How do I see a photo's metadata on iPhone?

Open the photo in Photos and swipe up. Apple's page lists the device, date, camera details and location, and does not list a copyright field.

How do I check photo metadata on Android?

In the Google Photos app, select the photo, tap More , then About , and scroll to How this was made , as Google's page describes for AI info. The section may be missing, because not all images have AI info.

How do I check photo metadata on Windows?

In File Explorer, right-click the photo, select Properties and open the Details tab. These steps are our description, because Microsoft documents the photo properties for programmers, not as a File Explorer guide.

Does Windows show the copyright of a photo?

For JPEG and TIFF files, Microsoft's developer documentation lists the System.Copyright property, and in File Explorer we would look for the Copyright entry on the Details tab. We would not expect a PNG or WebP file to show it there, so to read any JPEG, PNG or WebP, use the browser check above.

How do I check photo metadata on a Mac?

Open the file in Preview and open the Inspector from the toolbar, or select the file in Finder and press Command-I for general file information.

Can I see the metadata without installing anything?

Yes. Add the photo to our copyright metadata tool in a browser; nothing is uploaded.

How to check a photo's metadata on iPhone, Android, Windows and Mac

On iPhone, open the photo in Photos and swipe up. In Google Photos on Android, tap More, then About (Google's steps for AI info). On a Mac, open Preview's Inspector; on Windows, our steps use Properties, then Details. Apple's iPhone page lists no copyright field. A browser tool shows the copyright fields of a JPEG, PNG or WebP.

Published October 30, 2026. Drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources linked on this page. How we write our guides.

How to check photo metadata on iPhone

Apple's iPhone User Guide page, See photo and video information on iPhone, says you can find saved metadata about a photo or video in the Photos app. It shows iOS 27 by default, with iOS 26 and iOS 18 in its version selector; the viewing text is the same in iOS 27 and iOS 26. In Photos on iPhone (steps as Apple lists them, checked October 2026):

Tap the photo or video whose metadata you want to see.
Swipe up. Apple's page also offers a tap control, shown as an icon its text does not name.

Apple says that, depending on the photo or video, the details include people and pets, a caption field, event information, the capturing device, date and time, camera metadata such as lens, shutter speed and file size, location, who shared the photo and albums. You can adjust the date, time and location from the same screen. The page does not list a creator, artist or copyright field, so we cannot tell you that Photos on iPhone shows one.

How to check photo metadata on Android

On Android, the one source we cite is for the Google Photos app. Google's help page, Learn about information stored on your photos, lists these steps under the heading "Find AI info" for an Android phone or tablet (checked October 2026):

Open the Google Photos app.
Select the photo you want to check the info of.
Tap More, then About.
Scroll to How this was made.

On a computer, the same page says to go to photos.google.com, select the photo and select Info. On an iPhone or iPad the Google Photos app uses the same four steps as Android. The page says IPTC metadata includes copyright information, the creator's name, and captions or image descriptions. It focuses on photos that contain only IPTC metadata and on AI information, and says not all images have AI info, so the section may be missing. The page does not list which fields the panel displays, so we would not read a missing copyright line in the app as proof that the file has none.

One more caution from Google: if you change a photo's date in Google Photos and then share the photo to other apps or download it, the copy may show the original date saved by the camera (Edit your photos). What an app displays can differ from what is inside the file.

How to check photo metadata on Windows

Microsoft's developer reference for Windows' photo metadata policy has one page for System.Author and one for System.Copyright. Each lists JPEG and TIFF as its containers, and for a JPEG each lists Exif, IPTC and XMP locations. The reference is written for programmers and does not describe the File Explorer window. In File Explorer on Windows (our description, not Microsoft's):

Right-click the photo and select Properties.
Open the Details tab.
Look for the Authors and Copyright entries.

This next point is our inference, not a Microsoft statement: because those pages list JPEG and TIFF only, we would not expect a PNG or WebP file to show these entries, so a blank there would not prove the file has none. The browser check below does not depend on the operating system, so it works on Windows for any JPEG, PNG or WebP.

How to check photo metadata on Mac

Apple's Preview User Guide page, View information about PDFs and images in Preview on Mac, says you can view information such as file size, the author name and the image resolution in the Inspector window. The page does not say which macOS version it describes. In Preview on Mac (steps as Apple lists them, checked October 2026):

Go to the Preview app.
Open a file.
In the toolbar, click the icon that opens the Inspector. Apple's text shows it as an icon without a name.

The Inspector has General info, More info, Keywords inspector and other tools. Apple describes More info as information about an image in different formats and about where a photo was taken. The page names "the author name" and does not say that copyright or IPTC fields appear.

Finder offers a second route. Apple's Mac User Guide page on file information says to select the item and choose File > Get Info, or press Command-I. Its examples of item info are file size, movie length and image dimensions; it lists no EXIF, IPTC or copyright fields.

Which of these show the copyright fields

Rights fields in each viewer, as the vendor's own page describes them
Viewer	What the page lists	Creator or copyright named?
Photos on iPhone	Caption, device, date, camera details, location	No
Google Photos	Its page describes IPTC metadata, including copyright and creator	In the IPTC description, not as a list of what the panel shows
File Explorer on Windows (developer reference)	System.Author and System.Copyright, for JPEG and TIFF	Yes in that reference, which does not describe the window
Preview Inspector on Mac	File size, author name, resolution	"The author name" only
Finder Get Info on Mac	General file information	No

This table compares what the pages say, not what the apps do, and the Windows steps above are our description. Our measurements tested files, not viewers. For the full set of copyright fields and their names, see our guide to EXIF, IPTC and XMP.

Check a photo's metadata in your browser

The copyright metadata tool reads a JPEG, PNG or WebP file and shows its fields in a table. In the Fix Watermark copyright metadata tool in a desktop or phone browser (steps checked October 2026):

Open the copyright metadata tool and add the photo with Drop photos here or choose photos.
Read the Before and after table. The Now in the file column lists Creator, Copyright notice, Credit line, Web statement of rights, Licensor URL, Contact email, Contact website and Location data (GPS), with "Not set" for an empty field.
With several photos added, pick a file under Show the fields of.

Free, no limit. Your pixels are not touched; only the metadata changes. Nothing is uploaded, and the table reads the file you add, so you can check a copy before you post it. If you want to fill the empty rows, our guide to adding copyright information to a photo's metadata has the steps. A photo you download back from a social app may carry less than the one you posted; see does Instagram keep photo metadata.

Sources

Checked October 30, 2026.

Questions

How do I see a photo's metadata on iPhone?: Open the photo in Photos and swipe up. Apple's page lists the device, date, camera details and location, and does not list a copyright field.
How do I check photo metadata on Android?: In the Google Photos app, select the photo, tap More, then About, and scroll to How this was made, as Google's page describes for AI info. The section may be missing, because not all images have AI info.
How do I check photo metadata on Windows?: In File Explorer, right-click the photo, select Properties and open the Details tab. These steps are our description, because Microsoft documents the photo properties for programmers, not as a File Explorer guide.
Does Windows show the copyright of a photo?: For JPEG and TIFF files, Microsoft's developer documentation lists the System.Copyright property, and in File Explorer we would look for the Copyright entry on the Details tab. We would not expect a PNG or WebP file to show it there, so to read any JPEG, PNG or WebP, use the browser check above.
How do I check photo metadata on a Mac?: Open the file in Preview and open the Inspector from the toolbar, or select the file in Finder and press Command-I for general file information.
Can I see the metadata without installing anything?: Yes. Add the photo to our copyright metadata tool in a browser; nothing is uploaded.