Photo Privacy Score Calculator

A photo privacy score is a numerical rating from 0-100 that evaluates how much personal information is embedded in your image metadata. Our algorithm analyzes EXIF data and assigns weighted penalties based on privacy risk levels:

• GPS coordinates: -20 points (high risk - reveals exact location)
• Camera serial number: -10 points (medium risk - device tracking)
• Timestamps: -5 points (low risk - activity patterns)
• Software information: -3 points (minimal risk - technical data)

A score of 100 indicates perfect privacy with no identifiable metadata. Scores below 70 suggest significant privacy risks that should be addressed before sharing photos online.

GPS coordinates embedded in photo EXIF data reveal the exact location where an image was captured, often accurate to within a few meters. This poses serious privacy risks:

• Home address exposure: Photos taken at home reveal your residential location to strangers
• Real-time tracking: Timestamps combined with GPS enable tracking of your movements and habits
• Security vulnerabilities: Criminals can identify when you're away from home or locate valuable assets
• Stalking risks: Repeated location data from photos creates a map of frequently visited places

Social media platforms and photo sharing sites may not automatically strip GPS data, making it essential to check and remove location metadata before posting images publicly.

Camera serial numbers are unique device identifiers embedded in EXIF metadata that create a digital fingerprint of your equipment. This metadata can be exploited for:

• Linking multiple photos across different platforms to the same device owner
• Tracking photographers and journalists in sensitive situations
• Identifying stolen camera equipment through metadata matching
• Corporate espionage by tracking professional equipment usage patterns

While less immediately dangerous than GPS data, serial numbers enable long-term tracking and can be combined with other metadata to build detailed profiles of photographers and their activities.

Most major social media platforms strip some EXIF metadata during upload, but their policies vary significantly and may change without notice:

• Facebook/Instagram: Generally removes GPS and camera serial data but keeps some technical info
• Twitter: Strips most EXIF data by default but orientation and basic technical data may remain
• Imgur/Reddit: Variable metadata handling depending on upload method and API used
• Photo sharing sites: Many preserve EXIF data for photography communities, including GPS

Never rely on platforms to protect your privacy. Always check and remove sensitive metadata using a privacy score calculator before uploading images to any online service.

Disable location services for your camera app to prevent GPS data from being embedded in photos at the time of capture:

Note that disabling location services means you won't be able to use location-based photo organization features, but it provides the highest level of privacy protection.

Privacy score recommendations depend on your sharing context and sensitivity of the content:

• Score 90-100 (Excellent): Safe for all public sharing including social media, forums, and websites
• Score 70-89 (Good): Acceptable for most contexts but review specific risks identified
• Score 50-69 (Fair): Suitable for private sharing only; remove metadata before posting publicly
• Score Below 50 (Poor): High privacy risk; definitely strip all metadata before any sharing

For professional photographers, activists, journalists, or anyone concerned about surveillance, aim for scores of 95+ by removing all identifiable metadata including GPS, serial numbers, timestamps, and software information.

Remember that even with perfect metadata privacy, image content itself may reveal location or identity through visible landmarks, faces, or other contextual clues.