KillEXIF 1.0.1 for Mac and Windows: what it brings and what the app does

What’s new in 1.0.1

On Mac it is the first update since 1.0 in August. Almost everything that changes is a case that only shows up with real files: it was tested on hundreds of everyday photos, videos, PDFs and documents, and every result was checked with tools that are not KillEXIF.

On Windows it is the first version on sale, and these fixes come built in: its engine was written later and learned from the same files.

• TIFF files with EXIF no longer come out broken. 1.0 left 60 of 68 real TIFFs unable to open in Preview and Photos. Now all 68 open, and the two blocks Photoshop keeps in a TIFF go too, with the thumbnail and the names of hidden layers.
• PDFs from banks and insurers no longer hide their author. A statement or a policy could come out with its title, author and dates inside. Out of 200 real PDFs, none keeps a field and none comes out broken.
• iPhone videos say where they were shot. The location is read, shown as a location, and the “Location only” profile removes it.
• iPhone HDR photos stay HDR. Cleaning them no longer takes away their brightness: only the two pieces Apple needs to apply it are kept.
• An XMP with coordinates counts as location. “Location only” removes the XMP that says where you were and keeps the title and copyright of an edited photo.
• On Windows, one package for every PC, x64 and ARM64 alike, and the app in seven languages.

What the app does that the website cannot

The KillEXIF website cleans the same formats, for free and without uploading anything. But a browser only touches the files you hand it, one at a time or in a group, and forgets them when you close the tab. The app lives in the system:

• From Finder or File Explorer. On Mac, a Finder extension, the Services menu, “Open with”, dropping onto the Dock icon, and Shortcuts. On Windows, “Clean with KillEXIF” in the File Explorer right-click menu and in “Open with”.
• Watched folders. Point it at a folder and anything that lands there is cleaned on its own while the app is open, each folder with its own profile. With the app closed, nothing is watched.
• Thousands of files at a time, with progress you can follow and stop without leaving any file half written.
• Replacing the original without fear. The original goes to the Trash or the Recycle Bin and can be recovered until you empty it; if writing fails, it goes back where it was.
• Online-only OneDrive files, on Windows: they are downloaded as they are read, and if one cannot be downloaded, the app says so.

The same rules as the website

The engine is the same one, written three times — TypeScript on the web, Swift on Mac and C# on Windows — and all three have to pass the same test suite, case by case. That is why the app promises what the website does:

• Nothing is re-encoded. Metadata blocks are removed and everything else stays untouched, byte for byte: the image you get back is the image you had.
• Every cleaned file is read back to check that what was meant to go is gone, and whatever could not be removed is named.
• RAW negatives are left alone. Stripping the camera make and model leaves them undevelopable, so the app explains that and leaves them as they are.
• Nothing is uploaded. No account, no server: files never leave the computer. The only connection is the store’s, for the licence.

What is free and what is paid

Seeing what each file says is free and unlimited, in all fourteen formats. Cleaning JPEG, PNG, GIF and office documents — Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OpenDocument — is free too, with no cap on how many, and all three profiles are free.

The paid version adds the other formats — HEIC from the iPhone, WebP, TIFF, video, audio, PDF and ZIP — and watched folders. It is bought inside the app, as a one-off purchase or a yearly subscription that starts with a free week if you have not used it before. Each store is a separate purchase. Prices are on the app page.

How to get it

On the Mac App Store for macOS 14 or later, and on the Microsoft Store for Windows 11. It is free to download, and if you already have it, 1.0.1 arrives like any other update from the store.

The website stays as it is: free, complete and with nothing to install.