Exif Lens vs ExifTool

Exif Lens is an iPhone app for viewing, editing, and removing photo EXIF metadata. It displays file details, camera settings, and GPS coordinates, then lets users change capture dates and times with a calendar and custom time picker. Locations can be added, changed, or removed by searching for a place or moving a map pin. Camera fields include maker, model, lens, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, and focal length; an interactive dial sets compass direction. The app can strip GPS data or remove all metadata before sharing, and batch tools apply date or location changes or metadata removal to selected photos. Library filters include favorites, media type, and location status. Changes save to the photo library, and sharing can include or omit metadata. The maker says processing stays on the device, with no servers, uploads, tracking, analytics, third-party SDKs, or data collection. The App Store listing requires iOS 17.0 or later. The free plan is free and includes metadata viewing and library browsing, filtering, and sorting. Pro is $0.99 per month; the listing also shows a yearly option at $9.99.

ExifTool is a free Perl library and command-line application for reading, writing and editing metadata in many file types. It can read tags, change or delete their values, and copy or move metadata between files. Supported formats include EXIF, GPS, IPTC, XMP, JFIF, GeoTIFF, ICC Profile, Photoshop IRB, FlashPix, AFCP and ID3, as well as maker notes from numerous camera manufacturers. Sources can be file names, directory names or standard input. ExifTool is available for Linux, macOS and Windows; its Perl distribution can be run by extracting it on Mac or Linux, and the Windows EXE version can also be extracted. A C++ interface lets applications communicate with an external ExifTool process. When writing metadata, ExifTool preserves the original file by adding “_original” to its name by default, and it will not write a metadata type unsupported by the target format. The maker says it is not designed as an image validator, though its extra validation checks focus mainly on JPEG and TIFF. The full Perl distribution includes documentation and API libraries. ExifTool costs nothing.