Frequently Asked Questions

Most metadata removers decode your photo and re-encode it, which throws away image quality and often changes the format — a HEIC comes back as a JPEG, a 2 MB photo comes back at 600 KB. Scrubb doesn't decode anything. It rewrites the container structure around the image — JPEG segments, PNG chunks, HEIF items, QuickTime boxes — and copies the already-compressed picture data across byte for byte. The pixels that come out are the pixels that went in, and the file keeps its original format.

Because Scrubb checks, rather than assuming. After writing each file it reads it back and requires four things: the image still decodes, its dimensions match the original, its pixels hash to the same SHA-256 value, and none of the fields you asked to remove are present — cross-checked against the operating system's own image parser, not just Scrubb's. A file that fails any check is deleted instead of being handed to you.

No, not unless you explicitly ask. Cleaning always writes a new file. “Replace Original” exists, but it is a separate choice behind its own confirmation, and even then Scrubb writes the replacement to a temporary location and verifies it before overwriting anything.

Because the risk isn't worth it. CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, DNG and other camera negatives use proprietary internal layouts, and a bad edit destroys an image you cannot recreate. Rather than guess, Scrubb refuses them and offers to export a cleaned JPEG or HEIC instead, leaving the negative untouched.

Typically: your GPS coordinates, often accurate to a few metres, which is enough to identify a home or workplace. The date and time to the second. Your camera or phone's make, model and sometimes its serial number, which links every photo you have ever posted to the same device. The software you edited with. And sometimes an embedded thumbnail of the original shot, which can survive cropping and show what you cropped out.

No. There is no account, no server and no analytics in the app, and every byte is processed on your device. The single exception is that when you view a photo containing coordinates, the operating system asks Apple's mapping service to turn that coordinate into a place name for the map label. Nothing else touches the network, and metadata removal never does.

The inspector — seeing everything hidden in a photo — is free forever. The first five exports are free and full-strength; Scrubb will never strip only part of your metadata to push you towards paying. After that, one payment of $7.99 unlocks unlimited exports across Mac, iPhone and iPad. It is not a subscription and it will not become one.

JPEG, PNG, HEIC/HEIF, WebP, GIF and QuickTime video (.mov, .mp4) are cleaned losslessly. TIFF is supported. Camera RAW is deliberately refused, as above. iPhone photos with depth maps or HDR gain maps are handled specially so the extra embedded images survive and the photo still renders correctly.

Yes. Scrubb removes metadata from QuickTime video — .mov and .mp4 — the same way it handles photos: by rewriting the container and leaving the encoded media untouched, so the video is not re-encoded and loses no quality. That includes the GPS coordinates iPhones write into video files, which most people do not realise are there at all.

Because you have to upload the photo to a stranger's server to use one. The file you are trying to strip identifying data out of is precisely the file you should not be handing to an unknown third party, and once it has been uploaded you have no way to know what was kept, logged, or cached. Scrubb runs entirely on your device — there is no server to upload to, and no account. It is also why the inspector is free: you can confirm exactly what is in your photos without giving anyone anything.