USE CASE

Check a photo for location data before you upload it

Once a photo is up on a form or a social post, noticing afterwards that it carried the place it was taken does not undo anything. This is how the Chrome extension Safe Attachment Check shows you what is attached, at the moment you attach it.

This extension only shows. It does not delete location data or rewrite your photo. To remove it, you strip it in the original app or in your operating system and then attach the file again.

Where the work gets awkward

A photo from a phone or a camera often carries a record of the moment it was taken, separate from the image itself: the coordinates of the place, the date and time, the equipment used. None of that shows up while you are simply looking at the picture.

The awkward part is that uploading cannot be taken back. A listing photo, a shot attached to an application form, something posted to a social account — if it was taken at home or at work, those coordinates point there.

What you end up repeating

The upload screen gives you no way to find out first. To check, you leave that screen and open the photo again somewhere else — another app, or your operating system.

  • Leave the upload screen and open the photo again
  • Uploading several photos means making that round trip once per file

On top of that, how the receiving site treats the data is not something the sender can verify. Given that part is out of view, looking at the part that is in view first is the practical move.

The same job with Safe Attachment Check

  1. 1

    With the extension installed, attach the photo exactly as you normally would. It works for both file selection and drag & drop.

  2. 2

    A small card appears in the corner of the page only when the photo actually carries something. If nothing is found, nothing appears.

  3. 3

    Read what the card lists. GPS coordinates are shown as plain numbers and are never turned into a street address.

  4. 4

    Decide whether to send it as is, or to strip it in the original app and attach it again. Either way, your upload is never stopped.

Attach the photo Webmail, an application form, a social post — any site.
A card appears only if something is found It sits in the corner of the page; read it and close it.
Read it, and you decide Send as is, or strip it in the original app and send again.

For a photo, the card lists these fields.

GPS position Capture date & time Camera make & model Editing software

The image formats it handles are JPEG, PNG and WebP. PDF, Word and Excel files list a different set of fields.

What this looks like in practice

Putting listing photos on a marketplace

A product shot taken at home can be checked before it goes public.

Attaching a photo to an application or contact form

It keeps a shot taken at your desk or in your room from reaching a company unexamined.

Forwarding a photo somebody sent you

The photos you did not take are the ones whose contents you know least about.

What Safe Attachment Check does

  • Checks JPEG, PNG and WebP photos inside your browser, at the moment you attach them
  • Shows GPS position, capture date and time, camera make and model, and editing software
  • Shows GPS coordinates as plain numbers
  • Watches both paths — file selection and drag & drop
  • Shows nothing when nothing is found (an every-time card is available in settings)
  • Lets you turn checking off entirely on sites you trust
  • Stores only your settings (chrome.storage.local). File contents are never saved, and it makes no network requests
  • Requests no host permissions (host_permissions)

What Safe Attachment Check does not do

  • Delete or rewrite location data or any other metadata. Your file stays byte-for-byte identical
  • Turn coordinates into a street address. Reverse geocoding needs a network request, and this extension makes none
  • Block or interrupt your upload. It only shows a card
  • Judge what is pictured in the photo. It reads the information attached to the image, nothing more
  • Scan for viruses or malware. That is not what it is for
  • Handle image formats outside the list. For images it covers JPEG, PNG and WebP