rysasahrialWhen sharing photos or videos captured with your Android device, hidden EXIF metadata often travels along quietly—revealing sensitive details such as GPS coordinates, timestamps, camera model, geolocation, and even editing tools used. Removing JPEG metadata is crucial for preserving privacy, especially when posting selfies or images publicly. This is where Scrambled Exif comes in: a lightweight, open‑source Android app designed specifically to delete EXIF tags and optionally rename files before sharing—ensuring your personal data stays private.
What is Scrambled Exif?
Scrambled Exif is an open‑source privacy tool hosted on GitLab under the GNU General Public License v3.0. It acts as an intermediary share target on your Android device: when you select “Share” on an image, choosing Scrambled Exif lets it strip metadata and rename the file to a random string (e.g., 394269db‑d328‑4ea9‑8524‑3880efb8df87.png) before passing it on to your desired app. This process ensures that location, device, or timestamp information doesn’t leak downstream.
Why you need to remove JPEG metadata
EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) data includes:
- Timestamps – Original capture and modification date
- Device information – Camera model, software version
- GPS coordinates – Precise geolocation embedded in your file
- Other metadata – Edit history and author tags
Even a simple selfie can reveal your home location or editing app usage. If you don’t want “big tech” or strangers to discover where your photos come from, you must delete EXIF metadata before uploading
How it works
Using Scrambled Exif takes only three simple steps:
- Tap Share on your image in Gallery or File Manager
- Choose Scrambled Exif
- Select the final app you want to share with
That’s it—no extra dialogs, no confusing interfaces. And if you enable filename randomization, even your file names like IMG_20250315_123456.jpg are replaced with randomized strings for extra anonymity.
Key features
- Zero ads and no tracking: lightweight, transparent, and privacy‑focused
- Open‑source under GPL‑3.0 or later – actively maintained with 682 commits, 18 branches, 75 tags, and 58 released APK versions
- File renaming option – random file names to mask your device’s naming patterns
- No network permissions – works locally; won’t send your data anywhere
Recent updates
Version v1.7.14 was released April 2, 2025, following version 1.7.13 on July 12, 2024. These updates include maintenance, dependency refreshes, and adjustments to comply with Android’s evolving storage policies.
Use cases
- Safeguarding location privacy when uploading photos to social media
- Removing camera and software metadata to avoid device fingerprinting
- Renaming files to strip away naming conventions that reveal capture details
- Inspecting files before sharing to ensure EXIF is fully cleared
Limitations and considerations
- Not a full guarantee: In rare cases, EXIF stripping may fail—always double‑check before sharing .
- Some users on privacy‑focused ROMs (like CalyxOS or GrapheneOS) reported issues when sharing to SMS apps.
- It still requires READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission to access shared files—recent Android policy changes may affect functionality .
How to install and contribute
- Get the latest APK from the Google Play Store, F‑Droid, or GitLab releases
- Preview code and contribute via the official GitLab repository →
https://gitlab.com/juanitobananas/scrambled-exif - Join the localization effort via Transifex for numerous languages
Best practices for privacy
- Always tap Share → Scrambled Exif → Destination app to ensure all metadata is stripped.
- Enable filename randomization within settings for an extra layer of privacy.
- Verify your photo using an EXIF viewer before sharing to ensure metadata is gone.
- Run periodic updates—the developer actively maintains the project with regular dependency refreshes and bug fixes.
Scrambled Exif is a prime tool for anyone interested in photo privacy, secure sharing, and anonymity in the digital age. By helping you remove JPEG metadata automatically, it works silently in the background to protect your personal data—and does so transparently and free of charge.
Author: Juan García Basilio
License: GNU General Public License v3.0 or later (GPL‑3.0+)
Usage Limit: Source code and APK are free under GPL‑3.0; you may use, modify, and distribute as permitted by the license. Redistribution requires preserving author attribution and license terms. No warranty is provided—use at your own risk.