Editing in iOS 8 strips exif data

[robgendreau]

Just a warning.

If you open a photo in your Photos library in iOS 8, and then edit it in photos, and then subsequently post it to Flickr, email it, etc, you'll find that Photos stripped much of the metadata. So you lose geolocation metadata, shooting info, etc etc and are left with almost nothing. You can revert, and lose your edits, but at least you'll have your metadata back.

When I tried the same thing with Snapseed, and saved to the Photos library, it didn't strip the info. So although I like the Photos editing features, erasing your metadata without warning isn't a "feature" that wows me.

I looked for some setting that could enable/disable such a ridiculous process, but couldn't find anything. And since I only tested Photos and Snapseed, I'd recommend you check photos before doing a big batch of something lest you get an unpleasant surprise.

 

[phuocsandiego]

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[mtbdudex]

hmmm, major oversight IMO.

Wonder if this has been reported to applesupport.com site

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Uploading EXIF data and the like to public sites can be considered a security risk. If the photo was shot at home, do you really want those GPS coordinates posted in public, where they could be harvested?

I hadn't seen anything specific about Apple stripping the data out, but it does sound like a reasonable thing to do under the circumstances.

In other words, it's more likely a feature than a bug.

 

[Razeus]

Yep, I was playing with this yesterday when I was offloading my weekly pics to my iMac.

2 instances where this occurs:

1) Photos taken with the camera app, that are edited with iOS, strips metadata. The Camera model will show "Apple 7,1" as the camera model, instead of "iPhone 6" or "iPhone 6 Plus".

2) Photos taken with the Camera+ app, only notes "iPhone" as the camera instead of "iPhone 6" or "iPhone 6 Plus". Using the Apple camera gives the correct camera model. I've sent taptaptap a tweet about it this morning and still haven't heard from them.

I only noticed after seeign that no GPS data on Flickr and my Smartlist in Lightroom had pictures missing from what I knew I had on the phone. (Smartlist is to show all photos taken with iPhone 6 Plus).

Luckily, I had the originals in my Recently Deleted album (it's a life saver despite what people here say) and was able to recover the Originals and reprocess them like in pre-iOS 8 days (making duplicate copies of the photo).

I've sent a feeback report to Apple, and so should you guys. iOS 8 is a disaster.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

I will need to try to see what happens when I use an extension direct from the Photos app later this evening and see if the EXIF stays in tact.

 

[robgendreau]

Uploading EXIF data and the like to public sites can be considered a security risk. If the photo was shot at home, do you really want those GPS coordinates posted in public, where they could be harvested?

I hadn't seen anything specific about Apple stripping the data out, but it does sound like a reasonable thing to do under the circumstances.

In other words, it's more likely a feature than a bug.

Reasonable? I realize you're just guessing but before you do so you should realize that this "feature" doesn't exist for UNEDITED photos. Only EDITED photos. Perhaps one can spin a rationale for that, but it doesn't seem to fit with your explanation.

And in any case, there are occasions when we want to upload meteadata. We should have the choice to do so. I can certainly understand defaulting to no geolocation (the need for what type of phone, aperture, etc is less clear to me), but it seems like it's a mistake. Which, frankly, I think is better than a "feature" that prevents you from sharing photos with metadata.