Scrubbr
Reveals Hidden Metadata · 100% On-Device
See what your files are
secretly carrying.
That holiday photo knows exactly where it was taken. That Word doc still has the comments you thought you deleted. Scrubbr reveals the hidden metadata your files are quietly carrying — GPS, author, camera serial, tracked changes — then strips it with one click. Entirely on your Mac. Nothing is ever uploaded. Available in 13 languages.
v1.3.0 · macOS 14+, including 27 Golden Gate · Apple Silicon & Intel · Signed & notarized by Apple · No account
See it in action
See exactly what a file is carrying, then strip it into a clean copy — the original stays untouched, unless you deliberately switch on Replace.
How it works
Drop it. See it. Scrub it.
Drop it in
Drop a photo, PDF, Office document, video or audio file onto the window — or a whole folder, and Scrubbr recurses in and adds every supported file.
See what it reveals
Scrubbr shows the hidden metadata each file is carrying, grouped and in plain English — with anything sensitive, like GPS, author, or tracked changes, flagged in red.
Scrub
One click strips it: GPS and EXIF off photos, authorship and XMP off PDFs, comments and tracked changes out of Office docs, the QuickTime GPS tag off video, ID3 tags off audio.
Keep the clean copy
Scrubbr writes a clean (scrubbed) copy next to the original and leaves your source file alone. Reveal it in Finder and share it safely. Prefer to replace the original in place? Switch that on and Scrubbr keeps an (original) backup beside it — and the button says Replace, so you always know which one you are about to press.
Features
Nothing leaves your files that you didn't see first.
One focused, native window that shows you the hidden metadata other tools quietly ignore — then removes it, without ever sending a file to the cloud.
The reveal comes first
Drop a file and Scrubbr lists the hidden metadata it's carrying — grouped into Location, Identity, Device, History and Timestamps — with anything privacy-sensitive flagged in red and explained plainly ("reveals where this file has been"). You see the scary stuff before you strip it — and under it, every other key in the file.
The reveal
All of it, not a curated third
A photo from a modern phone holds around ninety pieces of metadata. Most tools — Scrubbr included, until now — show you the twenty or thirty someone thought to make a row for. Open All metadata on any file and you get every last key under the name the format itself uses: the second your GPS fix was taken and how accurate it was, your time-zone offset, the editor’s leftover headline and “do not syndicate” note, every ID3 frame, every QuickTime atom, every macOS attribute — not just the ones Scrubbr strips. Folded away until you ask, so the reveal is still what you see first.
Complete · raw
The leak no EXIF tool touches
Every file you download on a Mac quietly carries the web address it came from — token and all — plus the app that downloaded it, and any Finder comment or tag. macOS staples these to the outside of the file, so tools that only rewrite the file's own headers leave them behind. Scrubbr shows them, flags the source URL in red, and no clean copy ever carries them.
Where-from · quarantine
Works on files it can't even open
Those macOS attributes ride on every file type — a ZIP, an installer, a spreadsheet Scrubbr has no reader for. Drop one in and Scrubbr still reveals where it came from, and still writes you a copy without it.
Any file type
Content Credentials, reported honestly
Some cameras and AI tools attach C2PA Content Credentials — a signed record of what made a file and how it was edited. Scrubbr tells you when one is there, says plainly that it detects the manifest rather than verifying its signature, and warns that scrubbing an image destroys it. Your call, made with the facts.
C2PA · detection
Keep the evidence first
Before you delete what a file was carrying, copy it. One click puts a plain-text report on the clipboard — per file or for the whole batch — grouped exactly as the app shows it, with the sensitive groups marked. Paste it into a ticket, an email, or your notes.
Copy report
Strip GPS from photos
JPG, PNG, HEIC, TIFF and GIF: the GPS coordinates come off along with the rest of the EXIF — camera make, model and serial, software, timestamps. Scrubbr re-encodes just the pixels to a fresh file, keeps the ICC color profile and bakes in the orientation, so the photo looks identical.
EXIF · GPS
Clean PDFs, honestly
Clears a PDF's document info dictionary and XMP — author, creator, the producing app, title and dates — and re-blanks the generic values a writer re-stamps on save. It doesn't rewrite deep embedded object streams, and Scrubbr tells you so rather than overpromising.
Author · dates · XMP
Office comments & tracked changes
DOCX, XLSX and PPTX: author, company, last-editor and revision blanked. With the option on, Scrubbr deletes the comment parts and accepts every tracked change — keeping inserted text, dropping deleted text — leaving clean, valid OOXML. Formatting and tables are preserved.
Comments · revisions
Video & audio too
The QuickTime GPS tag — the big iPhone location leak — plus make/model, software and dates come off MP4, MOV, M4V and M4A with a lossless passthrough remux (no re-encode). MP3 and AAC get their ID3v2 and legacy ID3v1 tags stripped byte-for-byte.
QuickTime GPS · ID3
Folders & bulk drops
Drop a whole folder and Scrubbr recurses in, adds every supported file with a progress bar, and headlines the risk at a glance — "3 of 7 files reveal your location." Sort the list by name, size, kind or how much it reveals, or filter it down to just the files carrying something sensitive. Checkbox-select the ones you want and Scrub selected, or Scrub all. When a folder brings in a hundred files called
Privacy summary
IMG_4021.jpg, each card says which folder it came from.Your original is left alone
Out of the box, every scrub writes a new "(scrubbed)" copy next to the original. If that name is already taken, Scrubbr picks a unique one rather than overwrite. The only way an original is ever replaced is the opt-in mode below — and even then a backup is kept.
Non-destructive by default
Or replace in place, safely
Opt-in: overwrite the file where it lives and keep a "(original)" backup right beside it — never lossy, off by default. It is a setting that sticks, so the button tells you: it reads Replace and counts what it is about to replace whenever that mode is armed, and the help sheet and empty state describe the mode you are actually in. If the source folder is read-only, Scrubbr offers to save the clean copy in a folder you pick instead of failing.
Keeps a backup
Stop a batch mid-run
A dropped folder can queue thousands of files, and cleaning writes to disk. Press Stop and Scrubbr finishes the file it is on and halts — nothing half-written, everything already cleaned stays cleaned, and it tells you how many it left untouched rather than reporting only what it managed.
Interruptible
Recover from a bad file
A file that failed — a locked folder, a permission you have since fixed — gets its own Try again right on its card, so you don't have to remove it and add it back. Every file has a remove button, and Remove all files can be undone.
Try again
Strip exactly what you want
Choose Everything, or Location only to drop the GPS but keep the camera info. Toggle comment and tracked-change removal and color-profile keeping. Your choices are remembered across launches.
100% on your Mac
No file — and no metadata — ever leaves your computer. No account, no cloud, no telemetry. Web scrubbers make you upload private files to someone else's server; Scrubbr never does. The only network calls are the optional license check and update check.
Privacy
Reveal in Finder
Jump straight to the clean copy — or back to the original — in Finder, from every file card. No hunting through folders to find what Scrubbr just wrote.
Signed & notarized
Opens with a normal double-click — no "unidentified developer" warning, no Open Anyway, no Terminal. Signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple.
No warnings
Built for everyone
Fully keyboard-driven — add with ⌘O, paste from Finder with ⌘V, scrub everything with ⌘↵ — with VoiceOver labels and live announcements, honored Reduce Motion, and a WCAG 2.1 AA pass in both appearances.
WCAG 2.1 AA
Speaks your language
Scrubbr's interface comes in 13 languages — German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Turkish and Simplified Chinese — with an in-app flag picker that auto-detects your Mac's language, and switches anytime. Dark and light mode too: follow macOS, or pin either one from inside the app.
13 languages · dark & light
Reads & cleans
JPG
PNG
HEIC
TIFF
GIF
PDF
DOCX
XLSX
PPTX
MP4
MOV
M4V
M4A
MP3
AAC
Pricing
Free for you. Fair for work.
Personal use is free forever — every file type, unlimited files, no key, no account, no watermarks. If Scrubbr earns its keep at your job, a one-time business license keeps it supported.
Personal
Free forever
For individuals and personal projects
- Reveal & strip every type — photos, PDFs, Office, video, audio
- Non-destructive by default — a clean copy, your original untouched
- Folder & bulk drops with a privacy summary
- 100% on-device — nothing uploaded
- No account, no nag screens
- Free updates forever
Business
$5 / computer
One-time payment — no subscription
- Everything in Personal
- Use commercially at work
- One-time payment — no subscription
- Free updates forever
- Supports solo indie development
The personal tier is the full app — buy a business license only if you use Scrubbr commercially. One seat per computer, paid once, yours for life. Secure checkout via Stripe; your license key is emailed instantly.
Download & install
Get set up in seconds.
Download the app and drag it into Applications — that's it. No Terminal, no Homebrew, no sign-up.
Version 1.3.0 · Released August 22, 2026 · Free updates forever
macOS 14 Sonoma or later, including macOS 27 Golden Gate · Apple Silicon or Intel
Everything Scrubbr needs is built right into the app — no Python to install, no Homebrew, nothing else to set up. One universal build runs natively on Apple Silicon and Intel.
Opens with a double-click
Scrubbr is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it opens cleanly the first time — no
Open Anyway trip through System Settings, no Terminal. Open the DMG, drag Scrubbr into Applications, and launch it.Check the file you downloaded
Scrubbr is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, and macOS checks that every time you open it — that is the check that catches a file altered on its way to you. To confirm it yourself, compare the SHA-256 of your copy with the one published for the
Scrubbr.dmg this page serves.SHA-256 checksum
Published checksum
Run this on your download and compare
shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/Scrubbr.dmg
Or have your Mac compare them for you: save Scrubbr.dmg.sha256 beside the download and run shasum -a 256 -c Scrubbr.dmg.sha256.
FAQ
Common questions.
Is Scrubbr really free?
Personal use is free forever — every file type, unlimited files, no account, no trial timer, no watermarks. If you use Scrubbr at work, a one-time $5 business license per computer keeps it supported.
What does the reveal actually show me?
Drop a file and Scrubbr lists the hidden metadata it's carrying — grouped into Location, Identity, Device, History and Timestamps — with anything privacy-sensitive flagged in red and explained in plain English, like "reveals where this file has been." You see exactly what's there before you decide to strip it.
Does Scrubbr upload my files anywhere?
No. Every reveal and every scrub runs entirely on your Mac — no file, and no metadata, ever leaves your computer. There is no account and no telemetry. The only times Scrubbr contacts our server are to validate a business license key or to check for updates, which sends only the app version.
Will Scrubbr change or delete my original files?
Never by default. Every scrub writes a new "(scrubbed)" copy next to the original, and if that name is taken Scrubbr picks a unique one rather than overwrite. There is an opt-in Replace original mode that overwrites in place — but even then it keeps an "(original)" backup right beside the file.
What files can it read and clean?
Photos (JPG, PNG, HEIC, TIFF, GIF), PDFs, Office documents (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX), video (MP4, MOV, M4V, M4A) and audio (MP3, AAC). Anything else gets a friendly "Scrubbr can't read this type yet."
Does it really remove Word comments and tracked changes?
Yes. With "Remove comments & tracked changes" on, Scrubbr deletes the comment parts (and their relationships and anchors) and accepts every tracked change — keeping the inserted text, dropping the deleted text, and removing the revision markup — leaving clean, valid OOXML. Your formatting and tables are preserved.
Can it strip the GPS location from my photos?
Yes — that's the headline case. Scrubbr removes GPS coordinates along with the rest of the EXIF (camera make, model and serial, software, timestamps) by re-encoding just the pixels to a fresh file. The color profile is kept and the orientation is baked in, so the photo looks identical. Prefer to keep the camera info? Switch to Location only to drop just the GPS.
Is everything removed from a PDF?
Scrubbr clears a PDF's document info dictionary and XMP — author, creator, the producing app, title and dates — and re-blanks the generic values a PDF writer re-stamps on save. It does not rewrite deep embedded object streams, and the app tells you so honestly rather than pretending a PDF is scrubbed cleaner than it is.
Will macOS warn me about an unidentified developer?
No. Scrubbr is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it opens with a normal double-click the first time — no Open Anyway trip through System Settings, no Terminal.
How do I update Scrubbr?
Scrubbr updates itself. It checks about once a week and, when a new version is out, shows you what changed and offers to install it in place — the download is signature-checked, and one that doesn't verify is refused. You can also check on demand, turn the automatic check off in the update panel, or download the DMG from this page and drag it into Applications yourself. Your settings carry over.
Is there a Windows version?
Not yet — Scrubbr is Mac-only for now. It's built as a native Mac app from the ground up, using the system frameworks to read metadata the way macOS itself sees it.