Stamp your site photos. Then see why a photo on its own is not proof.
Two small tools that run in your browser. Nothing is uploaded. Put the date, place and project on photos from your phone. Then open a photo's metadata, change it, strip it and reprint it. Everything inside a file can be rewritten.
Stamp photos
The Classic layout from the Piksort app. Time, coordinates, elevation and direction come from each file. The project, your name, tags and logo come from you.
See what a photo says about itself. Then change it, or strip it.
Drop in a JPEG from a phone. Edit the date, place and camera in place, or remove every trace of where the file came from, and download the copy. Drop that copy in the stamp tool above and it comes out reprinted.
The file remembers whatever it is told.
A camera writes the date, GPS position and model into a small block at the front of the file, called EXIF. Content Credentials from an AI tool are another block of the same kind. Any program can rewrite or remove them. The picture itself does not change.
Photos on a Mac, Google Photos and Windows Explorer sort by this date and pin this place on a map. None of them check it against anything else.
WhatsApp, Messenger, a screenshot and most email apps strip the blocks when you send a photo. A photo that arrives by chat has no date, no place and no maker of its own.
Proof has to come from outside the file.
Every mark inside a file is only as strong as the file. EXIF, Content Credentials and the Software note our stamp tool writes all go with one click above, or one screenshot. Google's invisible watermark survives, but it only says an image came from Google's AI. It says nothing about whether a real photo was taken when and where it claims, which is what a site dispute turns on. A photo recoloured in ordinary software carries no mark at all.
When a crew member takes a photo in the Piksort app, the time, coordinates, address, project and name are burned into the pixels before the file exists anywhere else. The photo then lands in the project record with the time the server received it. Two clocks that have to agree, one of them not in anyone's hands. Changing the file afterwards changes neither. See the mobile app.
Common questions.
Is anything uploaded?
No. Both tools read and write the files in your browser. There is no server in the loop. Close the tab and the photos are gone.
Which files work?
The stamp tool takes JPEG, PNG and WebP, up to 40 at a time. The metadata editor reads JPEG only, which is what phones and cameras save. Safari converts HEIC to JPEG when you pick a photo; if a file is refused, set Settings, Camera, Formats to Most Compatible.
What does "everything removed" take out?
EXIF, XMP, IPTC, comments, Content Credentials and anything stored after the end of the picture, such as a motion-photo clip or an HDR gain map. The colour profile stays so the picture looks the same. The pixels are untouched. A screenshot does the same job, less tidily.
Does this remove AI watermarks?
The kind written as text in the file, yes: Content Credentials and XMP labels go with the "everything removed" button, as they do with any screenshot. Watermarks hidden in the pixels, such as Google SynthID, survive both tools. We do not remove them and we do not detect them. They say an image came from an AI tool. They say nothing about whether a real photo was taken when and where it claims.
Does the stamped file keep its metadata?
Yes. Date, place and camera are copied across. The orientation is reset because the picture is now upright, and the Software field records that the stamp was added on this page. That field goes with one click too, which is the point.
Why did a stamped photo come out smaller?
Photos longer than 4096 px on the long edge are scaled down so phones can draw them. A 12 MP phone photo is untouched.
The place is missing from my iPhone photo.
iOS can remove the location when a photo is picked in Safari. AirDrop the original to a computer, or pick it from the Files app, and the place comes through.
Is changing metadata allowed?
On your own photos, yes. Passing an edited photo off as a record of something it is not is a different matter. The editor is here so you know how easy that is, and how little a file proves on its own.
Stamp every photo as you take it.
The free Piksort app does this on the phone, at the moment of capture, and files the photo in the project record. Project managers hold the plan. Everyone else on site joins free. Questions? Book a call.