Get Exif data from UIImage - UIImagePickerController

Question

How can we get Exif information from UIImage selected from UIImagePickerController?

I had done much R&D for this and got many replies but still failed to implement this.

I had gone through this this and this link

Please help me to solve this problem.

Thanks in advance..

Answer 1

Interesting question! I came up with the following solution working for images picked from your photo library (note my code is using ARC):

Import AssetsLibrary.framework and ImageIO.framework.

Then include the needed classes inside your .h-file:

#import <AssetsLibrary/ALAsset.h>
#import <AssetsLibrary/ALAssetRepresentation.h>
#import <ImageIO/CGImageSource.h>
#import <ImageIO/CGImageProperties.h>

And put this inside your imagePickerController:didFinishPickingMediaWithInfo: delegate method:

ALAssetsLibrary *library = [[ALAssetsLibrary alloc] init];
[library assetForURL:[info objectForKey:UIImagePickerControllerReferenceURL]
    resultBlock:^(ALAsset *asset) {

        ALAssetRepresentation *image_representation = [asset defaultRepresentation];

        // create a buffer to hold image data 
        uint8_t *buffer = (Byte*)malloc(image_representation.size);
        NSUInteger length = [image_representation getBytes:buffer fromOffset: 0.0  length:image_representation.size error:nil];

        if (length != 0)  {

            // buffer -> NSData object; free buffer afterwards
            NSData *adata = [[NSData alloc] initWithBytesNoCopy:buffer length:image_representation.size freeWhenDone:YES];

            // identify image type (jpeg, png, RAW file, ...) using UTI hint
            NSDictionary* sourceOptionsDict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:(id)[image_representation UTI] ,kCGImageSourceTypeIdentifierHint,nil];

            // create CGImageSource with NSData
            CGImageSourceRef sourceRef = CGImageSourceCreateWithData((__bridge CFDataRef) adata,  (__bridge CFDictionaryRef) sourceOptionsDict);

            // get imagePropertiesDictionary
            CFDictionaryRef imagePropertiesDictionary;
            imagePropertiesDictionary = CGImageSourceCopyPropertiesAtIndex(sourceRef,0, NULL);

            // get exif data
            CFDictionaryRef exif = (CFDictionaryRef)CFDictionaryGetValue(imagePropertiesDictionary, kCGImagePropertyExifDictionary);
            NSDictionary *exif_dict = (__bridge NSDictionary*)exif;
            NSLog(@"exif_dict: %@",exif_dict);

            // save image WITH meta data
            NSString *documentsDirectory = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
            NSURL *fileURL = nil;
            CGImageRef imageRef = CGImageSourceCreateImageAtIndex(sourceRef, 0, imagePropertiesDictionary);

            if (![[sourceOptionsDict objectForKey:@"kCGImageSourceTypeIdentifierHint"] isEqualToString:@"public.tiff"])
                     {
                         fileURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@/%@.%@",
                                                           documentsDirectory,
                                                           @"myimage",
                                                           [[[sourceOptionsDict objectForKey:@"kCGImageSourceTypeIdentifierHint"] componentsSeparatedByString:@"."] objectAtIndex:1]
                                                           ]];

                         CGImageDestinationRef dr = CGImageDestinationCreateWithURL ((__bridge CFURLRef)fileURL,
                                                                                     (__bridge CFStringRef)[sourceOptionsDict objectForKey:@"kCGImageSourceTypeIdentifierHint"],
                                                                                     1,
                                                                                     NULL
                                                                                    );
              CGImageDestinationAddImage(dr, imageRef, imagePropertiesDictionary);
              CGImageDestinationFinalize(dr);
              CFRelease(dr);
            }
            else
            {
              NSLog(@"no valid kCGImageSourceTypeIdentifierHint found …");
            }

            // clean up
            CFRelease(imageRef);
            CFRelease(imagePropertiesDictionary);
            CFRelease(sourceRef);
        }
        else {
            NSLog(@"image_representation buffer length == 0");
        }
    }
    failureBlock:^(NSError *error) {
        NSLog(@"couldn't get asset: %@", error);
    }
];

One thing I noticed is, that iOS will ask the user to allow location services – if he denies, you won't be abled to get the image data …

EDIT

Added code to save the image including its meta data. It's a quick approach, so maybe there is a better way, but it works!