Getting rather frustrated that the latest Android strips location EXIF from the web file picker.
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Getting rather frustrated that the latest Android strips location EXIF from the web file picker.
Doesn't seem to be any workaround that'll let you pick a photo and have a web browser see the geolocation.
Like, I get the privacy issues, but it is rather frustrating for location-based web apps.
(Before reply-guying, please test if the code you found on a 4 year old StackOverflow post actually works on modern Android, thanks.)
I used to backup my photos from Android with a script in Termux. I first stripped some of the exif data with exiftool (I think, it's been a few years) then used rsync to send them to back them up on my server. I'm not sure if something similar would work for you and just skip the exiftool part.
Also, I have another Termux script, where I can share any file and it uploads to an uploads folder on my server (as an alternative quick way to share something.) Give me a few minutes and I'll test if exif is preserved.
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I used to backup my photos from Android with a script in Termux. I first stripped some of the exif data with exiftool (I think, it's been a few years) then used rsync to send them to back them up on my server. I'm not sure if something similar would work for you and just skip the exiftool part.
Also, I have another Termux script, where I can share any file and it uploads to an uploads folder on my server (as an alternative quick way to share something.) Give me a few minutes and I'll test if exif is preserved.so this termux script works (using ssh) https://chven.us/uploads/termux-file-editor.txt and preserves exif data. Not sure if this will work for your use case or wherever you need to upload to.
edit: renamed file to have .txt extension because firefox was trying to download it as .bin
2nd edit: just re-read your post and realize you're talking about uploading in webapps and my comments are useless. Good luck
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Getting rather frustrated that the latest Android strips location EXIF from the web file picker.
Doesn't seem to be any workaround that'll let you pick a photo and have a web browser see the geolocation.
Like, I get the privacy issues, but it is rather frustrating for location-based web apps.
(Before reply-guying, please test if the code you found on a 4 year old StackOverflow post actually works on modern Android, thanks.)
@Edent How recent do you mean by latest? By switching from image picker to file picker in https://github.com/mysociety/fixmystreet/commit/571c15baa2211f2c25d9e0d0ab2e3e3f5635f9e0 in January, this seemed to let us start getting locations from Android uploaded photos, in at least some cases.
(iPhone is weird, you get location if you use existing photo but not if you take it there and then, hope that’s just a thing they’ll fix.)
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I used to backup my photos from Android with a script in Termux. I first stripped some of the exif data with exiftool (I think, it's been a few years) then used rsync to send them to back them up on my server. I'm not sure if something similar would work for you and just skip the exiftool part.
Also, I have another Termux script, where I can share any file and it uploads to an uploads folder on my server (as an alternative quick way to share something.) Give me a few minutes and I'll test if exif is preserved.@sam it's for the public to upload to a public website but needs the location the photo was taken for it to function and work as the photos need to be located on a map.
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@Edent How recent do you mean by latest? By switching from image picker to file picker in https://github.com/mysociety/fixmystreet/commit/571c15baa2211f2c25d9e0d0ab2e3e3f5635f9e0 in January, this seemed to let us start getting locations from Android uploaded photos, in at least some cases.
(iPhone is weird, you get location if you use existing photo but not if you take it there and then, hope that’s just a thing they’ll fix.)
@dracos Hmm. That's what I'm doing. But the file picker on Android 16 won't let EXIF through.
Wondering if it is a GrapheneOS issue now? -
@dracos Hmm. That's what I'm doing. But the file picker on Android 16 won't let EXIF through.
Wondering if it is a GrapheneOS issue now?@Edent The Chrome user agent string on Android is fixed to "Android 10" so I don't actually know if any Android 16 in the ones with successful geolocation, I can try and find out next week probably
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Getting rather frustrated that the latest Android strips location EXIF from the web file picker.
Doesn't seem to be any workaround that'll let you pick a photo and have a web browser see the geolocation.
Like, I get the privacy issues, but it is rather frustrating for location-based web apps.
(Before reply-guying, please test if the code you found on a 4 year old StackOverflow post actually works on modern Android, thanks.)
*sigh*
Looks like Android is stripping GPS EXIF from photos whenever they're shared.
Affects QuickShare / Bluetooth - https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/485307531
And the web photo picker - https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/40287342Basically the only way to get geolocation is using USB transfer.
Like, I get the privacy aspect, but it is so annoying to explain to users of @openbenches that they can't upload via the mobile website any more.
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*sigh*
Looks like Android is stripping GPS EXIF from photos whenever they're shared.
Affects QuickShare / Bluetooth - https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/485307531
And the web photo picker - https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/40287342Basically the only way to get geolocation is using USB transfer.
Like, I get the privacy aspect, but it is so annoying to explain to users of @openbenches that they can't upload via the mobile website any more.
@Edent @openbenches Much rage!
I suppose there's some value in adding an optional <geolocation> element or similar to the app anyway (I don't know about others, but I do most of my submissions while sat on the bench in question!). But I appreciate this is still a loss in quality.
Feels like this could be easily fixed by Google adding a toast popup that says "Location and other metadata was removed before uploading" with an "undo" button to re-try without that, maybe.
Anyway - for now: much rage.
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@Edent @openbenches Much rage!
I suppose there's some value in adding an optional <geolocation> element or similar to the app anyway (I don't know about others, but I do most of my submissions while sat on the bench in question!). But I appreciate this is still a loss in quality.
Feels like this could be easily fixed by Google adding a toast popup that says "Location and other metadata was removed before uploading" with an "undo" button to re-try without that, maybe.
Anyway - for now: much rage.
@dan Yeah, we can ask for GPS but, as you say, people are rarely in the same place where they took the photo.
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*sigh*
Looks like Android is stripping GPS EXIF from photos whenever they're shared.
Affects QuickShare / Bluetooth - https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/485307531
And the web photo picker - https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/40287342Basically the only way to get geolocation is using USB transfer.
Like, I get the privacy aspect, but it is so annoying to explain to users of @openbenches that they can't upload via the mobile website any more.
@Edent @openbenches is this affecting non-Google camera roll backup too?
Mine still seems to get location but I don't know if it's because I'm on an old version.
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@Edent @openbenches is this affecting non-Google camera roll backup too?
Mine still seems to get location but I don't know if it's because I'm on an old version.
@InsertUser I don't know. It seems to be a problem on the defaults.
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@Edent The Chrome user agent string on Android is fixed to "Android 10" so I don't actually know if any Android 16 in the ones with successful geolocation, I can try and find out next week probably
@dracos just tried this photo which has geolocation - looks like FMS can't see the EXIF.
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Getting rather frustrated that the latest Android strips location EXIF from the web file picker.
Doesn't seem to be any workaround that'll let you pick a photo and have a web browser see the geolocation.
Like, I get the privacy issues, but it is rather frustrating for location-based web apps.
(Before reply-guying, please test if the code you found on a 4 year old StackOverflow post actually works on modern Android, thanks.)
it seems that in my tests with uploading anything through the browser or an app where it uses the file picker, then the exif location data is removed. When I open the photo with exif location data in my gallery app (Fossify Gallery on Pixel 8 with grapheneos) and then share that to Termux (like I mentioned in my useless comment), then it's preserved. I wonder if there's a way to share to the openbenches webapp similarly and just skip the file picker?
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*sigh*
Looks like Android is stripping GPS EXIF from photos whenever they're shared.
Affects QuickShare / Bluetooth - https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/485307531
And the web photo picker - https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/40287342Basically the only way to get geolocation is using USB transfer.
Like, I get the privacy aspect, but it is so annoying to explain to users of @openbenches that they can't upload via the mobile website any more.
Anyway, if you think the web should have a way to get the *full* photo a user uploaded - including geolocation metadata - please leave a
reaction on this request https://github.com/whatwg/html/issues/11724#issuecomment-4192228562 -
D dansup@mastodon.social shared this topic
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@LaChasseuse you have to click on the link to GitHub and leave the reaction there.
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*sigh*
Looks like Android is stripping GPS EXIF from photos whenever they're shared.
Affects QuickShare / Bluetooth - https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/485307531
And the web photo picker - https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/40287342Basically the only way to get geolocation is using USB transfer.
Like, I get the privacy aspect, but it is so annoying to explain to users of @openbenches that they can't upload via the mobile website any more.
@Edent @openbenches That seems to be talking about Android 14 already. But I don't think it's the Android *OS* that does the stripping, as even with Android 15 I managed to add https://openbenches.org/bench/42085
Though I'm on a Fairphone 5 (with stock Android), and I used Firefox.
Would you like me to try Chrome to see if that's the problem?
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@Edent @openbenches That seems to be talking about Android 14 already. But I don't think it's the Android *OS* that does the stripping, as even with Android 15 I managed to add https://openbenches.org/bench/42085
Though I'm on a Fairphone 5 (with stock Android), and I used Firefox.
Would you like me to try Chrome to see if that's the problem?
@derickr Yes please. I've tried both and still can't get it to show geodata. I'm on Android 16 though.
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@derickr Yes please. I've tried both and still can't get it to show geodata. I'm on Android 16 though.
@Edent If I use the same photo with Chrome as the photo in that bench I linked to in the upload field, it tells me the right location. (I didn't save it, as that'd be a duplicate obviously)
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*sigh*
Looks like Android is stripping GPS EXIF from photos whenever they're shared.
Affects QuickShare / Bluetooth - https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/485307531
And the web photo picker - https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/40287342Basically the only way to get geolocation is using USB transfer.
Like, I get the privacy aspect, but it is so annoying to explain to users of @openbenches that they can't upload via the mobile website any more.
@Edent Useful to know ... I'll be transferring images from my laptop backup of my phone anyway, but useful to know.
I understand that the OS might be privacy aware (though I have my doubts) but annoying to have the choice taken from me.
CC: @openbenches
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Getting rather frustrated that the latest Android strips location EXIF from the web file picker.
Doesn't seem to be any workaround that'll let you pick a photo and have a web browser see the geolocation.
Like, I get the privacy issues, but it is rather frustrating for location-based web apps.
(Before reply-guying, please test if the code you found on a 4 year old StackOverflow post actually works on modern Android, thanks.)
@Edent Doesn't appear to be unique to the Web based file picker. I've just had a little go with the CycleStreets app (which I wrote). Taking a photo using the stock intent is geolocated, using the built in image picker to select an existing photo is not geolocated.
If I get a chance, I'll apply the change @dracos made in his code, and let you know if it makes any difference
