Photo Metadata Viewer: See Every Hidden Field in a Photo

View all metadata in one drop (no install, no upload)

1. Open the viewer. Photo Metadata Remover — it runs entirely in your browser.
2. Drop the photo in. The file is read with JavaScript on your own device; it lists every field it finds — camera, timestamps, GPS, serial, XMP text blocks — with location lines highlighted.
3. Expand the card to read each value. Nothing is sent anywhere; if you then want the fields gone, the same tool strips them losslessly.

This is also the honest option for sensitive photos. Free "EXIF viewer" websites work by uploading your file to their server — which means the coordinates you were checking end up on somebody else's disk. A local viewer never opens a network connection, so there is nothing to leak.

Windows: Properties → Details (and what it misses)

Right-click the file → Properties → Details tab. Windows groups what it understands: Camera (make, model, f-number, ISO, focal length), Photo (date taken, program name), File (sizes, dates) and, if present, GPS fields rendered as coordinates.

Windows reads the classic EXIF block, so it covers JPEG well. Where it falls short: PNG text chunks and WebP metadata often show as blank, XMP-only records (added by editing tools) are skipped, and camera serial numbers — stored in the manufacturer's MakerNotes area — are usually not displayed. A blank Details tab does not mean an empty file.

macOS: Preview's Inspector (⌘I)

Open the image in Preview → Tools → Show Inspector (or press ⌘I). The General tab shows the summary; the EXIF tab lists camera model, exposure settings and date; the GPS tab appears only when coordinates exist — with a small map. It is the friendliest built-in view of location data on any desktop.

Preview reads the standard EXIF of JPEG and HEIC, but like Windows it mostly skips PNG text chunks, WebP blocks and maker-specific fields such as the body serial number.

iPhone: swipe up in Photos

In the Photos app, open a photo and swipe up (or tap the ⓘ button). You get date, time, a mini-map with the location pin if GPS was recorded, and the camera with key settings. Tap "Adjust" next to the date to correct a wrong timezone — a tell-tale sign of how seriously Apple takes this data.

Two limits: Photos shows a summary, not the raw field list — no serial number, no full XMP — and it only works for photos in your library. For a file sitting in the Files app or a downloaded image, open it from Files and the info pane is thinner still.

Android: Google Photos → swipe up

Open the photo in Google Photos and swipe up (or tap the three-dot menu). You get the date, time, filename, size, resolution, and camera details. If GPS is present, a map link appears; on some devices it is shown only after tapping "Details".

Vendor camera apps (Samsung, Xiaomi) sometimes strip or never write GPS by default — a photo with no location in Google Photos may genuinely have none. Samsung's Gallery app has its own details view with the same shape of information.

The desktop-grade option: exiftool

For the complete, unfiltered record — every field including maker notes, serials and XMP — the reference tool is exiftool (free, command line):

• exiftool photo.jpg — full dump of every field it can parse
• exiftool -a -G1 photo.jpg — include duplicates, grouped by block (EXIF, XMP, IPTC, GPS)
• exiftool -gps:all photo.jpg — just the location fields

If you only ever need the privacy-relevant fields and not the full photography record, the browser viewer above shows the same answers without an install.

What each field you'll see actually means

One habit worth forming: check a photo before you send it, not after. Every field above leaves the device with the file — the recipient's viewer is exactly the tool described in this guide.

From here

• New to the topic? Start with What Is EXIF Data? — the field-by-field breakdown and who can read it.
• Found fields you would rather not share? Read How to Remove EXIF Data from Photos for every removal method and where each one fails.