Most phone photos record exactly where they were taken. Here is how to strip that location on iPhone, Android, Windows and Mac, stop your camera adding it, and check that it is really gone.
When a phone takes a photo, it normally saves the GPS coordinates of where you were standing inside the file, often accurate to a few metres. The location is invisible when you look at the picture, but anyone who has the original file can read it in seconds. A photo of your new sofa posted on a marketplace, or a picture of your child in the garden emailed to a club, can tell a stranger where you live.
The coordinates live in the photo’s EXIF metadata, together with the date, time and camera model. You can remove them before sharing, remove them from photos you already have, or stop your camera adding them in the first place. This guide covers all three.
Fastest way on any device: open our EXIF Remover, drop in your photos and download the cleaned copies. It shows you the coordinates each photo contains first, works on JPG, PNG and WebP, and runs in your browser, so the photos are never uploaded.
First, check whether your photo has a location
Not every photo carries coordinates. Location is only recorded if the camera app had permission to use it when the picture was taken. Photos from most digital cameras without GPS, screenshots and images saved from websites usually have none. To find out:
- Any device: drop the photo into the EXIF Remover. If it has GPS data, the coordinates are shown in red at the top of the report.
- iPhone: open the photo in Photos and swipe up. A map means the photo has a location.
- Android: open the photo in Google Photos or your Gallery app and swipe up to see the details panel.
- Windows: right-click the file, choose Properties, then the Details tab, and scroll to the GPS section.
- Mac: open the photo in Preview, choose Tools › Show Inspector, and look for a GPS tab.
On iPhone
Remove the location when you share
This is the easiest habit to get into, and it leaves the original in your library untouched.
- In the Photos app, select the photo or photos you want to send.
- Tap the Share button.
- At the top of the share sheet, tap Options.
- Turn off Location and tap Done.
- Share as normal through Mail, Messages, AirDrop or any other app.
The setting applies to that share only, so you need to turn it off each time.
Remove the location from the photo itself
Open the photo, swipe up to show the details, tap Adjust next to the location and choose No Location. This changes the photo in your library, and it syncs to iCloud Photos if you use it.
Stop your iPhone recording locations
Go to Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › Camera and choose Never. New photos will have no GPS coordinates. You lose the Places map in Photos and location-based search, so some people prefer to keep this on and remove locations when sharing.
iPhone HEIC photos: our EXIF Remover reads JPG, PNG and WebP but not HEIC. If you have HEIC files on a computer, the HEIC to JPG converter produces JPGs without any of the original’s metadata, including the location.
On Android
Menus vary by phone maker and app version, so the exact wording may differ slightly on your phone.
Google Photos
- Open the photo and swipe up, or tap the three-dot menu, to show its details.
- Next to the location, tap the edit (pencil) icon.
- Choose Remove location or No location.
Google Photos also has a setting, under its privacy or sharing settings, that removes location from photos you share by link. It does not apply to files you download and send yourself. In some versions, editing the location changes what Google Photos shows without rewriting the original file. If it really matters, check the file you are about to send with the EXIF Remover.
Samsung Gallery
When you share from Samsung’s Gallery app, the share sheet has a Remove location data switch. Turn it on before you pick the app to share with.
Stop your camera recording locations
Open the Camera app, go to its settings (the gear icon) and turn off Save location (Pixel) or Location tags (Samsung). Alternatively, remove the Camera app’s location permission in Settings › Apps › Camera › Permissions › Location.
On Windows
- Right-click the photo in File Explorer and choose Properties.
- Open the Details tab and click Remove Properties and Personal Information at the bottom.
- Choose Create a copy with all possible properties removed to get a clean copy, or Remove the following properties from this file and tick only the GPS fields.
- Click OK.
You can select several photos at once and apply this to all of them. Windows handles JPEG well, but it does not support every format or every metadata block, so check the result.
On Mac
- Preview: open the photo, choose Tools › Show Inspector, open the GPS tab and click Remove Location Info. Then save.
- Photos app: select the photos and choose Image › Location › Hide Location. When exporting with File › Export, make sure Location Information is unticked in the export options.
In your browser, on any device
If you are on a shared computer, a Chromebook, or just want one method that works everywhere, use the EXIF Remover:
- Open the tool and drop in one photo or a whole batch.
- Read the report. It lists the GPS coordinates, camera, lens and date for each file.
- Download the cleaned copies, individually or all at once.
Unlike many online tools, it removes the metadata from the file directly instead of decoding and re-saving the picture. A JPEG comes out pixel-for-pixel identical to the original, just slightly smaller. It also removes data hidden after the end of the image, such as the short video inside a Pixel or Samsung motion photo, which has its own metadata. And because it runs in your browser, the photos you are trying to keep private are not sent anywhere.
Check that the location is really gone
Whatever method you used, check the file you are actually going to send. It is easy to clean one copy and attach another.
- Drop the cleaned file into the EXIF Remover. It should report No EXIF block found, or at least show no GPS line.
- On Windows, re-open Properties › Details and confirm the GPS section is empty.
- On iPhone, swipe up on a received copy. There should be no map.
Ways a photo can still give away where you are
Removing GPS data takes care of the coordinates. It does not make a photo anonymous. Before you post, look at the picture itself:
- What is in the frame. House numbers, street signs, car number plates, school uniforms, a distinctive view from a window, or a letter on the table. Our Blur Image tool can cover these.
- Reflections. Windows, mirrors, sunglasses and screens can show more than you expect.
- The file name. A name like
beach-house-2026.jpgsays something on its own. - Cloud links. A shared Google Drive, Dropbox or iCloud link usually delivers the original file with all its metadata.
- The rest of the post. Captions, check-ins and other photos from the same day can be combined.
Photos also contain other personal details besides location, such as the date and time, the phone model and sometimes the camera’s serial number. Our guide to what information is hidden in a JPEG goes through all of it.
Frequently asked questions
Do Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp remove the location from photos?
When you post or send a photo normally through those apps, the copy other people receive generally has its location removed. The platform itself still receives the original. Photos sent as a document or file, shared through cloud links, attached to emails or uploaded to forums and marketplaces usually keep their location.
Does a screenshot contain my location?
Screenshots normally carry no GPS coordinates, because no camera was involved. They can still show a location in the picture itself, such as a map, an address or a weather widget.
Will removing the location change the photo?
Not if it is done properly. The location is stored in a metadata block next to the image data. Tools that remove that block without re-saving the picture, such as our EXIF Remover for JPEGs, leave every pixel unchanged.
Can I remove only the location and keep the date and camera details?
Yes. The iPhone share option, Mac Preview and Windows’ Remove Properties dialog can all remove only the location. Our EXIF Remover removes all metadata at once, which is the safer default when you are sharing with strangers.