Reference

PII (personally identifiable information)

PII (personally identifiable information) is any data that can identify a specific person — name, email, phone number, address, ID numbers, or even a photo’s location. Knowing what counts as PII helps you redact it before sharing files or screenshots.

Privacy & securityGeneral

PII (personally identifiable information)

Also known as: personally identifiable information, personal data, sensitive data

Any data that can identify a specific person
Includes hidden data like a photo’s GPS location
Redact visible PII and strip metadata before sharing

What counts as PII

Direct identifiers point straight to you: full name, email, phone number, home address, government ID and account numbers, and face. Indirect identifiers can single you out when combined — a birthdate plus a ZIP code, a device ID, or the GPS coordinates embedded in a photo.

Some PII is also sensitive: health, financial, and biometric data carry extra risk and stronger legal protection in many regions. The practical takeaway is that more things identify you than people assume.

Protecting PII when you share

Before posting a screenshot or document, scan it for visible PII — names, emails, phone numbers, order numbers, faces in the background — and redact it by covering or blacking it out rather than just blurring lightly.

Files also carry hidden PII in their metadata: photos can include GPS location and a device serial, and documents can embed author names. Stripping metadata and redacting visible identifiers together keep a shared file from leaking more than you intend.

Related terms

Keep reading the reference.

Cloud & backupMetadata removalMetadata removal is stripping the hidden data embedded in a photo — such as EXIF details, GPS location, and device info — before you share or upload it, so you don’t reveal where or how it was taken.General Editing & toolsImage redactionImage redaction permanently hides sensitive information in a photo or screenshot — names, account numbers, faces, addresses — by covering it and flattening the result so the hidden data cannot be recovered. Done correctly, the original pixels are destroyed, not just visually masked.General Editing & toolsPixelationPixelation obscures part of an image by averaging it into large blocky squares, hiding faces, plates, or text behind a mosaic. It is a quick way to censor a region — but for truly sensitive data a solid block is safer, since heavy pixelation of text can sometimes be reversed.General Photos & videoEXIF metadataEXIF metadata is the information embedded inside a photo file describing how and where it was taken — camera model, exposure settings, date, time, and often GPS location. It is tiny in size but matters for privacy and for how photos are sorted and searched.iOSAndroidGeneral

Act on it

Guides and tools for this topic.

Redact an image Remove metadata from a file