for touch devices
    • call clearStats directly from "Clear now"
    • "Clear now" help tooltip fixed for touch devices
    • corrected the "Clear now" button description
    • rebind global localStorage for Node 26 compat
  2. v0.6.8 ›

    Fixes

    • Fix ZIP help button not always showing / hiding correctly
  3. v0.6.7 ›

    Features

    • implement global help modal with FAQ and info
    • add help buttons to settings and ZIP hint
    • enhance local storage display and add key line wrap for better readability
    • adjust settings help button size for touch friendliness
    • Partially rewrote How It Works page for clearer wording
  4. v0.6.6 ›

    Fixes

    • android firefox go to file not working
      • reimplement smooth scrolling for file reveal to circumvent unreliability on Firefox Android
  5. v0.6.5 ›

    Features

    • enhance carousel scrolling navigation when moving fast to feel more responsive

    Fixes

    • fixed broken breadcrumb visibility logic during directory scrolling
    • another related bug: incorrect breadcrumb visibility caused by hidden headers
    • improve reveal flash animation timing for smoother user experience
    • reveal file in list: ensure onReveal callback is captured before closing the lightbox (caused it to sometimes fail to scroll into view) fix(strip): defer scrolling and flash effect for revealed file to improve reliability
    • normalize app version format by removing leading 'v'
  6. v0.6.4 ›

    Maintenance and internal improvements.

  7. v0.6.3 ›

    Features

    • back button closes modals
      • implement back button functionality for modals and add tests

    Fixes

    • update handling for service workers with silent updates
  8. v0.6.2 ›

    Fixes

    • changelog auto popup
      • add public changelog.json for update previews and modify changelog generation
  9. v0.6.1 ›

    The "you're here in popup" commit landed after the v0.6.1 bump commit was tagged, so its entry was missing from the generated changelog.

  10. v0.6.0 ›

    Features

    • add option to disable image previews
      • clearer description
      • hide thumbnails
    • full screen photo preview
      • open from any thumbnail + metadata action
      • swipe carousel, zoom & metadata/path UI
      • open the photo viewer from file-card thumbnails
      • add full-screen photo viewer (lightbox)
    • changelog display
      • add /changelog timeline page
      • "what's new" reveal for installed PWA users
      • generate changelog.json from git history at bump time
  11. v0.5.4 ›

    Features

    • highlighting regex in details extended, exceptions added
  12. v0.5.3 ›

    Maintenance and internal improvements.

  13. v0.5.2 ›

    Fixes

    • update bug report file attachment message
  14. v0.5.1 ›

    Fixes

    • the grand refactor continued
      • add FileStore session data model (tested, unwired)
  15. v0.5.0 ›

    Fixes

    • firefox android copy to clipboard
      • improve clipboard handling for JPEG blobs on Firefox for Android
    • the grand refactor
      • clear astro check type errors
  16. v0.4.5 ›

    Fixes

    • (hopefully) copy to clipboard on Firefox on Android
  17. v0.4.4 ›

    Fixes

    • streamline service worker update handling for standalone mode
  18. v0.4.3 ›

    Maintenance and internal improvements.

  19. v0.4.2 ›

    Fixes

    • hide margin on bottom if empty
    • improve service worker update handling for iOS Safari
    • stamp build version into sw.js so updates are detected
  20. v0.4.1 ›

    Fixes

    • include experimental files setting in bug report stats
  21. v0.4.0 ›

    Fixes

    • hide default marker for summary elements on Safari
    • add error handling for git fetch in getAppVersion function
    • add before state mockup in step 3 in how-it-works page
  22. v0.3.1 ›

    Features

    • enhance file input options with folder selection and improved UI for file uploads
    • implement logging functionality with UI for error and warning display
    • replace chevron element with SVG for improved rendering and accessibility
    • enhance drop zone functionality with scan state indication and improved file handling
    • improve file skip status handling and enhance file name display in file cards
    • update dateTime type in MetadataPreview to support Date objects and enhance metadata handling
    • add directory breadcrumb for improved navigation and visibility
    • enhance directory breadcrumb styling and implement floating action buttons for improved navigation
    • enhance text visibility in UI components by adjusting color classes
    • implement 'no glass' mode to disable backdrop effects and enhance UI accessibility
    • add settings persistence with local storage and enhance clear storage functionality
    • add warning before leaving with loaded files and persist setting
    • add collapseSettings function to enhance settings panel behavior
    • add option to include skipped files in download and persist setting
    • highlight fields with personally identifiable data in metadata modal
    • add some animations for fanciness and adapt settings toggles to disable them
    • scroll settings into view when opened
    • improve About modal and integrate statistics display
    • update donation links to use environment variables for Ko-fi and PayPal
    • add Icon component and integrate icons in Settings panel
    • add clear stats button in AboutModal
    • add "How it works" page and integrate navigation buttons in layout
    • enhance scanning feedback and update directory status indicators
    • add progress indicator for stripping process and update log visibility
    • implement bug reporting functionality with email integration
    • add buildAnonMap function for anonymizing file paths and implement tests
    • add clarification about Cloudflare bot challenge in bug report submission
    • add folder warning modal for large folder selection on mobile devices
    • add simple-icons dependency and update AboutModal with additional libraries
    • change to information-circle icon to About button and update donation links with icons
    • add settings and stats display to BugReportModal and update settings management
    • enhance BugReportModal and Settings with development mode checks and warnings
    • implement stripPlan and stripState modules
    • add "Copy to clipboard" button and functionality for single image results
    • better tooltips, GPS links
    • add corrupt EXIF fixture and enhance readRichMetadata error handling
    • enhance metadata handling with hasAnyMetadata flag and update related logic
    • responsive navbar/footer breakpoints, inline logo, and narrow-viewport floor
    • add "Privacy by architecture" section with data flow diagram and explanations
    • enhance download button with icon and update text for clarity
    • add GitHub Actions workflow for testing
    • add deployment workflow triggered by successful test completion on main
    • add WebP EXIF parsing support and update related tests
    • add limitations section to how-it-works page and update index with progress note
    • asibmff
      • add support for reading EXIF data from ISOBMFF files and enhance metadata handling for HEIC/AVIF formats
      • remove PNG conversion capability from detached file entries
      • clear PNG conversion cache on directory removal and clear actions
      • enhance support for HEIC and AVIF formats by improving file type checks and adding XMP metadata stripping
      • enhance warning level classification and update clipboard functionality to respect browser capabilities
      • update file input to support HEIC and AVIF formats
      • add support for HEIC and AVIF metadata stripping
    • add experimental format skip function
    • add reset buttons for processing, appearance, and technical settings
    • enhance reset functionality with blinking effect and additional reset buttons in settings
    • add star indicators for default settings and refresh functionality for reset buttons
    • implement versioning system and update deployment workflow to trigger on versioned tags
    • pwa
      • add PUBLIC_LONELYVOID_URL for artist profile link in About modal
      • update favicon and logo assets, improve icon handling, and enhance AboutModal with additional brand icons
      • update icon
      • simplify theme color handling and improve responsiveness to system color scheme changes
      • implement PWA installation and manual instructions modals with improved user prompts
      • update PWA installation prompts and improve user experience with modal handling
      • enhance PWA update handling with toast notifications and service worker improvements
      • implement PWA update notification banner and service worker handling
      • responsive navbar/footer breakpoints and narrow-viewport floor
      • add placeholder logo.svg and integrate it into the Brand component and layout for PWA support
      • implement PWA installation prompt and enhance theme color handling
    • update deployment workflow to trigger on v* tag pushes and clarify README instructions

    Fixes

    • update favicon link from SVG to ICO format for better compatibility
    • handle non-JPEG data URLs in jpegStripper for better compatibility with "disguised JPEGs" (grrrr android)
    • update .gitignore to include TODO.txt and refine test image patterns
    • adjust footer text color again
    • handle error state in stripAndDownload function to prevent donation popup showing when errors occurred
    • better coloring in the modal (amber-on-amber was a stupid idea)
    • improve styling of the file warning banner
    • adjust animation condition for statistics rendering
    • disable animation for elements in no-glass mode
    • update environment variable references
    • update PayPal URL variable reference in AboutModal
    • made tagline ellips instead of linebreak
    • remove mention of Cloudflare bot challenge from bug report submission text
    • improve error handling for bug report submission, add response for too many requests
    • adjusted tone in how it works page
    • add validation for bug report submission when no error log is available
    • adjust layout for Kofi button and improve styling for donation links
    • bugs around settings/stats persistence and auto modal
    • not overwriting saved stats with session only stats any more
    • clarify warning message about local storage for settings and stats
    • maybe fix Yann's bug
    • paranoid mode, refactor settings
    • log metadata read errors only when applicable
    • brand component spacing
    • improve error handling and logging in metadata reading functions
    • add tests badge to README for CI visibility

About StripMeta

StripMeta removes EXIF and other metadata right in your browser, so your images never leave your device and neither does any private information.

I'm building this solo, for free, and without ads because privacy matters. If you find this useful, even a small donation helps keep it going.

Donate via PayPal

This project is open-source:

Source
StripMeta logo

Original logo and icon art by lonelyvoid

@lonelyvoid.bsky.social

Built with

Astro Tailwind CSS daisyUI exifr piexifjs png-chunks-extract png-chunks-encode JSZip simple-icons ❤️

What's new

Full changelog →

Report a bug

Only what you see below is sent — nothing else.

Error log — always included

    Settings & stats — always included

     
      
      
     
        
       
      
       
     
     
    
By submitting, you confirm that you have the right to share the included information and files, and that you understand it will be used solely for debugging purposes by the developer.
 See the privacy policy. 
     
      
     
      
     
     
     
           
     
     
     
Help & Reference

     
      
     
     
      
       What does each setting do?  
     
     
      
     
    Paranoid mode
     
    Skips lossless stripping entirely and re-encodes every file via canvas instead. Removes every trace of metadata, guaranteed, but always converts the output to JPEG with a small quality loss. Turning it on also overrides "Process files even if no metadata is found" and "Process experimental formats" for as long as it's active, since everything gets re-encoded regardless. Canvas re-encoding itself depends on your browser being able to decode the format at all, though: Safari can decode Apple's HEIC natively, but Chrome and Firefox can't, so HEIC files have no fallback and get skipped there even with Paranoid mode on. Off by default.
     
     
      
     
    Process files even if no metadata is found
     
    Off by default, files with no detectable metadata are skipped since there's nothing to remove. Turn this on to have them processed and included anyway — useful if you'd rather get a complete, freshly re-saved batch back than a mix of processed and untouched files.
     
     
      
     
    Try processing unsupported files
     
    For formats with no lossless handler and that your browser also can't decode for the canvas fallback (so genuinely unsupported, not just "experimental"). Off by default — not recommended, since the same lack of browser decoding support that makes a format unsupported usually makes the canvas attempt fail too.
     
     
      
     
    Process experimental formats (HEIC, AVIF)
     
    HEIC and AVIF stripping is still experimental (lossless, but newer and less battle-tested than the JPEG/PNG/WebP handlers). On by default; turn it off to have those files skipped entirely rather than processed.
     
     
      
     
    Copy skipped files to output
     
    Any file StripMeta skips, whether it's already clean, unsupported, or an experimental format you've opted out of, is left out of the saved output by default. Turn this on to include skipped files unchanged instead, so the result always has one output file per input file.
     
     
      
     
    Show results after processing
     
    Opens the About panel automatically after your first run, showing a summary of what was removed. On by default.
     
     
      
     
    Warn before leaving with files loaded
     
    Shows a browser confirmation if you try to close or reload the tab while files are still loaded, so you don't lose unsaved work. On by default.
     
     
      
     
    Frosted glass & animations
     
    Adds blur effects to floating elements and enables the small transition/scale animations used across the app, including this modal's own open/close animations. Purely cosmetic. On by default.
     
     
      
     
    Image previews
     
    Shows a thumbnail for each file. Turning this off can help performance with large batches, slow drives, or older machines. On by default.
     
     
      
     
    Remember settings and stats
     
    Saves your settings and stat counters in your browser's local storage so they're restored on your next visit. Turning it off doesn't delete anything already saved, but it stops using it too — no new writes, and old settings and stats stop being restored. If you had settings or stats saved from before, a "Clear now" button appears right here to remove them. See the local storage section for exactly what's stored.
     
     
     
     
     
     Changed settings get a small * next to their label, so you can see at a glance what you've changed from default. It disappears again once that setting is back to its default value.

     
    
Each group above (Processing, Appearance & Usability, Technical stuff) has its own Reset button, which only appears once something in that group is non-default. Click it once to preview the reset immediately — the changed settings blink and the button switches to "click again to confirm" with a five-second countdown. Click it again to confirm, or leave it alone and it reverts back to what you had.

     
     
     
      
       What do I do with the ZIP file?  
     
    
When you strip more than one file,  StripMeta bundles all of
            them into a single stripped-photos.zip and
            downloads that instead of handing them back one by one. Strip just a
            single file, and there's no ZIP — it downloads directly.

     
    
A ZIP is just a container: one file holding a compressed copy of a set
            of other files and folders. It isn't a StripMeta-specific format —
            every major OS can open one without installing anything extra:

     
       
    • Windows: double-click it, then right-click → "Extract All" to unpack the files to a folder.
      •  
    • macOS: double-click it and Archive Utility extracts a folder right next to it, automatically.
      •  
    • Mobile / other: the built-in Files app (iOS/Android) or a free tool like 7-Zip handles it the same way.
      •  
     
    
What's inside depends on how you added your files:

     
     
     
    
Dropped individual files

     
    stripped-photos.zip
├── 🖼️ vacation.jpg
├── 🖼️ selfie.jpg
└── 🖼️ document.png
     
     
     
    
Used "Open folder"

     
    stripped-photos.zip
└── 📁 Paris trip
    ├── 📁 day 1
    │   ├── 🖼️ IMG_001.jpg
    │   └── 🖼️ IMG_002.jpg
    └── 📁 day 2
        └── 🖼️ IMG_003.jpg
     
     
     
    
Individually selected or dropped files land flat at the top level.
            "Open folder" instead keeps your original folder structure exactly
            as it was, subfolders included.

     
     
      
       What does StripMeta store in local storage?  
     
    
Short version: toggle states, a theme choice, and small usage counters
            — never file names, file contents, or anything sent anywhere. Here's
            every key it can write, with its current value in your browser right now:

     
     
      
     Key What it means Current Value 
           
      stripmeta-paranoid  Paranoid mode toggle — 
      stripmeta-process-clean  Process-clean-files toggle — 
      stripmeta-process-unsupported  Process-unsupported-files toggle — 
      stripmeta-process-experimental  Process-HEIC/AVIF toggle — 
      stripmeta-include-skipped  Copy-skipped-files toggle — 
      stripmeta-no-glass  Inverse of the glass/animations toggle — 
      stripmeta-warn-unload  Warn-before-leaving toggle — 
      stripmeta-auto-about  Show-results-automatically toggle — 
      stripmeta-show-previews  Image-previews toggle — 
      stripmeta-no-persist  Set only if you've turned off “Remember settings and stats” — 
      stripmeta-theme  Your theme choice: light, dark, or auto — 
      stripmeta:stats_v1  Counts only — files cleaned, GPS tags removed, timestamps removed, bytes stripped, plus when it was last updated — 
      stripmeta:about_shown_v1  Set once the About panel has auto-opened, so it doesn't do it again — 
      stripmeta:changelog_seen_v1  The last changelog version you've seen — 
      stripmeta-visits  How many times you've opened the app — only used to time the install prompt — 
      stripmeta-install-declined  Set if you dismissed the install-as-app prompt — 
          
     
     
    
The Clear now button in Settings removes the nine
            toggle keys at the top of that list, plus the saved stat counters and
            the About panel's auto-shown flag — theme, changelog-seen, visit count,
            and the install-prompt preference are left alone since they're
            considered necessary for the app functioning as intended.

     
     
     
     
     
          
     
     
     An update is available!    
     
     
      
     
     
     
    Oh, it's you again 👀
     
     
      
     
     
     
    I noticed you've dropped by a couple of times now. I wasn't going to say anything, but since we're basically old friends at this point —
     
    Want to make this a little more permanent? Installing  StripMeta adds it to your home screen like a real app: instant launch, full offline support, no app store.
     
    Your photos still stay on your device. 
    That part doesn't change.
     
     
       
     
     
           
     
     
    Add to your device