Is Your HEIC Converter Private? How to Check It Yourself

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You can check a HEIC converter’s privacy yourself instead of trusting its homepage. Three questions matter: does it upload your photos, how long does it keep them if it does, and what does the finished JPG reveal, such as where the photo was taken? The first you can test in your browser’s Network panel or by converting offline. The second is answered in the privacy policy, which can say something different from the converter page. The third you see by checking the JPG’s details.

Check 1: watch the Network panel

Your browser’s developer tools list every request a page makes, including uploads.

  1. Open the converter. In Chrome, press Control+Shift+J (Windows) or Command+Option+J (Mac) and click the Network tab. Other browsers have a similar panel.
  2. Open the panel before you choose a photo: DevTools only records network activity while it is open.
  3. Convert one photo you don’t mind testing with.
  4. Look for POST or PUT requests sent during the conversion. Click one and check its payload or Content-Length. An upload is about as large as your photo, or split into several requests that add up to it.

We ran this check on heicly on 31 October 2026, on a local copy of the site with analytics requests blocked, converting a photo of about 880 KB taken with an iPhone 7. The page made 14 requests, all GET requests for the page, its scripts and images, the conversion engine and one blocked analytics script. None of them sent any data in its body. On heicly.io you will also see analytics requests (Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Cloudflare); they carry usage events, not your photo or its file name.

Check 2: convert with the internet off

A converter that uploads cannot finish without a connection. One that runs in your browser can, once its files are in the browser’s cache.

  1. Convert one photo while online, then stay online for about 30 seconds.
  2. Turn off Wi-Fi or switch on airplane mode.
  3. Reload the page and convert a different photo. To try this with heicly, use a converter page such as the home page or HEIC to JPG offline; this article page is not stored for offline use.

In our run, heicly converted the second photo (an iPhone 12 Pro HEIC) with the network switched off. For more detail, see HEIC to JPG offline.

Check 3: read the retention terms in the privacy policy

If a converter uploads, its privacy policy tells you how long your files stay on its servers. Read the policy, not only the line under the upload button; the two do not always match. Here is what six upload-based converters say, checked on 31 October 2026:

Tool On its converter or feature page In its privacy policy
heictojpg.com Home page: “deleted immediately after conversion”; About page: “within 48 hours” The Privacy link in its menu opens a cookie policy; we did not find terms for photos there
FreeConvert Deleted “automatically after 8 hours” “automatically and permanently deleted after 8 hours”; files stored with Amazon Web Services in Ireland
CloudConvert — Deleted when you use the delete button, otherwise “at the latest after 24 hours”; log data (IP address, user agent, referrer) deleted after 180 days
Convertio HEIC deleted right after conversion; JPGs purged within 24 hours Input files deleted “instantly”; output files after 24 hours, or when you click X; “We keep your files in the European Union”
Zamzar “Free converted files are stored securely for a maximum of 24 hours” Without an account, files and outputs are kept “for no longer than 7 days following receipt”
iLoveIMG “we automatically eliminate all your archives within two hours” Files deleted “within TWO (2) HOURS” of processing; the policy also says it does not use your content to train AI models

Zamzar’s two pages give different upper limits (24 hours and 7 days); heictojpg.com’s two pages differ too. When they disagree, plan around the longer one.

What to look for in any policy:

  • How long uploaded and converted files are kept, and whether you can delete them sooner.
  • Where they are stored, and which other companies host or process them.
  • What else is logged, such as your IP address, and for how long.
  • Other uses of your files, such as training AI models.

Check 4: see what the JPG reveals

iPhone photos can carry location. Apple says that when Location Services is on for the Camera, the coordinates “are embedded into each photo and video”, and people you share photos with “may be able to access the location metadata”. Converters differ in what they copy into the JPG, so check the converted file in a viewer that shows its details, such as Photos on an iPhone or Mac.

heicly’s JPGs keep the date taken and camera details, but location (GPS) is left out unless you turn on “Also keep location (GPS)”. In our test, the iPhone 7 original contained GPS data; the JPG made with default settings did not, while it kept the date taken, make and model. PNG and PDF downloads carry none of this information. To share an original iPhone photo without its location, Apple’s steps are: select the photo, tap the Share button, tap Options, then turn off Location.

What heicly sends, and what it doesn’t

heicly converts photos in your browser and does not upload them. The website itself is not request-free: on heicly.io, the converter pages can load Google Analytics 4 and Microsoft Clarity after you interact with the page. They record events such as conversion status, duration and size ranges, without photo data or file names, and they may use cookies. If Global Privacy Control is on in your browser, these two are not loaded. Cloudflare hosts the site and processes request data. The details are in our privacy notice.

A quick checklist

  • Network panel: no request about the size of your photo.
  • Offline test: conversion still works after one online conversion.
  • Privacy policy: a clear retention period, and the longer one if two pages disagree.
  • Output: no location in the JPG unless you want it.

Try heicly

Drop your HEIC or HEIF photos here

or

Your files never leave your device — everything happens right here in your browser. After one conversion, the converter also works offline.

Select several HEIC or HEIF photos at once. Very large photos may be scaled down to fit your browser's limits; on a phone, convert big batches in smaller groups.

    Note: refreshing or closing this page clears the current tasks and results.

    Open the Network panel first if you want to watch, then choose a photo. The JPG is created on your device.

    For a side-by-side look at free limits and accounts, see free HEIC to JPG converters compared; for when a desktop app suits you better, see online vs desktop HEIC converters.

    Sources

    Checked on 31 October 2026: heictojpg.com, its About page and cookie policy; FreeConvert’s HEIC to JPG page and privacy policy; CloudConvert’s privacy policy; Convertio’s HEIC to JPG page and privacy policy; Zamzar’s HEIC to JPG page and privacy policy; iLoveIMG’s features and privacy policy; Chrome’s Network panel documentation; Apple’s Manage location metadata in Photos.

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