Open the Network panel
| Browser | How to open it |
|---|---|
| Chrome and Edge | Press F12 (Cmd+Option+I on a Mac), then click the tab at the top of the panel. |
| Firefox | Press Ctrl+Shift+E (Cmd+Option+E on a Mac). This opens straight to the Network tab. |
| Safari | Open > > and turn on . Then choose > and click the tab. |
Open the panel first, then reload the page, so the list starts from the beginning. Leave it open while you add files and run the fix.
What you will see, and why each request is there
The list is not empty. A page has to arrive from somewhere. Here is every request the page makes, in the order it appears:
| Request | What it is |
|---|---|
fixmytakeout.com | The page itself. |
style.css | The page's styles. |
/fonts/DMSans-…woff2, /fonts/DMMono-…woff2 | The two typefaces, served from fixmytakeout.com, not from a font service. |
| A script from Fathom Analytics, and the one page-view ping it sends back | The site's visit counter. It records that the page was viewed and nothing about your files; it sets no cookies. |
site.js, /app/main.js and the other /app/ scripts | The tool: the zip reader, the matcher, the planner, the zip writer. |
/engine/exiftool.js, /engine/zeroperl.js, /engine/zeroperl.wasm (25.4 MB) | ExifTool 13.42 compiled to WebAssembly. It is fetched when processing starts, cached by the browser, and it is the program that reads and writes your files' tags, inside the tab. |
| Nothing further | While your files are processed. Reading a zip, matching JSON, rewriting tags and building the output zips all happen in memory in your browser. |
Two requests can appear later, and only if you choose to pay. When you enter your email to unlock unlimited files, the page makes one request to api.fixmytakeout.com carrying your email address, the file counts (total, matched, unmatched and how many are beyond the free allowance) and the destination you picked from the list, so the receipt can include the right import guide. Then the browser goes to Stripe's checkout page for the card details. No photo, no file name and no JSON content is in that request; you can click it in the panel and read the payload yourself.
The engine download is the one large transfer, and it goes the other way: from the site to you. If your network panel shows sizes, zeroperl.wasm will be by far the biggest line, and it is a download, not an upload.
The counter on the page
Above the progress bar the page shows Requests since you started: 0. It reads the browser's own performance log and counts the requests the page makes from the moment the engine has loaded, and the number stays at zero while your files are processed. The Network panel is the fuller check, because it also shows requests made by the tool's background workers. Hover over it to see the list of anything that was counted. It is the same information the Network panel shows, without opening the panel.
The offline check
Once the progress bar is moving, the page has everything it needs. Turn off Wi-Fi, or unplug the network cable, and it carries on: files keep being read, fixed and written to the output zips at the same pace. Turn the network back on before paying, since checkout needs it; the fix itself does not.
Why it is built this way
A Takeout export can run to tens or hundreds of gigabytes. Uploading that to a server would take hours on most home connections, and would put your photos on someone else's disk. Running ExifTool in the browser avoids both. The only price is the engine download, and the browser keeps it cached for the next visit.
Do the check yourself
- Open the Network panel using the row for your browser above, then reload the home page.
- Add one Takeout zip part and start the fix. Watch the engine files load.
- Once the progress bar moves, clear the panel's list (the circle-with-a-line button in Chrome and Edge; the trash icon in Firefox and Safari). It should stay empty until the run finishes.
- Turn Wi-Fi off for a minute. The file count keeps rising.