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Guide · Photos

How to remove location from a photo

Phones save the exact place a photo was taken inside the file. That’s handy for your own albums, and risky when the file is sent to someone else.

4 minute read

Check first

Not every photo has a location. It depends on whether location access was on for the camera, and on how the photo reached you. The quickest way to know is to look at its metadata: GPS coordinates are stored in the photo’s EXIF data as GPSLatitude and GPSLongitude.

Drop the photo into Metvoro and the report says plainly whether it reveals where it was taken, and how precisely. On an iPhone, you can also swipe up on a photo in the Photos app: if a map appears, the photo has a location.

See if a photo reveals its location.

Check a photo

Remove it from one photo

  • With Metvoro: analyse a JPEG or PNG, then choose “Download clean copy”. The copy has no GPS, device or date details, the picture itself is untouched, and Metvoro re-checks it for you. Metvoro can’t clean HEIC photos yet.
  • iPhone: in Photos, open the photo, tap the info (i) button, tap Adjust under the map, then No Location. This changes your copy in the library.
  • Windows: right-click the file, choose Properties › Details, then “Remove Properties and Personal Information”.
  • Mac: in the Photos app, select the photo and choose Image › Location › Hide Location. Exports from Photos then leave it out.

Share without location

On iPhone, tap Share, then Options at the top of the share sheet, and turn off Location. This applies to that share only and leaves your library alone. Recent Android versions offer a similar option to remove location data when sharing from Google Photos.

Stop recording location

  • iPhone: Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › Camera › Never.
  • Android: open the Camera app settings and turn off location tags, or remove location permission for the camera in system settings.

You’ll lose the map view in your own photo library, so some people prefer to keep location on and remove it only when sharing.

Do platforms remove it?

Most large social networks strip location from photos when you post them, though they may still record where you uploaded from. Email attachments, cloud-drive links, AirDrop, and messaging apps set to send original-quality files usually keep everything. When in doubt, check the file you are about to send.

Check a photo, then download it without the hidden details.

Remove metadata