Files you drop in the tool
When you choose a photo, the browser reads it with JavaScript that shipped with the page. EXIF, XMP, IPTC, C2PA, and PNG chunks are parsed in memory. The cleaned bytes are handed back as a download or a ZIP. Nothing in that path sends the file, the filename, or the metadata report to a server operated for this site.
Closing or reloading the tab discards the in-memory copies. The tool does not use cookies, localStorage, or a service worker. A download stays in your downloads folder under the control of your browser, not ours.
What the host can see
The pages are static files. Whoever serves them can see ordinary request logs: IP address, user agent, and the URL of the page. Those logs belong to the host. Separately, each page loads a small script from analytics.cgqq.org, a self-hosted counter. It records that a page was opened, and it can record an anonymous usage event: the event name plus coarse fields such as locale, page type, file type, a size bucket, and which metadata kinds were present. It does not receive the file name, the photo, GPS coordinates, camera details, prompts, or any other metadata value. There are no advertising pixels and no third-party fonts.
There is no form on the site and no email inbox attached to it. Do not send personal data or images anywhere expecting a reply from this project.
Page views and usage events
A script on every page, including the 404 page, sends a page view to analytics.cgqq.org. When you use the remover or the checker, the same script can send an event such as file-added, clean-success, or download. Those events carry categories and counts, not the contents of the photo. The counter is self-hosted for this project. It is not an advertising network, and the cleaning tool still does not upload images.
What cleaning means for privacy
Stripping GPS, serial numbers, and timestamps is the privacy effect of the same pass that removes AI credentials. Do that before you publish if those fields are sensitive. Keep the original somewhere private if you still need them. Cleaning a file does not anonymize a face, a document in the frame, or a pixel watermark.
Questions
Do you keep a copy of cleaned images?
No. The site never receives them. Only your browser holds the bytes, and only while the tab is open.
Are there cookies?
The cleaning tool does not set cookies or write local storage. The analytics script counts page views and anonymous usage events. It does not upload images, file names, or metadata values. A hosting provider may still log requests for the HTML and script files.