Privacy Basics
How to Remove Metadata From a Screenshot (Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android)
Screenshots carry device model, OS build and timestamps — plus everything visible on your screen. Here's how to strip and redact them on every platform.
· 7 min read
Short answer: Screenshots do carry metadata — device model, OS build, screen dimensions, creation timestamps, colour profile and, on some phones, an app or account identifier. They do not normally contain GPS coordinates, but they can contain enough to link an anonymous image back to you.
What Metadata Is in a Screenshot?
| Platform | Format | Typical embedded fields |
|---|---|---|
| Windows Snipping Tool | PNG | Creation time, software name, colour profile, pHYs DPI |
| macOS (Cmd+Shift+4) | PNG | Device make/model, macOS build, capture timestamp, colour profile |
| iPhone | PNG / HEIC | Device model, iOS version, screen scale, timestamp |
| Android | PNG | Device model, Android build, timestamp, sometimes app package name |
| Browser extensions | PNG / JPEG | Extension name and version, page URL in some cases |
Two extra risks people miss:
- The pixels themselves. A screenshot shows your taskbar, browser tabs, username, notifications, wallpaper and open apps. That is often more identifying than any EXIF field. Crop before sharing.
- Cloud sync copies. iCloud, Google Photos and OneDrive store their own metadata about the file server-side; stripping the local copy does not change the copy in their index.
How to Remove Screenshot Metadata
Fastest — online cleaner (all platforms)
- Open MetaClean Pro.
- Drag the screenshot in.
- Click Clean Metadata.
- Download the cleaned file and check the Before/After diff.
Works for PNG, JPEG, HEIC, TIFF and WebP.
Windows
Right-click the file, choose Properties → Details → Remove Properties and Personal Information, then "Create a copy with all possible properties removed". This clears the fields Windows exposes but leaves PNG text chunks written by other software, so verify afterwards.
macOS
Preview does not remove PNG metadata reliably. In Terminal:
sips -d all screenshot.png
Or use ImageMagick:
magick screenshot.png -strip clean.png
Both re-encode the image, which also drops non-standard chunks.
iPhone
Open the screenshot in Photos, tap the info button, choose Adjust and remove location if present. iOS does not expose device/OS fields, so for full removal share the file to a cleaner. See remove EXIF data from iPhone photos.
Android
Google Photos: open the image, tap the info panel, remove location. For device and build fields use a dedicated cleaner — the built-in editor keeps them.
Try MetaClean — clean this kind of file in seconds.
Strip EXIF, GPS, author, and edit-history metadata from photos, PDFs, and Office documents right in your browser.
Clean a file now · See what gets removed · Step-by-step guides · Pricing
Verify It Worked
Re-upload to an image metadata viewer. A clean screenshot should show only dimensions, bit depth and colour type.
Also Redact the Visible Content
Metadata removal does nothing about what is on screen. Before sharing:
- Crop out the taskbar, dock, browser tabs and clock
- Black out usernames, email addresses, account numbers and API keys
- Use a solid rectangle, never a blur — blur can sometimes be reversed on short predictable strings
- Remember that a pixelated redaction of a known-format value (a phone number, an order ID) is often recoverable
FAQ
Do screenshots have GPS data? No. Screenshots are generated by the OS, not the camera, so there is no location fix to embed. Location can still leak through visible map or weather widgets in the image.
Does sending a screenshot on WhatsApp or Signal strip metadata? Both re-encode images and strip most EXIF, but do not rely on it — see does WhatsApp remove metadata.
Does cropping remove metadata? Only if the editor re-encodes without copying the original fields. Many editors copy them straight across.
What is the safest workflow for anonymous screenshots? Crop, redact with solid shapes, export as a fresh PNG, then run a metadata cleaner and verify the result.
Bottom Line
Screenshots leak device and OS fingerprints plus everything visible on screen. Crop, redact, then strip the metadata in about 30 seconds.
Frequently asked questions
Do screenshots have GPS data?
No. Screenshots are generated by the OS, not the camera, so there is no location fix to embed. Location can still leak through visible map or weather widgets in the image.
Does sending a screenshot on WhatsApp or Signal strip metadata?
Both re-encode images and strip most EXIF, but do not rely on it.
Does cropping remove metadata?
Only if the editor re-encodes without copying the original fields. Many editors copy them straight across.
What is the safest workflow for anonymous screenshots?
Crop, redact with solid shapes, export as a fresh PNG, then run a metadata cleaner and verify the result.
Try MetaClean Pro free — remove metadata from your files in seconds.